Fundamentals of Management, 10e (Robbins)
Chapter 9 Foundations of Individual Behavior
1) Which of the following best defines organizational behavior?
A) the actions of organizations in the workplace
B) the study of the workplace
C) the study of organizations
D) the study of the actions of people at work
2) Hidden aspects of an organization that OB provides insight into include ________.
A) strategies
B) attitudes
C) structure
D) objectives
3) Which of the following is a visible aspect of an organization?
A) attitudes
B) interpersonal conflicts
C) intergroup conflicts
D) objectives
4) Organizational behavior focuses on ________.
A) individual and group behavior as well as organizational aspects
B) group behavior only
C) individual behavior only
D) neither group behavior nor individual behavior
5) Which of the following are the goals of organizational behavior?
A) to explain, document, and control behavior
B) to control and influence behavior
C) to explain, predict, and influence behavior
D) to predict, understand, and document behavior
6) When managers influence employee behavior, they ________.
A) predict what employees will do
B) steer it in a particular direction
C) understand why a behavior occurs
D) try not to change a behavior
7) All of the following are included in the six behaviors that managers try to explain, predict, and
influence EXCEPT ________.
A) productivity and absenteeism
B) workplace attitudes and perceptions
C) workplace misbehavior and turnover
D) organizational citizenship behavior and job satisfaction
8) This “behavior” is really an attitude.
A) job satisfaction
B) turnover
C) workplace misbehavior
D) employee productivity
9) Of the six behaviors that managers focus on, which behavior typically is the most troubling to
an organization?
A) job satisfaction
B) workplace misbehavior
C) organizational citizenship behavior
D) employee productivity
10) ________ is a performance measure of both efficiency and effectiveness of employees.
A) Employee productivity
B) Organizational citizenship behavior
C) Job satisfaction
D) Turnover
11) The three elements that make up an attitude are its ________ components.
A) cognitive, affective, and behavioral
B) affective, effective, and defective
C) cognitive, component, and affective
D) behavioral, cognitive, and misbehavioral
12) One of the challenges in understanding organizational behavior is that it addresses issues that
aren’t obvious.
13) Organizational behavior is primarily concerned with group interactions.
14) The goals of organizational behavior (OB) are to explain and evaluate behavior.
15) Attitudes are evaluative statements concerning objects, people, or events.
16) Define organizational behavior and describe its goals.
17) The component of attitude that is made up of knowledge and information is ________.
A) cognitive
B) behavioral
C) affective
D) practices
18) When you stand at attention during the playing of the national anthem, you are revealing
which component of your attitude toward your country?
A) cognitive
B) affective
C) metacognitive
D) behavioral
19) The ________ component of attitude is based on emotions.
A) cognitive
B) behavioral
C) affective
D) action
20) After spending several hours looking over an architect’s plans, Wendy formed a new
impression for a new building design. Which component of attitude did she change?
A) affective
B) behavioral
C) emotive
D) cognitive
21) After carefully examining the architect’s plans yesterday, today Wendy has decided that she
loves the new design. Which component of forming an attitude did she carry out today?
A) cognitive
B) affective
C) behavioral
D) informational
22) After deciding that she likes the architect’s new building design this morning, this afternoon
Wendy has decided to go ahead with the project. Which component of attitude did she use this
afternoon?
A) cognitive
B) behavioral
C) emotive
D) affective
23) In everyday use, the term attitude refers only to the ________ component of attitude.
A) cognitive
B) informational
C) behavioral
D) affective
24) A manager would most likely be interested in employees’ attitudes about which of the
following?
A) family responsibility
B) personal responsibility
C) job satisfaction
D) past jobs
25) The degree to which an employee identifies with his or her job or actively participates in it
refers to the employee’s ________.
A) job involvement
B) organizational commitment
C) global commitment
D) job satisfaction
26) An employee who brags about her company to friends and recommends all company
products as gifts is likely to have high ________.
A) job involvement
B) organizational commitment
C) personal commitment
D) organizational citizenship
27) With respect to employee engagement in a job, this seems to be the most important factor to
employees around the world.
A) base pay
B) respect
C) benefits
D) type of work
28) Which of the following would you expect to see in a company that had highly engaged
employees?
A) lower employee retention rates
B) greater employee retention rates
C) a diverse workforce
D) a homogeneous workforce
29) Generally, most people try to achieve ________ between their attitudes and their behavior.
A) contrast
B) synergy
C) functionality
D) consistency
30) Cognitive dissonance theory states that a person feels ________ when his or her attitudes and
actions don’t match.
A) comfortable
B) uncomfortable
C) confused
D) confident
31) The cognitive dissonance theory proposes that the factors that can mitigate the discomfort
caused by dissonance are ________.
A) importance, influence, and rewards
B) influence, rewards, and goals
C) importance, goals, and status
D) influence, reinforcement, and rewards
32) A person who is being hypocritical about something that has high importance in her life
would be likely to experience ________ discomfort from cognitive dissonance.
A) low
B) no
C) high
D) minimal
33) A person who is experiencing cognitive dissonance might justify the dissonance if he has
________ control over his actions.
A) some
B) total
C) almost total
D) little or no
34) Taking a job in a repressive country that you disapprove of politically might cause
discomfort from dissonance unless ________.
A) the job suits you well
B) the job offers enormous pay
C) the job offers little pay
D) the job does not suit you well
35) After the disappointment of not getting a new position, an employee states, “That job looks
like a real headache, anyway.” This is an example of ________ to reduce discomfort from
dissonance.
A) reducing importance
B) increasing importance
C) reducing influence
D) increasing influence
36) Which of the following is typically the most important reason for why managers want to
increase positive job attitudes?
A) lower rates of turnover and absenteeism
B) higher rates of turnover and absenteeism
C) to decrease worker unhappiness
D) to increase worker happiness
37) Studies show that the statement, “Happy workers are productive workers,” is ________
A) completely false
B) completely true
C) fairly true
D) largely false
38) To reduce dissonance in the workplace, managers are advised to hold ________ responsible
for the causes of the dissonance.
A) employees
B) both employees and management
C) fellow workers
D) external forces
39) Rather than try to make employees happy, managers might do well to focus on making work
________.
A) easy to accomplish
B) challenging and interesting
C) challenging and difficult
D) simple rather than complex
40) Individuals try to reconcile attitudes and behavior so they are both rational and consistent.
41) Cognitive dissonance arises when people feel that their behavior and attitudes are consistent.
42) The discomfort that results from high dissonance can be reduced when an individual feels
that he or she has a choice in the matter.
43) Research shows that there is a fairly strong correlation between high satisfaction and high
productivity.
44) In a short essay, define attitude and discuss the three components that make up an attitude.
45) ________ is the unique combination of psychological traits that describe a person.
A) Character
B) Intelligence
C) Behavior
D) Personality
46) The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) is based on ________ that are revealed in a
100-item questionnaire.
A) two dimensions
B) four dimensions
C) four personality types
D) eight personality types
47) The extroversion versus introversion scale on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® determines
whether a person is oriented ________.
A) outwardly or inwardly
B) toward gathering data or the big picture
C) logically or emotionally
D) toward planning or flexibility
48) The judging versus perceiving scale on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® determines
whether a person is oriented ________.
A) outwardly or inwardly
B) toward gathering data or the big picture
C) toward planning or flexibility
D) logically or emotionally
49) The thinking versus feeling scale on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® determines whether
a person is oriented ________.
A) logically or emotionally
B) toward gathering data or the big picture
C) outwardly or inwardly
D) toward planning or flexibility
50) The sensing versus intuition scale on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® determines whether
a person is oriented ________.
A) outwardly or inwardly
B) toward gathering data or the big picture
C) logically or emotionally
D) toward planning or flexibility
51) If you are a person who dislikes making plans, you would probably score high on which
aspect of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®?
A) extrovert rather than introvert
B) introvert rather than extrovert
C) judging rather than perceiving
D) perceiving rather than judging
52) If you are a person who prefers to focus on gut feelings when you make a decision, you
would probably score high on which aspect of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®?
A) sensing rather than intuition
B) intuition rather than sensing
C) thinking rather than feeling
D) feeling rather than thinking
53) The Big Five model of personality includes all of the following except ________.
A) extroversion
B) agreeableness
C) conscientiousness
D) intuitiveness
54) Job studies show that this Big Five personality dimension was consistently important for
success no matter what the job type.
A) extraversion
B) conscientiousness
C) openness to experience
D) emotional stability
55) Surprisingly, studies show that emotional stability is ________.
A) positively related to job performance
B) not positively related to happiness
C) positively related to job type
D) not positively related to job performance
56) Emotional intelligence includes all of the following EXCEPT ________.
A) cognitive skills
B) self-awareness
C) self-management
D) social skills
57) This dimension of emotional intelligence allows people to sense and understand how others
are feeling.
A) self-awareness
B) self-management
C) empathy
D) social skills
58) A person who takes full responsibility in both his or her successes and failures is likely to be
high in this emotional intelligence dimension.
A) self-awareness
B) self-management
C) empathy
D) self-motivation
59) The Bell Labs and Air Force studies have shown that emotional intelligence is ________ job
performance.
A) not important to
B) almost as important as academic intellect in
C) equally important as academic intellect in
D) more important than academic intellect in
60) If you believe that you control your own destiny, then your personality would be described
as having a(n) ________.
A) external locus of control
B) high Mach score
C) low Mach score
D) internal locus of control
61) A tennis player who blames a loss on windy conditions would be likely to have ________.
A) an external locus of control
B) an internal locus of control
C) no locus of control
D) high self-monitoring