24) Perpetuating a company’s culture does NOT involve
A) word-of-mouth indoctrination of new members in the culture’s fundamentals.
B) frequent reiteration of core values by senior managers and group members.
C) visibly rewarding those who display cultural norms and penalizing those who don’t.
D) maintaining a consistent strategic vision and strategic intent over time.
E) telling and retelling of company legends and regular ceremonies honoring members who
display desired cultural behaviors.
25) Which of the following statements about a company’s culture is NOT true?
A) The more new employees a company is hiring, the more important it becomes to screen job
applicants every bit as much for how well their values, beliefs, and personalities match up with
the culture as for their technical skills and experience.
B) The longer people stay at an organization, the more that they come to embrace and mirror the
corporate culture—their values and beliefs tend to be molded by mentors, fellow workers,
company training programs, and the reward structure.
C) A company’s culture, once established, tends to remain stable and entrenched over time.
D) Typically, key elements of the culture originate with a founder or certain strong leaders who
articulated them as a set of business principles, company policies, operating approaches, and
ways of dealing with employees, customers, vendors, shareholders, and local communities where
the company has operations.
E) Company cultures can be perpetuated by the telling and retelling of company legends, by
regular ceremonies honoring members who display desired cultural behaviors, and by visibly
rewarding those who display cultural norms and penalizing those who don’t.
26) Even if a company has a strong culture, the culture and work climate may or may not
A) reward identification of cost savings opportunities in support of a low-cost strategy.
B) reward initiative, risk-taking, and creativity to spur innovation in a technology-based
company.
C) share certain deeply rooted values and norms of behavior.
D) be compatible with what is needed for effective implementation of the chosen strategy.
E) reflect a deep commitment to benchmarking, best practices, and operating excellence.
27) What actions, behaviors, and work practices that are conducive to good strategy
implementation support the strategy execution effort?
A) using peer pressure to company personnel to perform, enhancing worker productivity and
buy-in, and focusing the attention of employees on what is most important
B) energizing the workforce, ensuring that personnel memorize the company values statement
and code of ethics, and achieving competitive advantage
C) providing for greater strategic flexibility, using peer pressure to company personnel to
perform, and energizing the workforce
D) enhancing worker productivity and buy-in, focusing the attention of employees on what is
most important, and ensuring adherence to the company culture
E) focusing the attention of employees on what is most important, insisting that official policies
and procedures be followed religiously, and using peer pressure to company personnel to
perform
28) The characteristics of a strong-culture company include all of the following EXCEPT
A) deeply rooted values and operating approaches that “regulate” the conduct of a company’s
business and the climate of its workplace.
B) strong managerial commitment to display company values and principles in their own actions
and behavior.
C) dedicated efforts on the part of management to communicating values and business principles
to organization members and explaining how they relate to the company’s business environment.
D) ingrained shared values and business principles guide management in making decisions.
E) co-worker peer pressure to challenge cultural norms.
29) The emergence and sustainability of a strong culture like Epic Systems has been fostered by
A) senior executives that walk the walk of high ethical standards.
B) a strong emphasis on developing innovative core competencies and competitive capabilities.
C) a sincere, long-standing company commitment to operating the business according to
established traditions, thereby creating an internal environment that supports decision-making
and strategies based on cultural norms.
D) centralized decision-making and strict enforcement of company policies.
E) a long-standing commitment to strict enforcement of established policies and procedures and
steadfast unwillingness to change these policies and procedures.
30) Contributing to the emergence and sustainability of a strong culture does NOT necessitate
A) continuity of leadership, small group size, stable group membership, geographic
concentration, and considerable organizational success.
B) a founder or strong leader who establishes values, principles, and practices that are consistent
and sensible in light of customer needs, competitive conditions, and strategic requirements.
C) a sincere, long-standing company commitment to operating the business according to
established traditions, thereby creating an internal environment that supports decision-making
and strategies based on cultural norms.
D) centralized decision-making, strict enforcement of company policies, and a strong
commitment to being the market share leader.
E) a genuine concern for the well-being of the organization’s three biggest constituencies—
customers, employees, and shareholders.
31) A strong culture company like W.L. Gore or Nordstrom is UNLIKELY to be characterized
by
A) culturally approved behaviors and ways of doing things being nurtured while culturally
disapproved behaviors and work practices being squashed.
B) senior managers that make a point of reiterating key principles and core values to
organization members; more importantly, they make a conscious effort to display these
principles and values in their own actions and behavior and they insist that company values and
business principles be reflected in the decisions and actions taken by all company personnel.
C) continuity of leadership, small group size, stable group membership, geographic
concentration, and considerable organizational success that all contribute to the emergence and
sustainability of a strong culture.
D) centralized decision-making, strict enforcement of company policies, diligent pursuit of a
distinctive competence, and a bold strategic intent that are the hallmarks of a strong-culture
company.
E) values and behavioral norms considered to be similar to crabgrass: deeply rooted and hard to
weed out.
32) Apple Inc.’s strongly implanted corporate culture has a powerful influence on the behavior of
its personnel with the exception of
A) most corporate personnel have acknowledged and accepted the cultural traditions.
B) management expectations and co-worker peer pressure cause employees to conform.
C) over time people who do not like the culture tend to leave.
D) over time achieving low workforce-turnover is a catalyst for conformity and acceptance.
E) a strong leader that uses coercion and the threat of punishment to enforce norms.
33) A strongly implanted culture provides a huge assist in executing strategy because company
managers can use the traditions, beliefs, values, common bonds, or behavioral norms
A) as levers to mobilize commitment to executing the chosen strategy.
B) as reinforcement for convincing staff that the strategy is sound and molded in tradition.
C) to ensure the staff will embrace the new strategy like they have in the past.
D) to manipulate jobholders into thinking traditions are important.
E) as disciplinary measures in making the employees perform better and achieve targets.
34) A weak company culture
A) celebrates change and consensual decision-making.
B) produces champions of innovation and creativity.
C) creates harmonious subcultures along its value chain.
D) promotes greed-driven and unethical behaviors.
E) rewards consensus thinking.
35) In direct contrast to strong-culture companies, what is NOT likely to be typical characteristic
of a weak company’s culture?
A) a lack of values and principles that are consistently preached or widely shared
B) a tendency among employees to view their jobs as just a way of making a living
C) co-worker peer pressure to do things in a particular way
D) few widely revered traditions and few culture-induced norms
E) no strong employee allegiance to what the company stands for or to operating the business in
well-defined ways
36) You are being actively recruited by a banking institution with a reputation for a weak
corporate culture. What aspect of this bank’s culture would most STRONGLY impact your
decision to accept or reject an offer from this company?
A) There is virtually no employee support for the company’s strategic vision and strategy.
B) There is no code of ethics and the company has little regard for high ethical standards.
C) Little assistance is provided in executing strategy because there are no traditions, values, or
behavioral norms that management can use as levers to mobilize commitment to executing the
chosen strategy.
D) The company is fairly receptive to change and to people who champion new ways of doing
things.
E) The company has a dearth of intellectual capital and shows inattention to building core
competencies.
37) A work environment where the culture is in sync with the chosen strategy and is conducive
to good strategy execution is considered a valuable managerial ally because
A) there is much less risk of embarrassing ethical violations.
B) it provides company personnel with clear guidance regarding “how we do things around here”
and produces significant peer pressure from co-workers to conform to culturally acceptable
norms.
C) there is reduced need to incorporate negative motivational practices and punitive-type
incentives into the reward structure and in the company’s approach to people management.
D) there is reduced need to employ benchmarking, best practice programs, reengineering, Six
Sigma, and TQM to achieve competitive advantage.
E) the culture can be readily incorporated into the company’s strategic vision and facilitate the
achievement of stretch objectives.
38) What is the major benefit of closely aligning the corporate culture with the requirements for
proficient strategy execution?
A) A good strategy-culture alignment that makes it possible to establish a much bolder strategic
vision and strategic intent.
B) A good strategy-culture alignment that enhances a company’s cost competitiveness.
C) A tight strategy-culture fit that steers company personnel into displaying behaviors and
adopting operating practices that promote good strategy execution.
D) A tight strategy-culture alignment that enhances the creation of core competencies and
distinctive competencies.
E) A tight strategy-culture alignment that makes it easier to change a company’s culture over
time—as a company’s strategy evolves, the culture automatically evolves too.
39) The cultural changes at Goldman Sachs’s to support its recruitment strategy involved
A) retaining long-held attitudes and behaviors that were well suited to first-rate strategy
execution.
B) steering company personnel to culturally approved behaviors and work practices to make it
far simpler to root out operating practices that were a misfit or inappropriate.
C) dedicating considerable efforts to poach new recruits from high tech companies that
encouraged behaviors and work practices conducive to good strategy execution.
D) a tight strategy-culture alignment that reconfigured core competencies and distinctive
competencies to achieve a cost-based competitive advantage.
E) liberalizing parental leave policies, providing greater flexibility in work schedules, enacting
protections for interns and junior bankers designed to limit their working hours, as well as
overhauling its performance review and promotion systems, and its recruiting practices and
policies regarding diversity.
40) When a company’s culture is out of sync with what is needed for strategic success and good
strategy execution
A) the strategy has to be changed as rapidly as possible to regain harmony with cultural norms.
B) company personnel need to cling to familiar practices, be wary of change, and blame top
management for any shortfalls in performance.
C) management needs to go on the offensive to reinterpret the culture and explain to company
personnel why there really is good overall cultural fit with the strategy.
D) any unhealthy or dysfunctional cultural traits must be changed as fast as possible and
management needs to be aggressively striving to ingrain new behaviors and work practices that
will enable first-rate strategy execution.
E) management must sanction any company personnel who refuse to participate in an all-out
effort to create a different portfolio of competencies and capabilities that will permit the strategy
to be changed in ways that will fit the culture.
41) The hallmarks of a high-performance corporate culture include a
A) deep commitment to employee training, unusually attractive fringe benefit packages for
company personnel, and frequently revised and updated values and ethics statements.
B) “can-do” spirit, pride in doing things right, no-excuses accountability, and a pervasive results-
oriented work climate where people go the extra mile to meet or beat stretch objectives.
C) strong emphasis on teamwork, strict enforcement of company policies and procedures, and
incentive compensation for all employees aligned with a balanced scorecard approach to
measuring performance.
D) deep commitment to pioneering new best practices, a preference for being a fast-follower as
opposed to a first-mover or late-mover, and across-the-board bonuses for all personnel when the
company meets or beats stretch objectives.
E) deep commitment to top-notch quality and superior customer service, dedicated use of TQM
and/or Six
F) Sigma quality control programs, and the payment of big performance bonuses and stock
options.
42) High-performance corporate cultures are NOT
A) results-oriented, permeated with a spirit of achievement, and able to meet or exceed
performance targets.
B) characterized by high ethical standards, a strong preference for high-risk strategies, and a
slow and methodical approach to responding to changes in the marketplace.
C) prone to provide rewards and recognition of loyalty and dedication on the part of employees,
such that they are both energized and preoccupied with putting forth their very best efforts to do
things right and be unusually productive.
D) expecting that all company personnel, from senior executives to front-line employees, display
high-performance behaviors and a passion for making the company successful.
E) capable of involvement on the part of company personnel and eager to embrace individual
initiative and creativity.
43) How would you assess Epic Systems’ corporate culture?
A) Epic’s results-oriented, high-performance culture is permeated with a spirit of achievement
and employees have shown a good track record in meeting or beating performance targets.
B) Epic’s people often have a low regard for high ethical standards (because some disregard for
ethics is a normal part of meeting or beating performance targets).
C) Epic’s challenge in creating an adaptive culture has been to come up with a strategic vision
and strategy that wins enthusiastic support from most all company personnel.
D) Epic’s clear and unyielding expectation is that all company personnel will strictly follow
company policies and procedures.
E) Epic has a strong managerial commitment to paying big bonuses and granting generous stock
options.
44) What is the hallmark of an adaptive corporate culture?
A) a shared willingness to adapt core values to fit the changing requirements of an evolving
strategy
B) a conservative strategy, prudent risk-taking, and strong peer pressures to observe cultural
norms
C) a clear willingness on the part of organizational members to accept change and take on the
challenge of introducing and executing new strategies
D) a commitment to the types of core values and ethical standards that make a company a great
place to work
E) a strong preference for performance-based compensation systems—especially the payment of
bonuses and stock options