Question

1 - organizational structures and design

learning objective: categorize different kinds of organizational structure.

as their software company grows, the executives of a company begin to organize their team according to their strengths, such as programmers, project managers, and designers.

what principle does this illustrate?

a.) specialization
b.) span of control
c.) command-and-control
d.) centralization

Explanation:

Analyze the scenario

The scenario describes a growing software company where executives organize their team members according to their specific functional strengths, such as programmers, project managers, and designers. This involves dividing organizational tasks into separate, distinct jobs based on expertise.

Evaluate the options

Using the Organizational Structure knowledge point

• Specialization (or work specialization/division of labor) is the degree to which organizational tasks are subdivided into separate jobs. Grouping employees by specific skills like programming, project management, or design directly illustrates this principle.

Using the Span of Control knowledge point

• Span of control refers to the number of subordinates a manager can efficiently and effectively direct. The scenario does not discuss reporting ratios or the number of direct reports per manager.
• Command-and-control refers to a strict hierarchical management style where decisions are made at the top and passed down.
• Centralization refers to the degree to which decision-making authority is concentrated at higher levels of the organization.

Select the correct option

The practice of dividing work tasks based on specific skills and strengths is the definition of specialization. Therefore, option (a) is the correct choice.

Answer:

• (a.) Specialization (Correct answer)
• (b.) Span of control
• (c.) Command-and-control
• (d.) Centralization