Human Relations: Interpersonal Job-Oriented Skills, 12e (DuBrin)
Chapter 16 Stress Management and Personal Productivity
16.1 Multiple Choice Questions
1) Margot is classified as a corporate athlete, so we can expect her to
A) work in the company wellness program.
B) perform at a high level for sustained periods of time.
C) drink Gatorade during business meetings.
D) be a mentor to several workers at the same time.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
2) Baxter, a hospital administrator, is facing a challenge stressor today so he is likely to
A) feel indifferent to what is going on around him.
B) be less motivated and perform more poorly.
C) be more motivated and perform better.
D) go into a state of panic because of a system collapse.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
3) Candy is walking to the company parking lot toward her car when a grizzly-bear suddenly
appears and begins growling at her. Cindy wonders whether she should wrestle the bear to the
ground or run away as fast as possible, thereby demonstrating which aspect of dealing with a
stressor?
A) fight-or-flight response
B) burnout
C) Type A behavior
D) hindrance versus challenge
AACSB: Reflective thinking
4) A major consequence of burnout is
A) a dislike of information technology.
B) a dependence on hindrance stressors.
C) damage to the physical health of workers.
D) increases in job satisfaction.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
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5) Katie has high self-efficacy so she is
A) less likely to become heavily stressed by job challenges.
B) more likely to become heavily stressed by job challenges.
C) less likely to believe that she can handle a difficult job challenge.
D) more likely to create stress for herself.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
6) Alex has high reactivity, so when encountering significant job stress, he
A) breaks out into a rash over his entire body.
B) blames himself for all that went wrong.
C) is likely to stay upset a long time.
D) starts meditating soon after the stressful event.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
7) You know you have an extreme job when you work
A) 80 hours per week, travel heavily, and face tight deadlines.
B) 30 hours per week from your home and receive high pay.
C) only from midnight until 8 a.m.
D) during certain seasons, such as the tax season.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
8) Which one of the following is the most likely to lead to emotional labor?
A) working for a boss who provides very little recognition
B) switching back and forth between dealing with customers and employees
C) being forced to frequently smile at hostile customers
D) having to work long hours at modest pay
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
9) An important principle about stress management is that you are less likely to experience
distress if you have
A) high reactivity.
B) negative affectivity.
C) the right resources.
D) tendencies toward procrastination.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
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10) Tamara uses the cognitive behavioral approach to stress management, so she begins to
A) meditate when faced with a major problem.
B) search in advance for the negatives in a situation that could cause problems.
C) blame other people rather than herself for her personal problems.
D) overcome some of her negative thoughts that create stress.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
11) George is feeling stressed today because his annual performance evaluation takes place
tomorrow. George intends to use the technique, aspire for a positive future to help deal with his
stress. As a result, George
A) pictures himself taking a vacation on the lake.
B) imagines himself being calm and relaxed during the evaluation.
C) imagines receiving a poor evaluation, then having a few beers to feel better.
D) thinks about becoming self-employed to avoid being evaluated in the future.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
12) Clarissa experiences heavy stress in her role as a debt-collection specialist. Clarissa decides
that what she needs today is a dose of endorphins. To get her dose of endorphins, Clarissa should
A) run around the block once or twice.
B) drink three cans of energy drink.
C) find an online pharmacy that sells endorphins without a prescription.
D) eat a bar of dark chocolate.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
13) Research about support networks suggests that socially connected people
A) are more prone to stress.
B) are less prone to stress.
C) are too busy to be stressed.
D) have no reason to worry.
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
14) The visualization technique for stress reduction requires that the stressed person
A) imagine what life would be without stress.
B) create a mental scenario of a highly-charged, exciting experience.
C) think of a pleasant, relaxing experience.
D) imagine that he or she can conquer any problem.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
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15) Garth has successfully completed resilience training. As a result, the next time he faces a
highly challenging situation, he will think of
A) the skills he has to deal with the situation.
B) all the good things that are taking place in his life.
C) how his life used to be better.
D) how much worse off some of his friends are.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
16) When measuring personal productivity, it is important to consider the quantity, quality, and
A) when the work will be accomplished.
B) if the work was accomplished.
C) how the work was accomplished.
D) whether hard skills or soft skills were used to accomplish the work.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
17) Nick is a heavy procrastinator, so he is likely to
A) have nightmares about unfinished tasks.
B) have much more job satisfaction than those workers who worry about getting things done.
C) concentrate better than most workers because he is not so busy.
D) have problems concentrating because of all the undone tasks.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
18) Breaking a task down into manageable chunks is aimed at overcoming procrastination due to
A) dislike of an overwhelming task.
B) dislike of a task with several components.
C) looking to punish oneself.
D) craving the excitement of rushing to make a deadline.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
19) Having a mission in life is likely to
A) make you a workaholic.
B) propel you toward being more productive.
C) make short-range goals superfluous.
D) propel you toward self-employment.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
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20) Working smarter, not harder means that the person
A) puts extra effort into every task.
B) spends very little time planning.
C) finds imaginative solutions to problems.
D) avoids attitudes of perfectionism.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
21) Gail participates in deliberate practice, so she is likely to
A) neglect her major job responsibilities.
B) keep working on areas for improvement.
C) procrastinate a good number of tasks.
D) develop a repetitive motion disorder.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
22) You know you are a workaholic when you
A) work long and hard to get ahead in your career.
B) work fifty or more hours per week.
C) work overtime for four or more consecutive weeks.
D) find it difficult to leave work behind.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
23) A major purpose of work streamlining is to
A) minimize duplication of effort and waste.
B) increase the speed at which you work.
C) get your to-do list down to less than 10 items per day.
D) share your responsibilities with others.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
24) A major concern about multitasking while working on important projects is that
A) the work is performed too quickly.
B) the person will appear to be old-fashioned.
C) errors are likely to increase.
D) working on the project is less joyful.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
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25) A suggestion for making Internet searches more productive is to
A) use quite general search words and phrases.
B) first place messages on social networking sites asking for advice.
C) confine your search to one search engine.
D) pay extra attention to your choice of a search word or phrase.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
Job Scenario, Multiple-Choice
Francesca works as a social media specialist for a company that operates 25 franchise restaurants
in her region. In the last several years, the company has cut back substantially on most other
forms of advertising, and instead concentrates on the social media, particularly Facebook and
Twitter. Company management leaves all the social networking activity to Francesca. It is her
responsibility to send out company messages, and interact with as many friends and followers as
possible. As the number of social media contacts multiply, Francesca’s job has become more and
more demanding. She has less and less time to spend with her husband and five-year-old son
because her work spills over into the evenings as well as weekends. Although Francesca eats
many meals and snacks on the job she is losing weight. As her workload increases, she is also
becoming more short tempered and has frequent headaches.
26) It is Monday night, and Francesca is experiencing more stress symptoms than usual. She
notices that she has lost two more pounds, her headache is intense, and a rash has broken out on
her face. Francesca thinks, “I’ve got to do something to get out from under all this stress.” What
do you recommend Francesca do to reduce the stress she is experiencing?
A) Get a group of friends together to form a support group that will meet every Sunday afternoon
between three and five.
B) Create a few personal accounts on social networking sites, so she can visit them as a pleasant
diversion during and after work.
C) Jog every day for ten minutes each night after all her work and family responsibilities have
been completed.
D) Find a better balance between work and family responsibilities.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
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27) At ten this evening, Francesca is confronted by her husband Roger. He says that if she cannot
find a way to spend less time working at home, their family life will be permanently damaged.
Roger points out that their son Trevor has also been complaining about not spending enough time
with “Mommy.” Francesca agrees that it would be good for her family life to reduce her work
schedule. A good starting point for her might be to
A) prioritize who to respond to on the social media sites by attempting to respond mostly to
friends and followers, rather than interacting with everybody who leaves a comment.
B) procrastinate more, thereby worrying later about meeting all the demands of her job.
C) multitask more, including the use of two computers at the same time; one for Facebook, and
one for Twitter.
D) be cleaner and neater on the job so as to waste less time searching for items.
AACSB: Analytical thinking
16.2 True/False Questions
1) Absences due to workplace stress tend to be both infrequent and short term.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
2) Jason works as a night cashier in a convenience store. One night a man enters the store, points
a gun at Jason, and says “Give me the money in the cash register, or I’ll shoot you.” Jason’s heart
beat and pulse rate increase dramatically. The stressor in this situation is Jason’s physiological
changes.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
3) Store manager Karen wakes up the morning after Thanksgiving, knowing that today will be so
exciting that she will be extra motivated and productive. Karen is therefore facing a challenge
stressor.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
4) A key contributor factor to burnout is having limited control in the workplace, including not
being able to decide how to accomplish a task.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
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5) A study with Dutch workers found that charismatic leaders tend to create more burnout
problems among subordinates because these leaders hold such high expectations of subordinates.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
6) Being hostile for a long period of time is more likely to contribute to a heart attack than being
impatient for the same period of time.
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
7) Kent has a predisposition of high reactivity. As a result when he experiences a stressful
situation he will usually calm down after a few moments.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
8) Pam, a newly hired credit manager, asks her boss what problems she should work on first. Her
boss replies, “That’s up to you.” Pam runs the risk of suffering from the stressor of role
ambiguity.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
9) People who hold extreme jobs usually work long hours under tight schedules, and also engage
in heavy travel.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
10) Troy, a technical writer, is most likely to experience carpal tunnel syndrome when he is angry
about being given so few interesting assignments.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
11) Nurse Nancy is likely to suffer from emotional labor because she becomes sad from dealing
with so many sick and injured patients.
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
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12) Alex, a supervisor at a steel recycling center, makes frequent mean-spirited jokes about the
team members. His humor is likely to reduce tension and stress among team members.
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
13) The most powerful method of managing stress is to eliminate or modify the stressor.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
14) Marvin, a small business owner, experiences stress because he worries so much that his
company will be burglarized. A cognitive-behavior approach to stress management would be for
him to search for facts demonstrating the high number of burglaries near his business.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
15) A major goal of resilience training is for people to learn how to steel themselves against
challenging situations instead of experiencing considerable stress.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
16) Phyllis works as a reviewer for applicants for food stamps in her state. An effective measure
of Phyllis’s productivity would include the number of applications she processes per week minus
the number of applications she incorrectly accepts or rejects.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
17) A problem associated with procrastination is that the unfinished tasks rumble around in the
back of your consciousness, thereby interfering with your concentration.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
18) A recommended method for controlling procrastination is to tackle the worst task on your list
first, so doing the other items might function like a small reward.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
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19) A useful assist in getting better organized is to establish a personal mission with
accompanying goals.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
20) Working smarter, not harder, is a method of increasing personal productivity because you
minimize wasting effort in accomplishing your goals.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
21) Derek, a horse trainer, works on his techniques day after day and welcomes feedback so he
can improve. Derek is therefore engaging in deliberate practice.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
22) Some time-management specialists agree that clearing clutter from your work area and your
mind will lead to enhanced productivity.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
23) With all the electronic gadgets and apps available to the modern professional worker, the
prioritized to-do list has lost much of its effectiveness.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
24) The modern approach of multitasking is recommended for dealing with your most important
work assignments.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
25) An area for improving productivity for most workers is to improve their Internet search
skills.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
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