Which of the following activities is part of the manager’s role as a coach?
a. Helping employees develop their self-awareness
b. Emphasizing goals and standards as a means to enhance performance results
c. Providing the employee with specific information the employee needs to enhance
work performance
d. All of these
e. Helping employees develop their self-awareness and emphasizing goals and
standards as a means to enhance performance results, but not providing the employee
with specific information the employee needs to enhance work performance
Which psychological state is described as the degree to which an individual can
influence strategic, administrative, or other outcomes at work?
a. Meaning
b. Competence
c. Self-motivation
d. Impact
e. Self-determination
Which of the following activities is NOT essential for a healthy “operations process”
(Bossidy and Charan, 2009)?
a. Linking the operations process to the people and strategy processes
b. Basing operations plans primarily on budgets
c. Identifying action programs that will make outcomes a reality
d. Attending to political realities and game playing within the organization
e. Assuring accountability at every stage
In identifying the right members for a cross-functional team, research by Baker, Cross,
and Wooten found that in addition to having members with the appropriate technical
and interpersonal skills, it was also helpful to have members who
a. Were relatively new to the organization
b. Had extensive experience in the organization
c. Had experience working on cross-functional teams
d. Had little experience working on cross functional teams
e. Were enthusiastic and optimistic and could “charge up” everyone around them
What do individuals who manage primarily based on the open systems model tend
focus on?
a. establishing rules and procedures that can help ensure consistency and conformity
with laws and regulations.
b. maintaining a an emphasis on effort and productivity to ensure that customer
demands are met in a timely fashion
c. making sure that work flows smoothly and that activities are carried out according to
their relative importance with a minimum amount of friction among individuals, work
groups, and work units.
d. coming up with new ideas and testing them for feasibility to ensure that the
organization is able to adapt when the external environment changes
e. identifying the needs of employees and ensuring that they are being met
In this stage of the five steps to mastery, unconscious, fluid, and effortless performance
begin to emerge and no one plan is held sacred.
a. Expert Stage
b. Competent stage
c. Proficiency stage
d. Advanced beginner stage
e. Novice stage
To encourage organizations to recognize the importance of corporate social
responsibility, what have organizations such as the United Nations Global Compact
attempted to do?
a. Stop the spread of globalization to protect local economies
b. Encourage the adoption of U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
c. Establish more standardization for social and environmental reporting.
d. Create a network of organizations that serves to oversee company behavior
e. Offer incentives to organizations that report on their social and environmental
impacts
Individual goal setting that follows the classic MBO approach outlined by Peter
Drucker includes which of the following?
a. Employees being empowered to set their own goals based on the strategic goals of
the organization
b. Managers setting goals for employees based on the strategic goals of the organization
c. Managers establishing “Make or Break Opportunities” for employees to determine
who will be promoted
d. Employees meeting with managers to jointly set the employee’s goals
e. None of these
All of the following are guidelines for using visuals in a presentation EXCEPT:
a. Visuals should have a clear headline
b. Visuals should be organized into digestible bites
c. Visuals are primarily for the speaker, not the audience
d. Visuals should not be overloaded with text
e. Visuals should supplement what the speaker is saying, not repeat it
Which of the following is true about data and information?
a. Information necessarily includes data, but data may not provide information.
b. Data reduces uncertainty, but information does not reduce uncertainty.
c. Managers have too little data and too much information.
d. Unlike information, data can be represented numerically or graphically, but not
verbally.
e. Unlike data, information can be represented numerically or graphically, but not
verbally.
Which of the following is NOT a form of departmentalization?
a. Matrix
b. Functional
c. Virtual
d. Divisional
e. All of these
Which set of competencies are all associated with the Create action imperative?
a. Negotiating agreement and commitment, implementing and sustaining change, using
power ethically and effectively
b. Working productively, fostering a productive work environment, managing time and
fostering innovation
c. Developing and communicating a vision, setting goals and objectives, designing and
organizing
d. Building and maintaining a power base, negotiating agreement and commitment,
managing and coordinating projects
e. Understanding self and others, communicating effectively, developing employees
Managers who wish to lead change in their organizations need to
a. Focus on developing the capacity of the people involved to perform at their best
b. Take responsibility and ownership for achieving the envisioned change
c. Communicate their vision for the future
d. All of these
e. Focus on developing the capacity of the people involved to perform at their best and
Communicate their vision for the future, but not take responsibility and ownership for
achieving the envisioned change
Several paradoxes result when using cross-functional teams. One key paradox that is
likely to have a major impact on employee motivation is that organizations need to
a. Ensure that employees are creative and are still working within organizational
guidelines.
b. Evaluate and reward individual performance when much of the work of the
organization is being done in teams
c. Achieve multiple focuses (on product, market, customer, geography, etc.) without
segmenting the organization in a dysfunctional way.
d. All of these are paradoxes that relate to the use of cross-functional teams.
e. None of these are paradoxes that relate to the use of cross-functional teams.
“Smart” goals are:
a. Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound
b. Specific, marketable, active, reasonable, time related
c. Specific, measurable, active, rewarded, targeted
d. Special, measurable, assignable, rewarded, targeted
e. Special, marketable, active, rewarded, temporary
What is role conflict?
a. It occurs when an individual perceives information regarding his or her job to be
inconsistent or contradictory.
b. It occurs when an individual does not have enough information about what he or she
should be doing.
c. It occurs when an individual does not like what he or she should be doing.
d. It occurs when two employees disagree about how quickly a task can be
accomplished.
e. None of these is a description of role conflict.
The decision to use cross functional teams as a way to provide the integration needed in
differentiated organizations is
a. One of the oldest approaches used by organizations
b. A new approach, so we know little about how well it will work
c. Supported by management theory but challenging to implement in practice
d. Easy to implement in practice but not supported by management theory
e. Not really appropriate.
The means-ends theory associated with the internal process model is
a. Routinization leads to stability
b. Involvement results in commitment
c. Continual adaptation and innovation lead to acquiring and maintaining external
resources
d. Clear direction leads to productive outcomes
e. Cost control leads to growth
When considering whether or not to forward an email to someone, what should be your
primary consideration?
a. How forwarding the email will make you look to others
b. How frequently you see the recipient
c. How frequently the recipient forwards messages to you
d. Whether the recipient is likely to respond to you in a timely fashion
e. What the recipient will do with the email when they receive it.
Which of the following characteristics make goals more effective?
a. Specific
b. Challenging
c. Rewarded
d. All of these characteristics make goals more effective
e. Specific and rewarded, but not challenging
Managers who wish to build creative spaces for people should
a. Enhance their own creative ability
b. Catch mistakes early in the process so they can be corrected quickly
c. Recognize that deep down, everyone is fundamentally the same
d. Enhance their own creative ability and recognize that deep down, everyone is
fundamentally the same, but not catch mistakes early in the process so they can be
corrected quickly
e. None of these
The Gallup employee engagement survey asks which of the following questions of
employees?
a. Do you have the chance to do what you do best every day at work?
b. Does your supervisor seem to care about you as a person?
c. Does the organization’s mission make you feel your job is important?
d. All of these
e. Do you have the chance to do what you do best every day at work and does the
organization’s mission make you feel your job is important?
Which organizational culture mirrors the internal process model?
a. Enterprise
b. Hierarchy
c. Rational/Market
d. Adhocracy
e. Clan
Dale Carnegie’s book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, focused on the
importance of understanding the needs and interests of others. It first became popular
during the time of which management model?
a. Rational Goal
b. Emotional Intelligence
c. Internal Process
d. Human Relations
e. Open Systems
Which component of the OABC method for composing email is described as the
“business” message itself, expressed in concrete and simple terms?
a. Agenda
b. Action items
c. Audience set
d. Body
e. Opening
Which of the following is NOT a component of the OABC method for composing
email messages?
a. Opening
b. Audience set
c. Body
d. Closing
e. Agenda
Which of the following describes the Pygmalion effect?
a. What managers expect of their employees and the way they treat them largely
determines their performance and career progress.
b. Employees, more often than not, do what they believe they are expected to do.
c. Managers have the ability to create high performance expectations that their
employees fulfill.
d. All of these describe the Pygmalion effect.
e. None of these describes the Pygmalion effect.
Why are project teams becoming more popular?
a. They are task focused
b. They enable companies to use cross-functional teams
c. They are flexible and able to react quickly to change.
d. All of these are reasons project teams have become popular
e. None of these are reasons project teams have become popular
Which quadrant of the Johari Window represents the aspects of yourself that are neither
known to you or others?
a. Open
b. Blind
c. Available
d. Hidden
e. Unknown
What three areas are included in the “triple bottom” line approach to measuring
organizational performance?
a. Financial performance, environmental performance, and social/ethical performance
b. Environmental performance, social/ethical performance, and customer satisfaction
c. Financial performance, customer satisfaction, and environmental performance
d. Customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and community satisfaction
e. Financial performance, debt-to-equity ratios, and new product introductions
What is meant by the “negative zone” at the organizational level? What is the
organizational culture like in the negative zone for each of the four quadrants of the
competing values framework? (Pages 316-318)
Evaluate yourself in terms of Goleman’s three dimensions of self-awareness. Provide
specific examples to support your self-analysis.
Discuss the concept of reengineering and why so many reengineering efforts have been
unsuccessful.
Describe dialogue and the conditions for effective dialogue. Identify an issue in your
workplace that could benefit from the use of dialogue. How could you create a dialogue
on this issue?
Think about an organizational situation where you are a member (e.g., a work situation,
a student club). Choose a person you interact with regularly and draw your own Johari
Window based on this relationship. What might you gain by revealing something from
your Hidden area? What might you find out about your Blind area?
Evaluate the amount of time you spend in each of the four quadrants of the time
management matrix. How can you be more effective with your time?
Margaret has been working for eight years in the Civil Service system. Early in her
career, she moved up quickly and was very satisfied with her job and highly motivated.
She is currently a grade “10” employee. Although she had expected to be promoted to
grade “11” by her 6thor 7thyear, she has been unable to obtain a promotion because she
has not passed the required state examination. She feels that she is already doing work
at a higher grade level and is performing better than colleagues who are at a higher
grade level than she is. Assume you are Margaret’s supervisor, describe how you would
work with her to improve her motivation based on the assumptions of expectancy
theory.
Identify and describe a change you have resisted in your workplace. Why did you
resist? How does your behavior compare with the list of types of organizational change
likely to produce resistance?
What competencies does the internal process model emphasize? Why are these
competencies especially relevant to the internal process model?
What can you do to improve your ability to engage in paradoxical thinking? Provide
specific examples as well as a general explanation. (Page 320)
Discuss the benefits and costs of using a system such as the Baldrige Criteria for
measuring organizational performance. [Do you think that certain types of organizations
might be more likely to benefit from using the Baldrige criteria than others? Why or
why not?]
Note: The bracketed question about different types of companies using the Baldrige
Criteria goes beyond the material in the text and would be appropriate for more
advanced classes. Students might approach this question in different ways. For
example, students might note that in industries where there are specific criteria, such as
health care, using the Baldrige criteria might be more important than for companies that
are less specialized. Students might also suggest that only companies that think they
have a chance of winning a Baldrige award should use the criteria because they would
be able to use the award for advertising. For grading purposes, points should be
primarily based on the quality of the argument, not the student’s conclusion. To help
students recognize that this has been done, allocating some points to the decision,
regardless of what it is can be very helpful.
Explain why the management model used as the foundation for your text is named the
competing values model. Why are competing values necessary for effective leadership?
(Pages 12-13)
What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of team decision making? Identify
a specific situation where team decision making is appropriate and one where it is not
appropriate and explain why it is or is not appropriate.
Discuss what is necessary to arrive at a “win-win” solution when negotiating.
Twyla Tharp advises people who want to develop their creative capacities to avoid
waiting around for inspiration to strike. What does she propose as an alternative? Give
an example of how you might begin to develop your own created capacities based on
Tharp’s advice.
Discuss four different factors that influenced the development of new management
models. (Pages 3-4)
Note: A smaller or larger number of factors can be specified. It is helpful to specify a
number to improve consistency in scoring across students. Students may identify any of
the following factors: (1) research by academics; (2) writings of authors in the business
and popular press; (3) experiences of managers who introduce an effective new
practice; (4) changes in technology; (5) changes in social norms; (6); changes in
political forces; (7) changes in economic conditions. Other factors may also be
appropriate, depending upon issues raised in class discussions.