Amity Solved Assignment – A

1. Explain the concept of Organizational Effectiveness.
2. What are the Importance and Approaches of Organizational Effectiveness
3. Explain the concept of Organization design
4. Explain the concept of New design option
5. What is mean by Organizational Environment?
6. Explain the concept of Technological Discontinuities.
7. Explain the definition of organizational structure.l
8. What are the parameters of organization?

Amity Solved Assignment Assignment

CASE STUDY: The Glitch That Lost Krista

Elizabeth N. Fried, Outrageous Acts of Behaviour, Intermediaries Press, Dublin Ohio, 1990.
Chase was quite pleased. He was instrumental in redesigning the organisation and implementing the communication program. He arranged for small-group meetings so that employees could understand the need for reorganisation. The process took him nearly a month of continuous meetings, but the response was favourable. The employees cooperated and helped make the transition very smooth. After six weeks, the first productivity report showed a fifteen percent decrease in expenses, and morale seemed stable. The agency had plans to administer a work-climate study after twelve months. Chase was immersed in the glowing productivity report when his assistant, Suzanne, walked in his office.
“Here they are, fresh off the presses, our first run since the reorganisation,” Suzanne chirped.
Chase looked up from his desk puzzled, “What?”
“The performance review reminders,” Suzanne responded. “You know, every month we get a printout for those employees due for their annual performance review. They have little computer-generated postcards that we send out to the managers.”
“Oh, right, right. Go ahead and send them out,” Chase said, still preoccupied with his productivity report.
Several days later he got a call from Gordon Fishman, the information officer.
“Say, Chase,” Gordon began, “I just got the computer reminder to give Krista Reed, one of my former clerks, her performance review. Since we reorganised, Krista doesn’t work for me any more.”
Krista was fairly far down in the organisation, so her name would not show up on the major charts. Chase remembered hiring her about three years ago for a simple, routine clerk job. She was rather plain, not very bright, but quite pleasant. When her performance reviews had crossed his desk, there was nothing unusual. They were mostly peppered with satisfactories. She had received only one promotion in three years and tended to blend right into the agency.
“Well, what happened to her?” Chase asked.
“I’m not really sure, but I think she’s reporting to Bill Acton in Administration. Try him” Gordon responded.
Chase looked up Bill’s extension. “Say, Bill, this is Chase Vidmar. We have a performance appraisal due on Krista Reed, and I understand she reports to you now.”
“Krista Reed: Nope, not me. I think she was shipped over to Tracy Karras after the reorganisation. Give Tracy a call,” Bill suggested.
Chase tapped out Tracy’s four-digit extension. “Ms. Karras’s office, Jane speaking.”
“Hi, Jane, this is Chase Vidmar. Is Tracy available?”
“Sorry, Mr. Vidmar, but Tracy is out of the office at a meeting with one of our vendors.”
“Oh,” he paused, “well, maybe you can help me. Does Krista Reed report to your section?”
“That name doesn’t sound familiar, but I’ll check. Can you hold?”
“Sure.”
Chase waited while he scanned his own personnel computer runs. There was Krista Reed’s name all right. She still retained Gordon Fishman’s budget code, but the section reassignment code was blank. That’s why the performance appraisal reminder defaulted to Gordon. “Where the hell could she be?” he thought. Jane returned to the line. “Sorry, Mr. Vidmar, but we don’t have her here.”
“Thanks, Jane.” Chase rang off and sat at his desk bewildered. The agency had over two thousand people and he wasn’t about to send out a missing-rewards memo on Krista.
She was getting her paycheck. That must be a clue.
“Rats,” he thought, after he checked with payroll. “My luck, she has her pay directdeposited, with the confirmation mailed to her home. “Her home,” he thought, “maybe she’s at home. I’ll try there.” For an entire week Chase periodically called Krista’s number – no answer or busy. He was getting very frustrated.
Notes

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Chase usually worked through his lunch, grabbing some junk food from the vending machine. Today he felt especially hungry for some reason, so he ventured into the employee cafeteria. He filled his tray from the deli bar and passed through the register. Seated a few tables from the register was Krista Reed! Chase couldn’t believe his eyes. His surprise almost caused him to set his Coke off balance. He regained control and casually sauntered over to Krista, who was seated with some other women. There was an available seat across from her.
“Mind if I join you?” Chase asked politely.
“Sure, no problem,” Krista smiled.
“So, Krista, it’s been a long time since we’ve talked. How have you been?”
“Pretty good.”
“So where are you working now that we’ve reorganised?” he asked.
“I’m glad you asked,” she responded sincerely. “When everyone got their printout of where to be reassigned, the section for me was blank. My boss was tied up in meetings that day, so I didn’t get to discuss it with him. Even though the move wasn’t scheduled for two weeks, I wasn’t able to get to him because I left that Friday for my two-week vacation. So, when I returned, everyone was in his or her new offices, and my boss, as you know, was shipped over to Building G across the complex. My section was split three ways, so I didn’t even know which group to follow and haven’t known what to do. I’ve felt really lost and kind of upset that the agency has forgotten about me. So I just came to work and visited with friends in the various break rooms, and then I’d sit through all three lunch sessions. That part has been a lot of fun, but to tell the truth, I’ve been getting kinda bored.”
“That’s terrible, Krista,” Chase feigned sympathetically.
“And not only that,” she added, “with all these lunches I’ve eaten over the past several
weeks, I’ve gained nearly eight pounds!”
Chase was astounded. He knew Krista wasn’t a rocket scientist, but how could she spend over a month occupying her day having one long lunch, just hoping someone might notice? Incredibly, no one did notice, and Krista appeared deadly serious and wholly sincere. Rather than embarrass him and the whole agency for the major snafu, Chase politely suggested to Krista that she return with him to his office. He reviewed the organisational design study and determined where Krista should logically be located. Chase contacted the section manager and notified him that he was sending Krista on up. The he put a change action through to the computer to ensure that the elusive Krista would once again have a home.

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1. What type of organisational structure is this most likely to have occurred in?
2. What organisational response should have taken place to prevent this situation?
3. Do you believe this could happen in a restructuring company?

Assignment Solution – MCQ

1. An organisational environment is composed of forces or institutions surrounding an organisation that affect………………………………………..
a) Performance
b) Operations
c) Resources
d) All of these
2. Which of the following is not an element of the internal environment?
a) Owners
b) Suppliers
c) Board of directors
d) Employees
3. …………………………………. is the most important element of organisations internal environment, which performs the tasks of the administration.
a) Board of Directors
b) Owners
c) Employees
d) Culture
4. ………………………… environment includes suppliers, customers, competitors, employees.
a) General Environment
b) Task Environment
c) Specific Environment
d) External environment
5………………………….. are the people who hands them the profit that the companies are targeting.
a) Competitors
b) Customers
c) Suppliers
d) Regulators
6.The ………………………………… of an organisation is the overall status if the economic system in which the organisation operates.
a) Technological Dimension
b) Socio-cultural dimension
c) Economic Dimension
d) International Dimension
7………………………………………………. Is the number and diversity of constituencies that influence the organisation?
a) Homogeneity-Heterogeneity
b) Concentration-Dispersion
c) Stability-Turbulence
d) Resource scarcity-Resource munificence
8. Environmental changeability refers to whether elements in the environment are stable or unstable.
a) Environmental Domain
b) Environmental complexity
c) Environmental changeability
d) Environment Uncertainty
9.Macro-environmental uncertainty is uncertainty in the organisation’s general environment, including political, regulatory, statutory, and economic conditions.
a) Competitive uncertainty
b) Market (and demand) uncertainty
c) Technology uncertainty
d) Macro-environmental uncertainty
10.In ……………………………………. situation, changes in the environment affecting the uncertainty factors are low (that is, low environmental dynamism).
a) Low uncertainty
b) Moderate uncertainty
c) High uncertainty
d) Very High uncertainty
11.Following knowledge ecosystem approach, the knowledge management trees need to:
a) Grow strong roots
b) Develop healthy branches and leaves
c) Have strong flows of sap in their veins
d) All of the above
12.Which of the following are the elements of Knowledge ecosystem?
a) Technology Commercialization
b) Workforce
c) Business Climate
d) All of the above

13.When government and the private sector work together on policies and initiatives to support an innovative environment, and a given region can better leverage its resources it is known as………………………………………………
a) Public-Private Partnerships
b) Capital Formation and Investment
c) R&D Infrastructure
d) Entrepreneurs/Entrepreneurship
14…………………………………………………….. is knowledge ecology – a system consisting of many sources, venues, forms and species of knowledge agents in a symbiotic relationship of productive exchange and value creation.
a) Intellectual Knowledge Ecology
b) Traditional Knowledge ecology
c) Performative organisational knowledge
d) Networked knowledge ecosystems
15.These systems consist of interlinked knowledge resources, databases, human experts, and artificial knowledge agents that collectively provide an online knowledge for anywhere anytime performance of organisational tasks.
a) Intellectual Knowledge Ecology
b) Networked knowledge ecosystems
c) Traditional Knowledge ecology
d) Performative organisational knowledge
16.Which of the following is a key element of networked knowledge systems?
a) Workforce
b) Core Technologies
c) Suppliers
d) Suppliers
17……………………………………………………….. refers to the system of creating knowledge including the research and development processes, experts, operational managers/administrators, software systems, archival knowledge resources and databases
a) Knowledge Engines
b) Knowledge agents
c) Critical Interdependencies
d) Performative Actions
18.The willingness to create knowledge ecosystems in business education depending on how business school administrators understand their costs and benefits is known as………………………………………………….
a) Cost/Benefit Analysis of Knowledge Ecosystems
b) Work Roles within Knowledge Ecosystems
c) Knowledge Quality Management
d) Knowledge work
19.Which of the following are Implementation Barriers?
a) Technological Problems
b) Human Problems
c) Institutional Problems
d) All of the above
20………………………………………. refers to a managerial style based on low risk, with formalized procedures and a high degree of structure and control
a) Satisficing management
b) Reactive management
c) Sluggish management
d) Renewing/transformation management
21. Which of the following is true for organisational design?
a) Organisation Design is widely regarded as a competitive capability.
b) Organisation Design is a critical component of any organisation’s Organisation Development offering
c) Organisational design is the way an organisation is to be structured and operated by its members.
d) All of the above

22……………………………………………………………….. is a classic model of organisational design that involves structuring an organisation hierarchically with formal rules and procedures that govern the organisation and its members.
a) PARC Analysis
b) Triarchy theory
c) Weber’s Bureaucratic Model
d) Adaptive orientation model
23…………………………………………………………….. refers to an organisational structure by which the firm is separated into several semi autonomous units which are guided and controlled by (financial) targets from the centre.
a) Multi-divisional form
b) Unitary form
c) Hybrid form
d) Matrix form
24.H-form organisation is sometimes called a……………………………….
a) Conglomerate
b) Concentric
c) Horizontal
d) Vertical
25.Mechanistic structure is………………………………
a) A bureaucratic structure
b) Based on a formal, centralized network
c) Suited for stable environment
d) All of these
26…………………………………………… is a system of organisation where the elements of the organisation are unranked or where they possess the potential to be ranked a number of different ways.
a) Organic Structure
b) Heterarchy
c) Hierarchy
d) Responsible Autonomy
27…………………………………. is also called triarchy theory.
a) PARC Analysis
b) Responsible autonomy
c) Weber’s Bureaucratic Model
d) Adaptive orientation model
28…………………………………………. describes the degree to which tasks in an organisation are divided into separate jobs.
a) Departmentalisation
b) Chain of command
c) Work Specialisation
d) Span of Control
29…………………………………………………….. refers to the degree to which jobs within the organisation are standardized and the extent to which employee behaviour is guided by rules and procedures
a) Decentralisation
b) Formalisation
c) Centralisation
d) Simple structure
30.A…………………………………………………. is one in which its design is not defined by, or limited to, the horizontal, vertical, or external boundaries imposed by a predefined structure.
a) Project Structure
b) Autonomous Internal Units
c) Boundaryless Organisation
d) Learning Organisation
31…………………………………………………………………. asks that people look for what works in an organisation and build designs from that.
a) Storytelling
b) Appreciative inquiry
c) Positive deviance
d) Positive psychology
32……………………………………………………………. are typically held to create a new vision, figure out how to implement a strategy, plan a significant change, solve a complex or intractable problem, invent a new product or prepare for community action.
a) Axelrod Group’s Conference
b) World Café Conversations
c) Open Space gatherings
d) None of these
33……………………………………………………. is the process by which an organisation allocates people and resources to organisational tasks and establishes the task and authority relationships that allow the organisation to achieve its goals.
a) Division of labour
b) Degree of specialisation
c) Differentiation
d) All of these
34……………………………………………… is a set of task-related behaviours required of a person by his or her position in an organisation.
a) Accountable
b) Organisational role
c) Responsibilities
d) Authority
35…………………………………. is the power to hold people accountable for their actions and to make decisions concerning the use of organisational resources.
a) Accountable
b) Organisational role
c) Responsibilities
d) Authority
36………………………………………… facilitate an organisation’s control of its relations with its environment and its stakeholders.
a) Production functions
b) Maintenance functions
c) Support functions
d) Adaptive function
37………………………………………………. refers to the way an organisation designs its hierarchy of authority and creates reporting relationships to link organisational roles and subunits.
a) Vertical differentiation
b) Horizontal differentiation
c) Integration
d) Specialisation
38…………………………………… between people in different subunits is an integrating mechanism that is more complex than a hierarchy of authority.
a) Liaison role
b) Hierarchy of Authority
c) Task force
d) Direct contact
39…………………………………………………. is the process through which people use their judgment rather than standardized rules to address problems, guide decision making, and promote coordination.
a) Integrating roles
b) Integrating department
c) Standardisation
d) Mutual adjustment
40……………………………………………….. is the use of written rules and procedures to standardize operations.
a) Centralisation
b) Formalisation
c) Decentralisation
d) Socialisation