CHAPTER 9
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. The two primary roles that boundary-spanning personnel fulfill are:
a. sales and profit-production
b. sales and customer service
c. information transfer and representation
d. process flow and service
e. information transfer and profit production
2. Which of the following is a boundary spanner?
a. college professors
b. Kohl’s customer service representatives
c. McDonald’s order takers
d. restaurant servers
e. all of the above
3. Boundary-spanning personnel typically experience different sources of conflict
while performing their roles. Which of the following is not one of the sources?
a. person/role conflict
b. channel conflict
c. organization/client conflict
d. interclient conflict
e. all the above are sources of boundary spanning conflict
4. When a lawyer feels a conflict between what she is asked to do and her own
personality, orientation, or values she is experiencing ______ conflict.
a. person/role conflict
b. channel conflict
c. organization/client conflict
d. interclient conflict
e. horizontal conflict
5. Initially, bank tellers were uncomfortable with their new task of selling services to
customers. They viewed themselves as bank tellers and not salespersons. This
is an example of which type of conflict?
a. person/role conflict
b. channel conflict
c. organization/client conflict
d. interclient conflict
e. all the above are sources of conflict
6. Employees who feel that they are often caught in the middle between company
rules and regulations and customer requests for services which are against
company rules are experiencing which of the following types of conflict?
a. person/role conflict
b. channel conflict
c. organization/client conflict
d. interclient conflict
e. all the above are sources of conflict
7. A Disney Tram driver that is asked to break-up a fight between a feuding
couple who is breaking off their engagement is experiencing which of the
following types of conflict?
a. person/role conflict
b. channel conflict
c. organization/client conflict
d. inter-client conflict
e. all the above are sources of conflict
8. Employees often attempt to reduce their role stress by engaging in a number
of behaviors. Which of the following is not one of these behaviors?
a. ignore the customer
b. engage in a people-processing mode
c. use physical symbols in their office to regain some sense of control
d. overact the role and place the customer in a subservient role
e. all the above are ways employees attempt to reduce role stress
9. Employee perceptions of one or more organizational strategic imperative is
called ____________.
a. empowerment
b. enfranchisement
c. service passion
d. climate
e. production-lining
10. __________ gives discretion to front-line personnel to meet the needs of
consumer’s creatively.
a. empowerment
b. enfranchisement
c. service passion
d. service climate
e. production-lining
11. __________ combines with empowerment a compensation method that ties
pay to performance.
a. double empowerment
b. straight salary
c. enfranchisement
d. quota systems
e. straight commission
12. Which of the following is not a benefit associated with empowerment?
a. quicker response to customer needs
b. quicker response to dissatisfied customers
c. employees feel better about their jobs and themselves
d. employees interact with customers with more enthusiasm
e. all the above are advantages of empowerment
13. Which of the following is not a benefit associated with empowerment?
a. quicker response to customer needs
b. larger dollar investment is needed in selection and training of personnel
c. quicker response to dissatisfied customers
d. employees feel better about their jobs and themselves
e. employees interact with customers with more enthusiasm
14. Which of the following is not a cost associated with empowerment?
a. higher labor costs
b. slower or inconsistent service delivery
c. decreased word-of-mouth advertising
d. giveaways and bad decisions
e. some customers think others receive preferential treatment
15. One of the potential costs in employee empowerment is:
a. higher labor costs
b. slower responses to dissatisfied customers
c. decreased word-of-mouth advertising
d. increased employee dissatisfaction
e. increased customer dissatisfaction
16. Empowerment approaches fall along a continuum that ranges from control-
oriented to involvement-oriented. Which of the following empowerment
approaches is the least involvement-oriented?
a. job involvement
b. suggestion involvement
c. high involvement
d. enfranchisement
e. contingency involvement
17. The empowerment approach that allows employees to use a variety of skills and
teams, but higher level decisions such as reward allocation are left to senior
management to decide is called:
a. job involvement
b. suggestion involvement
c. high involvement
d. production line approach
e. contingency involvement
18. The empowerment approach that trains people to manage themselves is called:
a. job involvement
b. suggestion involvement
c. high involvement
d. production-line approach
e. contingency involvement
Indicate whether the service firm should employ a production line approach or an
empowerment approach under the following conditions:
a. production line approach b. empowerment approach
19. The technology involved with the business is
nonroutine and complex. _______
20. The firm produces a low cost, high volume
product. _______
21. The business environment is predictable with
few surprises. _______
22. The business thrives on repeat customers _______
23. The business employees Theory Y managers who
believe that employees have high growth needs and
strong interpersonal skills. _______
24. In the extreme case the role conflict and ambiguity can lead to act of _____.
a. service runaround
b. subordinate service
c. service conflict
d. service sabotage
e. service environment
25. Which one of the following facts about temporary workers is false?
a. 55% percent do not have health insurance
b. 25% are under the age of 25
c. 22% of the temp workforce is African American
d. 80% are female
e. Temps earn an average of 40 percent less per hour than full-time employees
26. Which one of the following is not one of the seven tests of reward effectiveness?
a. availability
b. flexibility
c. visibility
d. durability
e. perishability
27. Which of the following tests of reward effectiveness reflects the notion that if
rewards are given to the wrong people for the wrong reasons, they should not be
lifelong?
a. availability
b. flexibility
c. visibility
d. durability
e. reversibility
28. Which of the following tests of reward effectiveness reflects the notion that
rewards should be given immediately following desired behaviors?
a. availability
b. flexibility
c. timeliness
d. durability
e. perishability
29. Which of the following tests of reward effectiveness reflects the notion that
rewards should be tied to desired performance criteria?
a. availability
b. flexibility
c. timeliness
d. durability
e. contingent
30. Which of the following tests of reward effectiveness reflects the notion that
rewards should be large enough for employees to take notice?
a. availability
b. flexibility
c. timeliness
d. durability
e. contingent
31. Which of the following tests of reward effectiveness reflects the notion that
rewards should be able to be given to anyone at anytime?
a. availability
b. flexibility
c. timeliness
d. durability
e. perishability
32. One of the major lessons to learn from the Service-Profit Chain is:
a. customer loyalty leads to customer satisfaction.
b. firms must satisfy their employees in order for customer satisfaction to
become a consistent reality.
c. employee retention leads to employee satisfaction
d. the firm’s profitability leads to customer satisfaction
e. revenue growth leads to customer satisfaction
33. The HR functions that together support the creation of a climate for service is
referred to as the:
a. concept strategy
b. service HR wheel
c. marketing wheel
d. service operation strategy
e. none of the above
34. Which of the following is not a broad category in the service HR wheel?
a. concept strategy
b. rewards strategy
c. retention strategy
d. recruitment strategy
e. training strategy
35. Empowerment coupled with a performance-based compensation method is
called _________.
a. empowerment
b. enfranchisement
c. service passion
d. climate
e. production-lining
SHORT-ANSWER ESSAY
36. Discuss the role of boundary spanning personnel.
37. Discuss the methods in which marketing can reduce the sources of conflict felt by
its employees.
38. Discuss the benefits and costs associated with empowerment.
39. Discuss the customer profiles developed to assist customer contact personnel in
dealing with “customers from hell.”
40. Discuss the relevance of employee satisfaction as it relates to the service-profit
chain.
41. Discuss the three sources of conflict for boundary-spanning service workers.
