Consider the four basic forms of organization design and complete the sentence.

functional, conglomerate, matrix or divisonal design

A_______________may also be referred to as the U-form (unitary) approach to departmentalization.

Read the scenario and use your understanding of organization design to answer the questions that follow

Dropbox is a provider of cloud-based storage. It offers free cloud storage but revenues are generated from its paid premium service. Its clients include both businesses and individual consumers. The company has been more successful in securing consumers than businesses. There is more intense competition to provide cloud storage and related services to businesses. In the few years since Dropbox was founded, it has focused on staffing coders. As a cloud storage provider, coding is the manufacturing process that enables the service to exist. It is the sales department that is responsible for building a paid client base, however, and this department was understaffed. Dennis Woodside, Dropboxs chief operations officer, recognized the need to fill open positions in functional departments. He also opened five offices abroad to improve accessibility to customers outside the United States. Woodside doubled the number of employees at Dropbox, with most of the increase in the sales department.

functional, conglomerate, matrix or divisonal structure

A benefit of using _______ structure is that Dropbox can

Create new cloud storage services that can be sold at lower prices

Refrain from staffing open positions in less critical functions

Minimize the inefficiency of duplicated efforts across multiple locations

Create dual lines of authority throughout the organization that respond to marketplace changes

Under what conditions would it make sense for Dropbox to have the kind of structure that has accounting, human resources, and IT for each office location?

If the company decided to improve coordination across all locations

If the company decided to outsource staff functions

If the company decided to pursue an unrelated diversification strategy

If each office location had a sufficient amount of work to fully utilize dedicated staff members in each functional area