MAN 64208

Emotions represent the cluster of beliefs, assessed feelings, and behavioral intentions towards something or someone guided by conscious logical reasoning.

The effectiveness of the encoding-decoding process is independent of the sender’s and the receiver’s proficiency with the communication channel.

Companies should use individual-level performance-based pay when jobs are highly interdependent.

Employees experience less stress from emotional labor when they practice surface acting rather than deep acting.

Cycle time is the time required to complete the task before starting over with another item or client.

Team-based organizational structures are usually found within larger divisionalized structures.

An element of self-leadership involves keeping track of our progress toward goals.

One type of factor that can change a person’s moral sensitivity is expertise or knowledge of prescriptive norms or rules.

Information systems and reward systems can both help to refreeze the desired conditions in organizational change.

Smaller teams have more process loss than the larger teams.

Cooperating, coordinating, and communicating are task related characteristics of effective team members.

Realistic job previews improve organizational socialization by ensuring that applicants develop more accurate pre-employment expectations.

Unfreezing occurs by making the driving forces stronger, weakening the restraining forces, or a combination of both.

Role perceptions are important because they represent how good an employee feels about their job and increase motivation.

Job performance leads to improved job satisfaction only when performance is linked to valued rewards.

Job specialization increases training costs and makes it more difficult for companies to match employee aptitudes to jobs for which they are best suited.

People with a high need for affiliation tend to be more effective in jobs that allocate scarce resources among employees.

People who learn to empathize with others are less likely to engage in fundamental attribution errors.

Procedural justice is higher when the decision maker is perceived as unbiased.

The most appropriate influence tactic depends in part on the influencer’s power base and position in the organization.

People are persuaded more under conditions of low social presence than high social presence.

Studies indicate that while executives tend to make quick decisions based on logical reasoning, the best decisions are based on their emotional responses.

The fundamental attribution error refers to the tendency to attribute the behavior of other people to internal factors more than external factors.

Compared to lean media, rich media have fewer social distractions.

Any environmental condition that places a physical or emotional demand on a person is called a stressor.

Mediation has a high level of process control but a low level of decision control.

Research has found that women are generally more sensitive than are men to nonverbal communication.

Organizational culture consists of shared values, but not shared assumptions.

According to Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory, only characteristics of the job (and not the work environment) motivate employees.

Workaholics typically have a high level of enjoyment of work.

Our emotions influence what we recognize or screen out.

Some level of stress is a necessary part of life for every individual.

Financial incentives given to employees to stay with the organization usually reduces continuance commitment.

According to the competency perspective of leadership, self-concept, integrity, knowledge of the business, and emotional intelligence are important leadership competencies.

A strong culture depends on a stable workforce.

Of the three types of trust, only calculative trust is not based on perception.

Formalization represents the establishment of standardization as a coordinating mechanism.

By avoiding written documentation of how to operate equipment or serve customers, employees are maximizing their expert power through non-substitutability.

Homogeneous teams tend to have “fault lines” that may split the team to along gender, professional, or other dimensions.

Organizational strategy influences both the contingencies of structure and the structure itself.

Scenario: Electronika International
Electronika International is a fast growing small company specializing in consumer electronics. Managers at Electronika International are exploring the idea of using the “Big Five” personality dimensions in hiring and improving work-related behaviors and job performance.
Electronika managers want to hire people who are dependable, goal-focused, thorough, and disciplined. Which of the following “Big Five” personality dimensions is desirable for individuals to be hired?
A. Openness to experience
B. Agreeableness
C. Conscientiousness
D. Locus of control
E. Extraversion

Which of the following refers to the fact that motivation is goal-directed, not random?
A. Persistence
B. Direction
C. Intensity
D. Aptitude
E. Competencies

(p.145) The Research and Development Team
Janet works on a team of 15 people working in research and development for a toymaker. They have weekly meetings to discuss new toy ideas. Occasionally, Janet will have a good idea that she wishes to discuss, but it takes too long for all her other teammates to finish talking that she will often just not bother to bring it up. Occasionally, there are arguments about which new project should have the most resources devoted to it, but Janet finds her coworkers always maintain respect for each other and work out a solution.
Janet’s problem getting her ideas out in meetings is a problem known as:
A. groupthink.
B. evaluation apprehension.
C. team syndrome.
D. production blocking.
E. intentional sabotage.

Most employees at Quokka Systems are organized into project teams. Employees report to the project leader, but they also report to a leader responsible for their functional specialization (such as engineering or marketing). Quokka Systems has a:
A. simple structure.
B. client-based divisionalized structure.
C. matrix structure.
D. product-based divisionalized structure.
E. functional structure.

Most employees in the social services section of a government department have frequent interaction with people who are unemployed or face personal problems. Which of the following personality characteristics is best suited to employees working in these jobs?
A. High neuroticism
B. External locus of control
C. High introversion
D. High agreeableness
E. Low motivation

Coordination of work activities is:
A. required whenever there is division of labor.
B. required only in team-based organizations.
C. required whenever the organization has more than approximately 100 employees.
D. required only when organizations operate in complex environments.
E. discouraged in organizations as it leads to a high degree of interdependence among employees.

Which of the following generally occurs during the storming stage of team development?
A. Members learn about each other and evaluate the benefits and costs of continued membership.
B. Members shift their attention away from task orientation to a socio-emotional focus as they realize their relationship is coming to an end.
C. Members learn to coordinate their actions and become more task-oriented.
D. Members develop their first real sense of cohesion and, through disclosure and feedback, make an effort to understand and accept each other.
E. Members try to establish norms of appropriate behavior and performance standards.

The illumination stage in the creative process:
A. provides a tested solution to complex problems.
B. occurs after the verification stage in the process.
C. generates long-lasting thoughts in the memory.
D. is characterized by convergent thinking.
E. can be quickly lost if not documented.

_____ is a psychological state that refers to the positive expectations of the intent or behavior of the other person in situations involving risk.
A. Surface acting
B. Trust
C. Cognitive dissonance
D. Deep acting
E. General adaptation syndrome

Mechanistic structures operate best:
A. in stable environments.
B. where employees dislike hierarchy and status.
C. when there are horizontal rather than vertical communication flows.
D. where knowledge management is a competitive advantage to the organization.
E. where employees perform tasks with high variability and low analyzability.

James has just joined CoraTech Systems, where he has been assigned to Paul and Natalie for sources of information about the company. Paul and Natalie introduce James to others at Coratech, give him an office tour, and assure him that they will meet him regularly for the first few weeks, to help him in the transition to the new company. In this scenario, Paul and Natalie are part of the CoraTech’s _____.
A. two-man rule
B. work ownership
C. buddy system
D. inspection partnership
E. duty segregation

One problem with a functional structure is that:
A. it is more difficult to directly supervise employees within each department.
B. it produces higher dysfunctional conflict and poorer coordination.
C. it makes it difficult to permit greater specialization of skills.
D. it prevents companies from creating economies of scale.
E. employees have difficulty creating career paths within their area of knowledge.

Recent studies suggest that we have a(n) _________ self (our personal traits), _________ self (interpersonal relations), and _________ self (our membership in identifiable social groups).
A. character; collective; social
B. collective; perceived; reflective
C. individual; relational; collective
D. summary; character; social
E. esteem; collective; relational

Which of the following refers to calculating the conventionally accepted “right answer” to a logical problem?
A. Divergent thinking
B. Convergent thinking
C. Logical validity
D. Escalation of commitment
E. Confirmation bias

People who have high moral sensitivity:
A. tend to have more information about a specific situation.
B. tend to have lower levels of empathy.
C. are always more ethical than people with a moderate or low level of ethical sensitivity.
D. are individualistic and achievement oriented.
E. cannot estimate the moral intensity of an issue.

The contact hypothesis states that:
A. our tendency to stereotype people increases with our frequency of contact with them.
B. we are more likely to make an internal attribution of someone’s behavior when we have more contact with that person.
C. the social identity theory only applies to people who have personal contact with the groups with whom they identify.
D. people who interact with each other will be less perceptually biased toward each other.
E. the self-fulfilling prophecy occurs only when the target individual interacts virtually with the person making the prophecy.

Which organizational behavior perspective discusses inputs, outputs, and feedback?
A. Organizational learning
B. Open systems
C. Multidisciplinary
D. Systematic research
E. Intellectual capital

Your centrality in a social network is determined by your:
A. betweenness, closeness, and degree centrality.
B. betweenness, visibility, and discretion.
C. closeness, discretion, and visibility.
D. closeness, degree centrality, and visibility.
E. visibility, discretion, and degree centrality.

According to expectancy theory, giving more valued rewards to employees with higher job performance mainly increases motivation by:
A. strengthening the E-to-P expectancies of employees.
B. introducing a negative valence in the organization.
C. weakening the E-to-P expectancies of employees.
D. strengthening both the E-to-P and P-to-O expectancies of employees.
E. strengthening the P-to-O expectancies of employees.

ABC Corporation
Dora and Keith are managers at ABC Corporation. Keith is having problems in his department with a lack of innovation. In response, he consults the corporate procedures manual and speaks with his boss about the right way to solve the problem. Dora is also having a similar problem in her own department but decides to confront it by hosting team luncheons where she can learn new perspectives and discuss new “outside the box” ways to deal with the problem.
Dora is an example of a(n) _______________ thinker.
A. divergent
B. innovative
C. procedural
D. convergent
E. illumination

Scenario: International Manufacturing & Trading
International Manufacturing & Trading (IMT) is a medium-sized U.S. company rapidly expanding in the Asian and Far East markets. The company has decided to open a manufacturing plant in Japan, Taiwan, and Malaysia. IMT will send key top managers from the U.S. office and will hire the lower-level managers and employees from the local markets. IMT managers realize that there will be some cultural differences but are unsure of what and how much.
IMT managers should make themselves aware that people in Japan tend to have:
A. high individualism.
B. high collectivism.
C. medium power distance.
D. low achievement orientation.
E. medium uncertainty distance.

Jiana is a flight attendant for a large airline. She exclusively works a long flight from Japan to New York, and is expected to constantly maintain a positive attitude no matter what situation arises. Over the years, Jiana has noticed that when dealing with Americans, emotions tend to run higher and she often feels frustrated as opposed to Japanese flyers who tend to be more reserved in stressful or unhappy situations.
According to the EVLN model, John is responding to his dissatisfaction in which way?
A. Exit
B. Voice
C. Loyalty
D. Neglect
E. None of these.

Scenario: International Manufacturing & Trading
International Manufacturing & Trading (IMT) is a medium-sized U.S. company rapidly expanding in the Asian and Far East markets. The company has decided to open a manufacturing plant in Japan, Taiwan, and Malaysia. IMT will send key top managers from the U.S. office and will hire the lower-level managers and employees from the local markets. IMT managers realize that there will be some cultural differences but are unsure of what and how much.
U.S. managers tend to be:
A. more individualistic.
B. high in nurturing.
C. more collectivist.
D. low in achievement orientation.
E. high in uncertainty avoidance.

Which of the following is an increasing source of information overload?
A. Electronic company magazines
B. Annual performance reviews with supervisors
C. Intranet web sites
D. Email
E. The corporate grapevine

What effect do mental models have on the decision-making process?
A. They perpetuate assumptions that make it difficult to see new opportunities.
B. They allow decision makers to obtain accurate information from the surroundings.
C. They reduce the importance of developing alternative solutions to the problem.
D. They allow decision makers to maximize the potential of their decision making.
E. They help people to be more creative in decision making.

During the _____ stage of team development, team members shift their attention away from task orientation to a relationship focus.
A. forming
B. storming
C. norming
D. adjourning
E. performing

Tammy
Tammy recently earned her degree in nursing and has begun a career path in the surgical ward at a local hospital. Her training program consists of a year-long internship, working with senior nurses. While in school, Tammy worked in a medical lab performing routine blood tests. The lab technician job required her to take a two-week course and refer to a procedures manual for her work on a daily basis.
Which coordinating mechanism is most important in Tammy’s new career as a surgical nurse?
A. Direct supervision
B. An integrator role
C. Job descriptions
D. Extensive training
E. Decentralization

Which of the following typically results in a loss of intellectual capital?
A. The employees help the organization discover opportunities.
B. The employees protect the firm from threats in the external environment.
C. The company sells one of its divisions and its employees now work for the other organization.
D. The workers help in documentation of work procedures.
E. The company has a good physical layout of the production line.

Hogan Company
A new employee in the finance department of the Hogan Company prominently displays diplomas and past awards indicating his financial expertise.
What type of power is this employee most likely trying to attain?
A. Expert
B. Coercive
C. Legitimate
D. Reward
E. Referent

________ is the process of filtering information received by our senses.
A. Personal identification
B. Social learning
C. Projection
D. Stereotyping
E. Selective attention

Which ethical principle reflects the idea that people have entitlements that let them act in a certain way?
A. Utilitarianism
B. Individual rights
C. Moral intensity
D. Distributive justice
E. Care

Direct communication minimizes conflict by:
A. reducing task interdependence.
B. reducing reliance on stereotypes about the other party.
C. creating organizational buffers.
D. reducing the differentiation in the work force.
E. increasing the available resources.

Self-reinforcement can potentially minimize stress by:
A. removing people from stressors.
B. helping employees to temporarily withdraw from the stressor.
C. helping employees to control the consequences of stress.
D. helping employees to develop more favorable perceptions of the stressors.
E. Self-leadership has no known effect on work-related stress.

Distinguish between simple and complex environments. Which element of organizational structure best suits a complex environment?

What does organizational culture consist of?

Explain at least three reasons that employees resist change.

Explain the three critical psychological states that affect employee motivation and satisfaction in the context of the job characteristics model.

Briefly describe the four stages in the Four-D model of appreciative inquiry.

What is organizational socialization? How does it support the organization’s culture?

Explain the statement, “Structure follows strategy.”

Should companies try to eliminate grapevine communication?Explain your answer.

Describe a reward system that would best motivate employees to learn several jobs. Identify potential disadvantages of this reward system.

Explain the important contingencies of organizational culture and effectiveness.

Explain self-verification and its implications on organizational behavior.
Self-verification stabilizes an individual’s self-view, which, in turn, provides an important anchor that guides his or her thoughts and actions. Employees actively communicate their self-concept so co-workers can provide feedback that reinforces the self-concept. For example, you might let co-workers know that you are a very organized person; later, they point out situations where you have indeed been very organized. Unlike self-enhancement, self-verification includes seeking feedback that is not necessarily flattering (e.g., I’m a numbers person, not a people person). Social scientists continue to debate whether and under what conditions people prefer information that supports self-enhancement or self-verification. In other words, do we prefer compliments rather than accurate critique about weaknesses that we readily acknowledge?

What are the common gender differences observed in communication?

Explain the main strategies for merging different corporate cultures.

Your organization wants to improve employee motivation. Employees already have strong P-to-O expectancies and the outcome valences are quite favorable for strong performance, but they seem to have a low E-to-P expectancy. Identify any three strategies that would potentially increase employee motivation by improving the E-to-P expectancy.

Discuss the nature of task-oriented and people-oriented leadership styles. How do these styles relate to a leader’s effectiveness?

Three employees believe that their pay is too low. One of them quits, the second complains to management about the low pay, and the third does nothing. Explain why these employees engaged in different behaviors even though they held the same belief about their paychecks.

Explain the important functions of organizational culture.

An ongoing debate in organizational behavior is whether we should consider the personality traits of job applicants when selecting them into the organization. Take the view that personality traits should be considered in the selection process and provide arguments for your position.

Briefly describe the five ways of managing work-related stress.

The chief executive officer of a mid-sized manufacturing company has hired you to design the work site and to make any other changes necessary for employees to feel more empowered. Briefly define empowerment and describe three important conditions you would ensure to improve empowerment among the employees.