These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
In most organizations the formulation of goals is a highly political process.
All organizations have clearly identifiable goals.
In most organizations the presence of multiple goals will lead to damaging conflict.
A successful company is one where managers stick to the goals they have set in the face of internal and external changes.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
A clear mission statement leads to improved employee performance.
Goals, mission and vision are really different terms for the same thing.
Evidence exists to suggest that mission statements produced by management and employee involvement can result in improved performance.
Operative goals refer to those set for shop floor workers.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
Private sector businesses tend to pursue goals of profit maximisation.
Private sector businesses tend to pursue goals of market expansion.
Private sector businesses increasingly pursue goals that are ethical and socially responsible.
Private sector businesses can pursue a range of different goals with the ultimate aim of survival.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
In most private sector organizations goal conflict does not occur because all interest groups see profit as their goal.
In most public sector organizations goal conflict does not occur because all interest groups share the goal of public service.
In most organizations goal conflict presents a significant problem.
In most organizations goal conflict can be limited by a range of controls such as training and reward.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
Organization structures should be changed as strategy changes.
For many organizations a change of structure would enhance their performance.
It is extremely doubtful whether a change in structure alone would enhance a firm’s performance.
Of all the influences acting upon the structure of an organization, technology is the most influential.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
Delayering will inevitably create more flexible and responsive organizations and empower employees.
Management favour delayering as this gives them more power and responsibility.
Functional flexibility leads to multi-skilling and greater opportunity for job satisfaction.
Multi-skilling has increased but much of it is job enlargement and work intensification.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
Downsizing and delayering will lead to increased profits or cash surplus.
Downsizing and delayering will be welcomed by employees because they will have more responsibility and power.
Downsizing and delayering will be better for customers because they will be closer to the firm.
Downsizing and delayering tend to be used as cost-cutting exercises.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
Numerical flexibility involves moving people around the firm as demand rises or falls.
Financial flexibility involves reducing costs by using lower paid staff to do the job normally done by more highly paid staff.
Functional flexibility involves transferring people from department to department to cope with changes in demand.
Temporal flexibility involves changing the pace of work to meet changes in demand.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
Shiftworking is welcomed by many employees as an opportunity to earn more money.
Shiftworking has increased in many areas in the service sector of most economies.
Changes in technology have reduced the need for many temporary and part-time jobs.
Most part-time workers prefer the flexibility such an arrangement offers to them.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
Functional structures are effective in reducing or eliminating inter-departmental conflict.
Divisional structures work best when the divisions are tightly controlled by a central headquarters organization.
The idea that all parts of the organization should make a profit is central to the concept of the divisional organization.
Project teams are unable to cope with rapidly changing markets.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
Alfred Chandler argued that multidivisional structures developed to solve the control problems of expanding multinationals.
Alfred Chandler argued that matrix structures developed to solve the control problems of expanding multinationals.
Alfred Chandler believed that strategy can never follow structure.
Alfred Chandler based his ‘strategy and structure’ book on the importance of the railroads to the growth of the US business economy.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
A sole trader is someone who operates a business entirely on their own.
Many partnerships limit the liability of the owners by forming limited companies.
A company in the UK which carries the suffix Ltd. Is a company where the owners have limited liability and where shares are quoted on the stock market.
In all types of limited company the liability of the owners is restricted to the amount of their investment into the company, usually in the form of shares.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
It is difficult if not impossible to compare the performance of firms before and after privatization.
Privatization leads to a fundamental change in the pattern of share ownership in society.
Privatization leads to lower costs and improved customer satisfaction in all cases.
Employees in newly privatized businesses benefit from improved pay, conditions and career opportunities.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
Managing a private sector firm is generally considered to be more complex than managing a public sector firm.
Managing a public sector firm is generally considered to be more complex than managing a private sector firm.
Public sector firms are easier to manage because there is not the pressure of pursuing profit.
Public sector firms are easier to manage because employees are committed to public service.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
The ownership and control debate is an academic debate with little practical significance.
The problems of the relationship between ownership and control in the public sector are largely solved by privatization.
Managers have more power and control than shareholders since shareholders are likely to be passive.
Management decisions in a single firm can be influenced by directors representing the interests of other institutions.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
Berle and Means in their 1932 study found that the largest railroad companies in America were owned by the wealthiest shareholders.
Berle and Means in their 1932 study argued that the concentration of power in the hands of the managers of large corporations was harmful to society.
Berle and Means in their 1932 study argued that management control would lead to more effective decisions based on scientific methods.
Berle and Means in their 1932 study found that most major US companies were effectively controlled by majority shareholders.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
The agency problem assumes that managers will act in their own selfish interest to the possible detriment to shareholders and society.
An agent performing a service for another party or principal will by law act in the principal’s best interests.
The agency question assumes that managers will act in the long-term best interests of the organization.
The banking crisis of 2008 was a problem of poor loan decisions rather than an example of the agency problem.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
Decision making in public sector organizations is slow and complex because managers tend to be less talented and less ambitious than managers in private firms.
Public sector organizations are beset by a number of operating problems yet they always operate in the public interest.
The large number of stakeholders in public sector organizations means that management are often handicapped in establishing a clear and consistent strategic direction.
Public sector organizations have the security of state financial backing to protect service levels.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
Public limited companies (plc) are always larger than private limited companies (ltd).
In both public and private limited companies assets are owned by the company and not by individuals.
In the UK public limited companies must conform to the requirements of the Companies Act whilst private limited companies are regulated more by the Limited Partnerships Act.
The distinction that is drawn in the UK between public and private limited companies is a unique feature of Anglo-Saxon capitalism.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
Partnerships are only found in UK professions.
Partnerships are combinations for the mutual interest of the partners.
All members of a partnership have an equal share of the business.
Most partnerships are well-managed.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
In all sectors there is a clear correlation between the size of the firm and its profitability.
With the increasing size of organizations, structures and procedures focus on the coordination and control of large numbers of people.
Most large manufacturing firms have a large, specialist R&D department.
Large firms have a greater investment in and greater use of e-commerce than smaller firms and derive greater benefit from it.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
It is difficult to define the small firm or measure the size of the small firms sector.
Small firms are a force for change in the economy since they are inherently more responsive to change and more innovative than large firms.
Small firms are an important source of job creation.
Most people start up their own businesses because they view self-employment as a route to real wealth.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
The growth and success of firms such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM and 3M is directly attributed to their distinctive corporate cultures.
Companies where former and current senior managers are viewed as corporate heroes tend to be more successful than those companies where managers are largely anonymous.
Attempts to change corporate culture may be successful in bringing out behaviour change. Changing values is more difficult.
Peters and Waterman devised strategies which resulted in business success for America’s top companies.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
An understanding of organizational culture gives useful insights into the way organizations work and can identify key issues, which can inform change strategies.
There are clear links between corporate culture, strategy and performance.
The introduction by management of a strong culture is exploitative and unethical.
A strong corporate culture assists firms in their response to changes in the business environment.
These questions are designed to test your understanding of the material contained within each chapter. For each question you are given a choice of 4 statements. Only one of these statements is correct.
A strong corporate culture is one where the firm’s culture matches the national culture in which it is located.
Strong corporate cultures depend on visionary founders.
Goals in strong cultures are rarely written down but are implicit and transmitted through processes such as induction.
An organization structure can help strengthen a corporate culture by creating units that focus on group identity and loyalty.