Tag: Profit Making

Alex works for Lucy plc.

He is part of a project team working on developing a large construction site.

The team is a matrix structure with employees from many different departments coming together to work on this project.

Which of the following management principles set out by Henri Fayol dose this type of structure necessarily contravene?

Select ONE answer:

1. Authority and responsibility
2. Subordination of individual interests
3. Unity of command
4. Esprit de corps

Show your workings to arrive at your answer, and explain and justify your reasons:

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

This multiple-choice question is suitable for Accounting KS5 classes.

The answer is 3

1. Not correct
2. Not correct
3. Correct –> A matrix structure would involve employees within the project team having responsibility to more than superior which breaks the principle of unity of command (3).
4. Not correct

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Lucy has joined the finance department of a local business.

Her early impressions of the organisation are that its management belong to the ‘classical school’ because of their adherence to the concept of unity of command.

This means that in general the management believe that….?

Select ONE answer:

1. A subordinate should receive orders from only one manager
2. There should be only one manager of each activity
3. Authority should flow down a single chain of command
4. Work should be specialised into single tasks

Show your workings to arrive at your answer, and explain and justify your reasons:

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

This multiple-choice question is suitable for Accounting KS5 classes.

The answer is 1

1. Correct – Unity of command means that any employee should have to report to, or receive orders from, only one manager. ‘Unity of direction’ is the principle that there should be only one manager of each activity (2).
2. Not correct
3. Not correct
4. Not correct

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Alex plc is a machine bureaucracy.

Which of the following characteristics is the company most likely to exhibit?

Select ONE answer:

1. The technostructure exerts a pull towards standardised processes
2. The operating core exerts a pull towards standardised skills
3. The middle line exerts a pull towards fragmentation
4. The support staff exert a pull towards collaboration

Show your workings to arrive at your answer, and explain and justify your reasons:

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

This multiple-choice question is suitable for Accounting KS5 classes.

The answer is 1

1. Correct – Machine bureaucracy depends primarily on the standardisation of its operating work processes for co-ordination. Because of that the technostructure, which houses the analysts (technocrats) who do the standardising, emerges as the key part of the structure. When the operating core exerts a pull towards standardised skills (2), it is generally a professional bureaucracy. In a divisionalised structure, a good deal of power si delegated to market-based units in the middle line (3), whose efforts are coordinated by the standardisation of outputs through the extensive use of performance control systems.
2. Not correct
3. Not correct
4. Not correct

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Lucy’s job description at Alex plc mentions that her role is part of the company’s technostructure.

According to Henry Mintzberg, a technostructure……?

Select ONE answer:

1. Ensures that a company’s folows its mission
2. Provides ancillary services in a company
3. Standardises work processes in a company
4. Controls the work of the operating core of the company

Show your workings to arrive at your answer, and explain and justify your reasons:

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

This multiple-choice question is suitable for Accounting KS5 classes.

The answer is 3

1. Not correct
2. Not correct
3. Correct –> The function of the technostructure is to standardise work processes, for example by producing technical specifications and procedures manuals. The strategic apex, which represents the higher management for the company, will ensure the business follows its mission (1). The support staff provide ancillary services (2) to the operating core of the company. The middle line, representing the managers between the operating core and the strategic apex, will control the work of the operating core (4) of the business.
4. Not correct

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Which of the following are THREE of Henry Mintzberg’s building blocks of an organisation?

A Support staff
B Middle line
C Functional division
D Scalar chain
E Ideology
F Matrix structure

Select ONE answer:

1. ABC
2. DEF
3. BCD
4. ABE

Show your workings to arrive at your answer, and explain and justify your reasons:

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

This multiple-choice question is suitable for Accounting KS5 classes.

The answer is 3

1. Not correct
2. Not correct
3. Correct –>The support staff (A) carry out the ancillary activities that are neither part of the core nor the technostructure. Support staff have no role in the direct activities of the organisation: these activities include such things as catering and public relations. The middle line (B) represents that part of the organisation where the middle managers operate. Its role is to turn the instructions of the strategic apex into activities for the operating core. The ideology (E) is what binds the organisation together. It represents the organisational values and beliefs, which provide a common focus for all the other elements.
4. Not correct

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.