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Contemporary Organizational Behavior (Elsbach)
Topic Summary 7 Persuasion, Influence, and Impression Management
1) Organizational politics includes all of the following except ________.
A) Using influence
B) Behavior performed by people in organizations
C) Behavior based on legitimate power
D) Behavior based on social power designed to get one’s way
2) How can you use reciprocity to influence others in a way that benefits you most?
A) Engage in organizational citizenship behavior
B) Offer unsolicited help to others
C) Give priority to doing favors for those you like
D) Repay those who do favors for you
3) What is the best way to maximize the effectiveness of influence?
A) Combine authority with social proof
B) Utilize social proof in organizational politics
C) Utilize impression management to create social proof
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4) According to the halo effect, which of the following will you assume about someone if they
are attractive and likable?
A) Neurotic
B) Conceited
C) Intelligent
D) Introverted
5) What is a requirement for all persuasion tactics?
A) They only take place in workplaces with politics
B) Position power determines the persuasion tactics
C) There has to be a target of influence
D) An alternate agenda guides influence
6) What is one of the main ways social proof persuades you to go with the group?
A) Feeling of security from being part of larger group
B) Provides evidence that the group’s choice will be personally beneficial for you
C) Mimic behavior of others because the majority is always right
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7) In what way is motivation involved in social proof?
A) Those with extrinsic motivation persuade others effectively
B) Those with intrinsic motivation are highly vulnerable to persuasion
C) People are motivated to follow the crowd even when they know for certain that the group is
making the wrong choice
D) In social proof, people look to others’ actions when they aren’t motivated or don’t have the
time to carefully think about what to do and follow the crowd
8) Why is the social norm of reciprocity such a powerful persuasion tactic?
A) Reciprocity is based on equity theory, and thus it’s a goal that everyone strives for in the
workplace
B) Reciprocity is found in many different societies making it a universal and cross cultural
persuasion tactic
C) Reciprocity reduces uncertainty that people have, and we are motivated to feel secure in our
environments
D) Reciprocity is based on the simple theory of give and take which is easy for people to
9) What is the common method used by each of the six persuasion tactics to exert influence on
target(s)?
A) Trading logical and careful analysis for mindless compliance
B) Using position power and influence tactics together
C) Foregoing careful evaluation to comply with authority
D) Using heuristics instead of using social norms
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10) Who can have authority over you?
A) Your teammate
B) Your subordinate
C) Your direct supervisor
D) All of the above
Difficulty: Easy
11) When might you first be persuaded that the guest speaker for your class is an authority?
A) After hearing and critically considering their presentation
B) After evaluating their qualifications
C) Watching them confidently and professionally interact with your professor before the
presentation
12) Anna works late to help Nate finish his marketing proposal. A few weeks later, Anna asks
Nate for help on her sales presentation. According to the social norm of reciprocity, who will
end up receiving the most help?
A) Anna because she asked for the favor after helping Nate
B) Nate because he got help from Anna first
C) A reciprocal exchange requires that both parties get the same outcome, so Anna will help
Nate the same amount that Nate helped her
D) Reciprocity doesn’t allow one person to get more than the other. It depends on the people and
the situation
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13) When shopping in a retail store, a very loud alarm goes off. You look around and see that no
one is panicking, not even the employees, so you decide that it must be a false alarm and
continue shopping. What helps explain your conclusion?
A) Authority
B) Reciprocity
C) Social proof
D) Scarcity
14) How are social power and persuasion tactics related?
A) Social power provides the basis for persuasion tactics
B) Social power only provides leverage for the social persuasion tactics
C) Social power is the ability to effectively use persuasion tactics
D) Social power comes from position and persuasion tactics
15) If you want to increase your ability to influence others, what type of power should you focus
on improving?
A) Social power
B) Positional power
C) Personal power
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16) When an employee becomes empowered, what type of power have they gained?
A) Expertise
B) Experience
C) Personal
D) Autonomy
Difficulty: Medium
17) Which of the following is not a primary factor in an individual’s choice to exert influence?
A) Nature of the influence target
B) Objectives one wants to achieve
C) Impression one wants to convey
D) One’s ability to influence
18) What is the difference between “street smart” which is knowing something because you have
done it and “book smart” which is knowing something because you have studied it.
A) Experience
B) Personal power
C) Authority
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19) Which of the following is an example of impression management?
A) Manager creating a to-do list to track daily accomplishments
B) Leader creating a vision for the company
C) Individual responding in a timely manner to emails from other team members
D) Individual presenting themselves as a team player and organized leader in job interview
Difficulty: Hard
20) When individuals in organizations choose to exert influence they consider three main
factors. Which of the following is not one of the factors individuals consider when choosing to
exert influence?
A) Desired objective of exerting influence
B) Cost/benefit of exerting influence
C) Characteristics of the target of influence
D) Impression to be made by exerting influence
Difficulty: Medium
21) Impression management involves controlling the influence process to impact ideas formed
about all of the following except a(n) ________.
A) event
B) person
C) idea
D) None of the above
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22) Which of the following would not be a good combination of a persuasion tactic and source of
power?
A) Experience/Social proof
B) Attractiveness/Liking
C) Relevance/Autonomy
D) Formal authority/Authority
23) Eric is the statistics whiz on your team, and everyone on your team has informally agreed
that Eric should run all the stats for your research and presentations while the rest of you take on
a larger share of the other project parts. You are likely to help Eric anytime he asks for help, but
you don’t always put in that extra effort for your other team members. What combination of
persuasion tactic and power source explains your willingness to help Eric anytime he asks?
A) Expertise/Consistency
B) Experience/Social proof
C) Autonomy/Scarcity
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24) As HR manager, you are under intense pressure to hire top talent at the lowest possible cost.
What would be the most effective way to persuade a candidate to join your organization without
offering more money?
A) Allow the candidate one week to consider the compensation package before getting back to
you
B) Provide statistics on employee satisfaction at your organization
C) Tell the applicant you are considering two other highly qualified applicants for the opening
and want to decide soon
D) Provide a better benefits package that may include better medical insurance or stock options
25) Why would a company choose not to grow or expand despite great demand for their product?
A) Create greater perceived value for their product
B) Increase the cost of their product
C) Create greater demand for their product
D) All of the above
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26) An organization is ramping up efforts to increase the health and well-being of their
employees in several different ways like training sessions, access to online resources, and
posting fliers. In the break room, there is a poster with a statement explaining the campaign and
lines below where employees can voluntarily sign to signify they will adopt more healthy
behaviors. Sarah and Rick are two employees in particular who are excited to become healthier.
Rick decides to sign the poster but Sarah doesn’t. What is the likely outcome?
A) Rick and Sarah will equally adopt healthier behaviors
B) Sarah will adopt more healthy behaviors than Rick
C) Rick will adopt more healthy behaviors than Sarah
D) Sarah and Rick won’t adopt healthier behaviors
Difficulty: Hard
27) Alpha Manufacturing Inc. wants to increase demand for a certain product so they are printing
“limited edition” on the packaging. Why might this influence more customers to buy their
product?
A) Scarcity persuasion tactic
B) Limited edition
C) False advertising
D) Persuasive marketing
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28) How can you successfully claim your bags and get a taxi after getting off a flight in a foreign
country where you don’t know the language?
A) Persuasion of officials
B) Commitment to consistent actions
C) Use social proof and follow the actions of other travelers
D) Direction by those you assume have authority