Anthony Giddens • Sociology 6th edition

Student Resources

Chapter 18 — Organizations and Networks

1. Which of the following did Max Weber see as a potentially serious problem with the advance of modern bureaucracies?
   a) bureaucratic organization could become prohibitively expensive to run
   b) social organization could become too efficient
   c) democracy could become a sham if bureaucrats held real power
   d) bureaucratic officials may be able to abuse their power
2. Who thought that within organizations there exists an ‘iron law of oligarchy’?
   a) Max Weber
   b) Zygmunt Bauman
   c) Michel Foucault
   d) Robert Michels
3. In the late eighteenth century, what was Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon?
   a) an army barracks
   b) a prison
   c) an asylum
   d) a school
4. The number of international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) has grown from less than 200 at the start of the twentieth century to how many in 2006?
   a) 5,164
   b) 8,898
   c) 51,509
   d) 123,305
5. Following Perlmutter’s (1972) typology, Japanese transnational corporations can generally be described as:
   a) polycentric
   b) ethnocentric
   c) heliocentric
   d) geocentric
6. Actor-network theory (ANT) tries to bring back into the analyses of organizations, ‘the missing masses’. What are they?
   a) ‘behind the scenes’ workers, such as cleaners and IT staff
   b) routine clerical workers
   c) the organization's customers
   d) non-human things
7. Which concept has the work of Robert Putnam helped to popularize in the social sciences?
   a) cultural capital
   b) economic capital
   c) social capital
   d) symbolic capital
8. According to a 2006 Pew Research Centre survey, what do teenagers do least on social networking sites?
   a) make new friends
   b) flirt with someone
   c) stay in touch with friends
   d) make plans with friends
9. Paul du Gay’s (2000), In Praise of Bureaucracy, makes two important points in defence of bureaucratic forms of organization. Which two points are they? A bureaucratic ethos:
   a) is compatible with private sector values, and includes impartial and equal treatment for all
   b) ensures administrative responsibility for the public interest, and includes impartial and equal treatment for all
   c) ensures that politicians’ goals can be met, even against opposition, and ensures administrative responsibility for the public interest
   d) is compatible with private sector values, and ensures that politicians’ goals can be met, even against opposition
10. The four principles of McDonaldization are:
    a) efficiency, calculability, affordability, consistent decor
    b) efficiency, calculability, uniformity, automation
    c) efficiency, dehumanization, automation, high calories
    d) efficiency, Big Mac, large fries, milkshake
11. De Gournay coined the phrase 'an illness of bureaumania' to describe:
    a) the chaos of informal organizations
    b) the compulsion to work in offices
    c) the developing power of officials
    d) politicians abuse of power and influence
12. Meyer and Rowan's assertion that formal rules are often 'myths' means:
    a) that the rules were written down a long time in the past
    b) that the rules never in fact existed in the first place
    c) that the rules have little actual substance in reality
    d) that rules are a hindrance in large organizations
13. Which one of these would not be regarded as a 'dysfunction of bureaucracy', according to Merton?
    a) the rules could be upheld at all cost, even in the face of a better solution
    b) people know they should be guaranteed fair and consistent treatment
    c) adherence to the rules takes precedence over organizational goals
    d) workers are not encouraged to be flexible in making decisions
14. The emergence of a consolidated network of business leadership is most compatible with which ideal-type of capitalism?
    a) family capitalism
    b) managerial capitalism
    c) welfare capitalism
    d) institutional capitalism
15. Who is most closely associated with the view that the equal and impartial treatment of each case is a strength of bureaucracies?
    a) Michel Foucault
    b) Paul du Gay
    c) Zygmunt Bauman
    d) Robert Michels
16. Which of the following was the earliest example of an international organization?
    a) the Pan-Arab League
    b) the Hanseatic League
    c) the Football League
    d) the League of Nations
17. The iron law of oligarchy refers to:
    a) regimes that use repression against their populations
    b) the exclusion of women from the highest levels of politics
    c) the tendency for power inevitably to flow towards the top
    d) the legal system of the former communist countries
18. The form of transnational organization where overseas subsidiaries are managed by local firms in each country is called:
    a) polycentric
    b) egocentric
    c) geocentric
    d) ethnocentric
19. Which of these is a feature of the 'Japanese' style of management arrangements?
    a) merging of work and private lives
    b) job security
    c) group-oriented production
    d) all of the above
20. The adage that 'it's not what you know, it's who you know' emphasizes the importance of connections. This is most relevant to the concept of:
    a) de-differentiation
    b) network economy
    c) political corruption
    d) social capital
21. According to Putnam the type of community participation that has declined most in the last thirty years is:
    a) running for political office
    b) serving as an officer of a club
    c) writing to the newspapers
    d) attending political rallies

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