Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 12e (Robbins/Judge)
Chapter 1 What is Organizational Behavior?
1) Until the late 1980s, business school curricula emphasized the ________ aspects of
management.
A) ethical
B) people
C) technical
D) human
E) global
2) Which of the following is not a reason why business schools have begun to include classes on
organizational behavior?
A) to increase manager effectiveness in organizations
B) to help organizations attract top quality employees
C) to expand organizations’ consulting needs
D) to improve retention of quality workers
E) to help increase organizations’ profits
3) ________ is the study of the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior
within organizations.
A) Leadership
B) Organizational strategy
C) Performance management
D) Employee relations
E) Organizational behavior
4) Which of the following is not a topic or concern related to OB?
A) turnover
B) leader behavior
C) productivity
D) management
E) family behavior
5) Which of the following problems would an OB study be least likely to focus on?
A) an increase in absenteeism at a certain company
B) a fall in productivity in one shift of a manufacturing plant
C) a decrease in sales due to growing foreign competition
D) an increase in theft by employees at a retail store
E) excessive turnover among volunteer workers at a non-profit organization
6) What are the three primary determinants of behavior in organizations?
A) profit structure, organizational complexity, and job satisfaction
B) individuals, profit structure, and job satisfaction
C) individuals, groups, and job satisfaction
D) groups, structure, and profit structure
E) individuals, groups, and structure
7) Which of the following is not a core topic of organizational behavior?
A) motivation
B) attitude development
C) conflict
D) resource allocation
E) work design
8) In order to predict human behavior, it is best to supplement your intuitive opinions with
information derived in what fashion?
A) common sense
B) direct observation
C) systematic study
D) speculation
E) organizational theory
9) Betty believes that it is best to take the casual or common sense approach to reading others.
She needs to remember that ________.
A) the casual approach is nonsensical, and should be avoided as much as possible
B) the systematic approach and the casual approach are one and the same
C) laboratory experiments on human behavior often result in unreliable findings
D) the casual or common sense approach to reading others can often lead to erroneous
predictions
E) behavior is unpredictable, hence there is no accurate way to analyze it
10) Which of the following explains the usefulness of the systematic approach to the study of
organizational behavior?
A) Human behavior does not vary a great deal between individuals and situations.
B) Human behavior is not random.
C) Human behavior is not consistent.
D) Human behavior is rarely predictable.
E) Human behavior is often not sensible.
11) Basing managerial decisions on the best available scientific support is called ________.
A) intuition
B) organizational process
C) organizational behavior
D) evidence-based management
E) conceptual management
12) Analyzing relationships, determining causes and effects, and basing conclusions on scientific
evidence all constitute aspects of ________ study.
A) organizational
B) intuitive
C) theoretical
D) systematic
E) case-based
13) Janet needs to assign a very important advertising account to one of her writers. First she
reviewed each writer’s work load, then she studied the sales data of the products for the last three
campaigns of each writer, then she reviewed each writer’s annual review to familiarize herself
with their goals. Finally, she gave the account to Paula, a very creative, efficient, writer who has
had high sales results with her last three clients’ products. Janet’s management style is based on
________.
A) intuition or “gut feeling”
B) organizational behavioral studies
C) subjective assessments
D) preconceived notions
E) systematic study
14) Which behavioral science discipline is most focused on understanding individual behavior?
A) sociology
B) social psychology
C) psychology
D) anthropology
E) organizational behavior
15) Organizational behavior is constructed from all of the following disciplines except
________.
A) physics
B) psychology
C) anthropology
D) sociology
E) social psychology
16) Psychology’s major contributions to the field of organizational behavior have been primarily
at what level of analysis?
A) the level of the group
B) the level of the individual
C) the level of the organization
D) the level of culture
E) the level of interacting groups
17) ________ is a science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behavior of
humans and other animals.
A) Psychiatry
B) Psychology
C) Sociology
D) Political science
E) Organizational behavior
18) The OB topic of motivation has been most influenced by which behavioral discipline?
A) psychology
B) social psychology
C) sociology
D) political science
E) corporate strategy
19) Austin is a graduate student helping to organize a study on individual job satisfaction. The
study focuses on the top five causes of satisfaction or dissatisfaction on a job. His department is
surveying 200 individuals in 100 different types of organizations. Austin is most likely a
graduate student in the department of ________.
A) psychology
B) anthropology
C) political science
D) social psychology
E) archaeology
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Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
You are bringing together faculty from different behavioral disciplines to author a new textbook
in organizational behavior. Represented are professors from psychology, sociology, social
psychology, anthropology, political science, and industrial engineering.
20) Which faculty member should furnish information about personality, learning, and
motivation?
A) sociology
B) psychology
C) anthropology
D) political science
E) industrial engineering
21) Which professor out of this group would you expect to address issues on communication?
A) the psychologist
B) the anthropologist
C) the political scientist
D) the social psychologist
E) the industrial engineer
22) You should expect that the faculty member from ________ will probably contribute
information about large-scale group behavior.
A) sociology
B) psychology
C) social psychology
D) anthropology
E) industrial engineering
23) Group behavior, power, and conflict are central areas of study for ________.
A) archaeologists
B) philanthropists
C) anthropologists
D) social psychologists
E) operations analysts
24) ________ blends concepts from psychology and sociology and focuses on the influence
people have on one another.
A) Corporate strategy
B) Anthropology
C) Political science
D) Social psychology
E) Archaeology
25) Jude is a social psychologist. He is working on a concept in social psychology, which is a
major study area, and learning how to implement it and how to reduce barriers to its acceptance.
Jude is studying the concept of ________.
A) culture
B) ethics
C) power
D) change
E) fatigue
26) ________ focuses on the study of people in relation to their social environment.
A) Psychology
B) Sociology
C) Corporate strategy
D) Political science
E) Operations management
27) Which field of study has contributed to OB through its research on organizational culture and
formal organization theory and structure?
A) psychology
B) operations management
C) corporate strategy
D) political science
E) sociology
28) This field of study has helped us understand differences in fundamental values, attitudes, and
behavior between people in different countries and within different organizations.
A) anthropology
B) corporate strategy
C) political science
D) operations research
E) psycholinguistics
29) Myriam is analyzing the gender roles of men and women in management in the United States
and comparing them to the gender roles in management in Japan. She is surveying fifty male and
fifty female managers in each country to compare their daily behavior. Myriam’s study
exemplifies how ________ contributes to OB.
A) anthropology
B) psychology
C) archaeology
D) political science
E) corporate strategy
30) The subject of organizational culture has been most influenced by which behavioral science
discipline?
A) anthropology
B) psychology
C) social psychology
D) political science
E) corporate strategy
31) Which of the following statements best describes the current status of organizational
behavior concepts?
A) They are based on universal truths.
B) Since people are complex, the theories explaining their actions must also be complex.
C) There is general consensus among OB researchers and scholars on the simple concepts that
underlie most human behavior.
D) Cause-and-effect principles that tend to apply to all situations have been discovered.
E) Cause-and-effect relationships for most human behaviors have been isolated.
32) Human beings are complex, and few, if any, simple and universal principles explain
organizational behavior. Nevertheless, it does not mean that OB cannot offer reasonably accurate
explanations of human behavior or make valid predictions. It does mean that OB concepts must
________.
A) focus on the reliability and validity of research data
B) attempt to establish cause-and-effect relationships
C) be consistently applicable across a wide range of situations
D) reflect situational, or contingency, conditions
E) avoid assumptions
33) Which of the following statements best describes contingency variables?
A) They are scientific factors based on universal truths.
B) They are factors that moderate the relationship between two or more events or situations.
C) There is general consensus among OB researchers that they can be controlled.
D) They are the cause-and-effect principles that tend to apply to all situations that have been
discovered.
E) They are simple and universal principles that explain organizational behavior.
34) OB concepts must reflect contingency conditions for all of the following reasons except
________.
A) human beings are complex
B) our predictions and assumptions are almost accurate all the time
C) one person’s behavior changes in different situations
D) we are limited in our ability to make sweeping generalizations
E) two people often act very differently in the same situation
35) Raymond is completing a study on discrimination in which he has noted that saleswomen
who wear skirt suits make more sales than saleswomen who only wear pant suits. However,
Raymond determined that his findings only pertained to those industries in which the purchasing
decision maker is traditionally masculine. For example, the sales results were the same for all
women selling to medical office managers, a female dominated field. Raymond used ________
variables to more accurately explain his results.
A) global
B) general
C) dependent
D) non-reactive
E) contingency
36) ________ is an effect of increasing globalization.
A) More expensive consumer goods
B) An increase in manufacturing jobs in developed nations
C) An ever increasingly homogeneous workforce
D) Shared economic values among all cultures
E) Jobs moving to nations with low-cost labor
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37) ________ is a measure of how organizations are becoming more heterogeneous in terms of
gender, race, and ethnicity.
A) Globalization
B) Workforce diversity
C) Affirmative action
D) Organizational culture
E) Operational homogeneity
38) As managers oversee the movement of jobs to countries with low-cost labor, ________.
A) they tend to ignore the home country needs
B) they must deal with strong criticism from labor groups
C) they manage less diverse workforces
D) they avoid markets like China and other developing nations
E) they work themselves out of a job
39) Whereas ________ focuses on differences among people from different countries, ________
addresses differences among people within given countries.
A) workforce diversity; globalization
B) globalization; workforce diversity
C) culture; diversity
D) culturalization; workforce diversity
E) psychology; social psychology
40) Which of the following statements is not true about work force diversity?
A) Disability is a category of workforce diversity.
B) Managing workforce diversity presents many challenges.
C) Workforce diversity focuses on differences within a country.
D) Sexual orientation is a part of workforce diversity.
E) Workforce diversity is a concern only in the United States.
41) Workforce diversity means that organizations are becoming more heterogeneous in terms of
all of the following except ________.
A) age
B) gender
C) domestic partners
D) socio-economic status
E) religion
42) Which of the following was the most significant change in the United States labor force
during the last half of the twentieth century?
A) substantial decreases in the number of workers who are under 55
B) increases in the percentage of United States citizens of Hispanic origin
C) the increasing number of African-Americans at all levels within the workforce
D) the steady increase in the percentage of employed males
E) the rapid increase in the number of female workers
43) Eighty percent of the United States workforce today is made up of ________ jobs.
A) textile
B) technology
C) automobile
D) restaurant
E) service