Tarnopol Learning Services (TLS) Offers Tutoring to High School Students

question 117

Short Answer

Tarnopol Learning Services (TLS) offers tutoring to high school students, college students, and adults returning to school. TLS also bids on government-sponsored contracts. TLS's major product offerings include academic tutoring, standardized test preparation, and admissions consulting. Its operations spread over many geographic regions. Currently, the company is deciding whether it should change from its current approach of organizing by geographical area. A senior manager has predicted that if TLS is not profitable this year and fails to develop any new products, the company will switch to either a functional approach or a product approach.
Which of the following, if true, would most strongly suggest that TLS should change its organizational structure to a functional-based approach?
TLS currently maintains separate human resource departments in each of its regions.
Research suggests that product development failures happened because the product developers were isolated from customers.
TLS earns large streams of revenue from services it offers to schools.
In the current regional structure, managers complain about having a limited view of organizational goals.
Sales techniques that work in one region are often much less effective in other regions.

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Definitions:

Households

Units consisting of people living together, either related by blood, marriage, or adoption, making economic decisions as a single entity.

Central Planning

An economic system where the government makes all decisions on the production and distribution of goods and services, typically found in socialist economies.

Government Guiding

The involvement or direction by government agencies in shaping and influencing the economic policies and practices within a country.

Economic Activity

Actions that involve the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services at all levels within a society.