Q&A Hero

Q: Isomorphism is normative when organizations intentionally imitate and copy one another to increase their legitimacy.

Q: A process flowchart uses symbols to represent which of the following? A. Factory location B. Warehouse space available C. Work force schedules D. Flows of material or customers E. Data analysis

Q: Organizational isomorphism is the process by which organizations in a population become more alike or similar.

Q: Which of the following best describes the term cycle time? A. Average time between completions of successive units B. Ratio of the time a resource is activated over its use C. Can be no more that 60 minutes D. The same as utilization E. The labor content of the item being measured

Q: The institutional environment is the set of values and norms that govern the behavior of a population of organizations.

Q: Run time is calculated by multiplying the number of units in a batch by the set-up time.

Q: Setup time is the time required to prepare a process to produce a particular item.

Q: The Institutional theory argues that the organizations operating in uncertain environments should use a tall hierarchy of authority.

Q: If you want to reduce process throughput time it has been suggested that you can reduce interruptions in the production process.

Q: Growth allows an organization to increase its division of labor and specialization.

Q: Natural selection is the process that ensures the survival of the organizations that have the skills and abilities that best fit with the environment.

Q: If you want to reduce process throughput time it has been suggested that you can perform activities in the process in parallel.

Q: Process velocity is the ratio of the total throughput time to the value added time.

Q: Early in an environment, as a niche develops and new resources become available, new organizations that begin to operate in this niche tend to be K-generalists.

Q: Specialists and generalists normally coexist in many environments.

Q: Throughput time of a production process is the amount of time a unit spends actually being worked on.

Q: Specialists can often outcompete generalists when there is considerable uncertainty in the environment.

Q: Efficiency of a production process is the ratio of the actual output of a process to some standard.

Q: Specialist organizations concentrate their competences and skills to compete for resources in a single niche.

Q: Benchmarking refers to the practice of comparing the production metrics of one firm with the production metrics of another.

Q: Organizations that follow an r-strategy are usually established in other environments and wait to enter a new environment until the uncertainty in that environment is reduced and the correct way to compete is apparent.

Q: Utilization of a production process is the ratio of time that a resource is actually being used relative to the time it is available for use.

Q: Organizations that follow a K-strategy are founded early in a new environmentthey are early entrants.

Q: Utilization of a production process is the ratio of output to input.

Q: Productivity in a production process can be measured by the ratio of output to input.

Q: According to population ecology theory, the rate of birth in a new environment increases rapidly at first and then tapers off.

Q: The term population density refers to the number of organizations that have the same rate of growth in a particular industrial segment.

Q: Make-to-stock production processes can easily handle requests for customized product features.

Q: According to population ecology theory, the availability of resources determines the number of organizations in a population.

Q: When we use a make-to-stock production process we base our production on forecast values.

Q: The term environmental niche refers to a particular set of resources or skills.

Q: Pacing in production processes refers to the fixed timing of the movement of items through the process.

Q: A "population of organizations" comprises the organizations that are going through the same stage of organizational life cycle at the same time.

Q: Make-to-order production processes are well suited for high volume production of a standardized product.

Q: Population ecology theory seeks to explain the factors that affect the rate at which new organizations are born (and die) in a population of existing organizations.

Q: A service operation by its very nature is a make-to-stock type of production process.

Q: The term "liability of newness" refers to the dangers associated with being the first to operate in a new environment.

Q: Hybrid processes combine some features of make-to-order and make-to-stock production processes.

Q: The organizational growth stage in the organizational life cycle is associated with the greatest chance of failure.

Q: Process analysis can help answer many important questions such as why change in a process is necessary.

Q: All the organizations pass through the four principal stages of the organizational life cycle at the same rate.

Q: Process analysis can help answer many important questions such as how many customers can a process handle per hour.

Q: Describe the Weitzel and Jonsson's model of organizational decline.

Q: Define "organizational inertia." Describe some of the factors that cause organizational inertia.

Q: McDonald's fast food restaurants have traditionally used a Make-To-Order production process.

Q: Describe the "growth through creativity" stage of the Greiner's model of organizational growth.

Q: When a make-to-order production process is used, production is based on forecasts.

Q: What are the three types of organizational isomorphisms?

Q: A bottleneck occurs when a stage in a production process is starving.

Q: Explain the process of natural selection.

Q: One way to categorize a process is to determine whether it is a multiple-stage or a single-stage process.

Q: Explain the difference between specialist strategy and generalist strategy.

Q: Blocking in production processes is when activities in a stage must continue because there in no place to deposit completed items.

Q: Explain the difference between r-strategy and K-strategy.

Q: Buffering in a production process refers to a storage area between stages of production activity where output of a stage is placed prior to being used in a "downstream" stage.

Q: A triangle is conventionally used in a process flowchart to represent a storage area or queue.

Q: According to the population ecology theory, what are the various factors due to which the number of organizational births in a new environment is rapid at first?

Q: A rectangle is conventionally used in a process flowchart to represent a task or operation.

Q: What is an organizational life cycle?

Q: A diamond is conventionally used in a process flowchart to represent a storage area or queue.

Q: According to Weitzel and Jonsson's model of organizational decline, when an organization reaches the ________ stage, its decline becomes irreversible. A) blinded B) faulty action C) inaction D) dissolution

Q: Cycle time is the ratio of the time that a resource is actually activated relative to the time that it is available for use.

Q: According to Weitzel and Jonsson's model of organizational decline, which of the following is most likely to halt the decline of an organization that has reached the crisis stage? A) using a functional organizational structure B) decreasing the division of labor C) employing a new top-management team D) centralizing decision-making authority

Q: A "process" is any part of an organization that takes inputs and transforms them into outputs that, hopefully, are of greater value to the organization than the original inputs.

Q: According to Weitzel and Jonsson's model of organizational decline, during which of the following stages of decline an organization has the least chance of survival? A) inaction B) faulty action C) crisis D) blinded

Q: Describe the relationship between capacity utilization and quality in a service operation?

Q: According to Weitzel and Jonsson's model of organizational decline, if managers fail to halt decline at the inaction stage, the immediate next stage of decline into which the organization moves is the ________ stage. A) blinded B) faulty action C) dissolution D) death

Q: Why does volatility of demand have a higher effect on a service delivery system than on a manufacturing system?

Q: According to Weitzel and Jonsson's model of organizational decline, which of the following is most likely to help an organization in the blinded stage to become successful? A) creating cross-functional teams to reduce conflict B) monitoring internal and external factors to get accurate information C) increasing size of the organization and decreasing division of labor D) centralizing decision-making authority and developing standard operating rules and procedures

Q: What is a capacity cushion and why would a firm have one?

Q: According to Weitzel and Jonsson's model of organizational decline, if an organization does not realize it is in trouble in the blinded stage, its decline advances to the ________ stage. A) inaction B) faulty action C) crisis D) dissolution

Q: Factors to be taken into account in selecting capacity additions for both manufacturing and services include which four things discussed in this chapter?

Q: According to Weitzel and Jonsson's model of organizational decline, which of the following is the first stage of decline? A) blinded B) crisis C) dissolution D) faulty action

Q: If the best operating level of a piece of equipment is at a rate of 400 units per hour and the actual output during an hour is 300 units, what is the capacity cushion?

Q: According to Weitzel and Jonsson's model of organizational decline, the five stages of decline are ________. A) blinded, faulty action, crisis, deregulation, and death B) interruption, direction, crisis, faulty action, and dissolution C) disruption, inaction, coordination, dissolution, and death D) blinded, inaction, faulty action, crisis, and dissolution

Q: Which of the following factors is most likely to cause organizational inertia? A) risk aversion B) decentralized decision-making C) employee empowerment D) flat hierarchy of authority

Q: A chance node on a decision tree has four possible outcomes worth $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 and minus $100,000 respectively. The probabilities of these outcomes occurring are assessed as 10%, 25%, 50% and 15% correspondingly. What is the expected value of this chance node?

Q: Which of the following statements is most likely to be true regarding organizational inertia? A) An increase in organization inertia leads to a proportional increase in economies of scope. B) Organizational inertia is caused due to forces outside an organization that make it difficult for the organization to change. C) An increase in organization inertia leads to a proportional decrease in division of labor. D) Overly bureaucratic culture is one of the factors that cause organizational inertia.

Q: If demand for product "A" were forecast at 1,000,000 units for the coming year and your factory has one machine capable of producing 75,000 units per month, how much of product "A" might you plan to acquire through outsourcing?

Q: In Greiner's model, "________" becomes the way to solve the crisis of red tape and push the organization up the growth curve. A) growth through creativity B) growth through delegation C) growth through collaboration D) growth through direction