Answer the following statements true (T) or false (F)

Question

1. The process of fitting the organization to its environment is called incidental design. 
2. The founder of McDonald's, Ray Kroc, intended that a Big Mac should taste the same anywhere, and accordingly, the company has many specific procedures, making it a mechanistic organization. 
3. Companies that must respond to fast-changing customer tastes often favor a mechanistic structure to an organic one. 
4. Lawrence and Lorsch's term for the tendency of an organization's parts to disperse and fragment is dissolution. 

Answer 1

1. FALSE
The process of fitting the organization to its environment is called contingency design.
2. TRUE
In a mechanistic organization, authority is centralized, tasks and rules are clearly specified, and employees are closely supervised. Mechanistic organizations, then, are bureaucratic, with rigid rules and top-down communication. This kind of structure is effective at McDonald's because the market demands uniform product quality, cleanliness, and fast service.
3. FALSE
In a mechanistic organization, authority is centralized, tasks and rules are clearly specified, and employees are closely supervised. In an organic organization, authority is decentralized, there are fewer rules and procedures, and networks of employees are encouraged to cooperate and respond quickly to unexpected tasks. This latter structure is favored by companies that need to respond to fast-changing consumer tastes.
4. FALSE
Differentiation is the tendency of the parts of an organization to disperse and fragment.