Learning is:
A) a relatively permanent change in behavior occurring as a result of experience.
B) reflected by temporary changes in behavior, such as those produced by drugs,
illness, or fatigue.
C) synonymous with improvements in performance.
D) based on the fact that our behavior results in positive or negative consequences.
If a person is more socially oriented in his/her approach to problems, if he/she tends to
consider many broad alternatives, and have a strong future orientation, his/her decision
style is most likely to be:
A) directive.
B) analytical.
C) conceptual.
D) behavioral.
Table 8.2
As a consultant of group processes, you are observing B.C.H.C., Inc.’s self-managing
teams and work groups, which are in different stages of development in this
medium-sized manufacturing business. You have named the teams and groups A, B, C,
D, and E, to conceal their names and get the most honest information possible. Group D
has resolved its issues of leadership and is devoting all of its energy to getting the task
done. Team C, on the other hand, shows significant resistance to its appointed leader’s
guidance, and there is a lot of argument over roles within the group. The members of
Group A are still getting acquainted in their meetings. They are setting their formal
norms and clarifying expectations.Team B is full of hostility. At least one group
member has ‘withdrawn’ by sitting quietly and no longer participating in the
discussions/arguments.
Refer to Table 8.2. Group D seems to be in the development stage of:
A) adjourning.
B) storming.
C) norming.
D) performing.
When using arbitration, if both parties retain the right to reject the recommended
agreement, you have:
A) binding arbitration.
B) voluntary arbitration.
C) conventional arbitration.
D) final-offer arbitration.
Table 5.1
Will is experiencing stress at work because he is not clear about what to do in his new
job, what his work priorities should be. His boss is out due to major surgery, and no one
else knows what his job is. Jane is a typical 2010 woman; good career, married, and
with a small child. As her career advances she is experiencing more and more stress
because her husband wants her home more. Her parents are proud of her career success,
yet they keep saying things like, “No sense having children if you’re going to let
someone else raise them.” Tom is in a matrix reporting relationship with several other
people. His boss has authority over the whole matrix; Tom does not, yet Tom is
responsible for the performance of the people in the matrix. He isn’t sure who he can
tell what to do and who he has to let his boss tell. A deadline is approaching, and Tom is
stressed out. Tom’s boss, John, is also stressed. He isn’t clarifying who reports to whom
because he worries about everyone and doesn’t want to let go of watching over them.
He thinks that he may have to terminate Jane because her home situation is interfering
so much with work that it is creating problems for the project. He is agonizing over this.
Having been fired once in his career, he knows how painful it can be.
Refer to Table 5.1. Will is experiencing stress due to:
A) quantitative overload.
B) role conflict.
C) qualitative overload.
D) role ambiguity.
Table 10.4
B.F.E., Inc. has to assign several problems to different groups. In the first case, the
group consists of a number of experts who have offices across the country and have
difficulty getting together. The problem they are working on is a problem that needs to
be solved over the next six to nine months. In the second case, management is
concerned that people might be intimidated by their leaders. The team is located in the
same building as the corporate headquarters. Genuine consensus is important, and a
trained facilitator is available to lead the group. In the third and final situation,
management has observed that the people selected to participate seem hesitant to do so.
Plus, the lengthy nature of the work to be done means new people will need to be added
to the group periodically. Time is not an issue.
Refer to Table 10.4. ________ would be the best approach to problem solving in the
first case.
A) The nominal group technique
B) Microblogging
C) The economic decision-making model
D) The Delphi technique
Which of the following can cause a team to fail?
A) Members do not share a common vision.
B) Managers are reluctant to relinquish control.
C) Members do not want to cooperate with other teams
D) All of the above
Bert is a manager for a small firm that was recently acquired by a larger company. In
recent performance evaluations, employees from his previous firm were given higher
ratings than employees from the new firm. Which leadership theory best explains why
this occurred?
A) Attribution theory
B) Contingency theory
C) Leader-member exchange theory
D) Grid management theory
Smoking, drug and alcohol use, and violence are all examples of ________
consequences of stress.
A) behavioral
B) medical
C) psychological
D) physiological
According to image theory, the decision to adopt a course of action is based on a
two-step process, known as the:
A) heuristic test and the predecision test.
B) compatibility test and the profitability test.
C) decision framing test and the proscriptive test.
D) relativity test and the acceptance criteria test.
The law enacted to safeguard the rights of people with physical and mental disabilities
was the:
A) Civil Rights Act of 1991.
B) Equal Employment Opportunities Act.
C) Labor Relations Act of 1978.
D) Americans with Disabilities Act.
Research found that within successful firms, strategic contingencies were controlled by:
A) quality circles and focus groups.
B) departments that are the most important for organizational success.
C) subunits that exist on the periphery of the organizational chart.
D) departments that have the most experienced personnel.
Matching the type of communications media to the kind of message sent is considered:
A) media insensitive.
B) media savvy.
C) media sensitive.
D) nonverbal communication.
A firm in the strategic planning process is answering the question, “What business are
we operating in?” This represents the ________ step in strategic planning.
A) defining goals
B) defining the scope of the product/service
C) assessing internal resources
D) developing a competitive strategy
Those specialists responsible for standardizing various aspects of the organization’s
activities are part of Mintzberg’s:
A) technostructure.
B) strategic apex.
C) operating core.
D) support staff.
A key factor contributing to the emergence of culture in a company is ________.
A) the influence of company founders
B) the company’s experiences with the external environment
C) Both “A” and “B”
D) Neither “A” nor “B”
In situations in which employees are concerned about losses resulting from change, the
resistance would best be overcome by:
A) educating employees and communicating with them.
B) involving employees in the process of making the change.
C) negotiating an agreement about other aspects of work.
D) imposing the required changes.
Table 9.1
Organizational communication students are observing and studying the communication
at a corporate board meeting. Because the company is a multinational company, some
of the people present are wearing headphones to hear the simultaneous translation from
English language of the speaker at the head of the table, into their languages.
Refer to Table 9.1. The headphones the international guests are wearing exemplify
which element of the communications model?
A) Encoding
B) Channel
C) Decoding
D) Feedback
When asked whether they had ever been the object of sexual advances, propositions, or
unwanted sexual discussions from men who supervise them, ________ of the women
surveyed answered “yes.”
A) 30%
B) 40%
C) 50%
D) 60%
An organization that focuses on doing whatever it takes to adapt to changing conditions
by acquiring, cultivating, and applying knowledge, the organization is:
A) involved in second-order change.
B) involved in first-order change.
C) caught in unplanned change.
D) a learning organization.
Susan belongs to a social club where members get together to see movies, play cards or
just talk. This type of group is a/an:
A) task group.
B) interest group.
C) friendship group.
D) ad-hoc group.
Table 15.4
Five organizations in your community are being studied using Mintzberg’s perspective
on organizational design. One is a high-tech organization with a simple structure,
decentralized authority, and support staff is the dominant element in the organization. A
second company operates in a stable industry, each employee’s work is highly
specialized, and decision-making is concentrated at the top of the organization. There is
also a family medical practice with three doctors who are partners. The operating core
is the dominant element, and decision-making is vested in the doctors. Finally, there is a
retail dealer mall for antiques and collectibles, which is dominated by its strategic apex
element.
Refer to Table 15.4. The second company has Mintzberg’s ________ design.
A) divisional structure
B) machine bureaucracy
C) professional bureaucracy
D) adhocracy
Doing a favor for someone is an example of:
A) psychological contracts.
B) OCB-I.
C) OCB-O.
D) both OCB-I and OCB-O.
The degree of impact a job is believed to have on others is known as:
A) task identity.
B) task significance.
C) autonomy.
D) skill variety.
The most effective means for linking people into a meeting who are in distant locations
is by:
A) global priority mail.
B) blogging.
C) video-mediated communications.
D) conference e-mail.
The alliance where the organizations have the loosest relationship is a:
A) value-chain partnership.
B) mutual service consortia.
C) joint venture.
D) modular boundaryless organization.
According to “value theory,” people are dissatisfied with their jobs when:
A) they don’t have enough responsibility for the work they do.
B) the outcomes they receive do not match the outcomes they desire.
C) they are dissatisfied with their supervisors.
D) their inputs exceed what they expected in outcomes.
When an organization offers a Hawaiian vacation for everyone in the company if every
work unit lowers its costs by 15% for the year, the company is using ________ to foster
cooperation.
A) employee interdependence
B) organizational rewards
C) organizational citizenship
D) distributive bargaining
Generally speaking, when an employee engages in whistleblowing, he/she:
A) is punished by the organization.
B) is rewarded by the organization.
C) is punished by the people to whom he/she reports the problem.
D) has little impact on the safety and protection of others.
Under the ________, the assumption about effectively managing people is that it
requires the appreciation of the cultural context in which they operate.
A) multicultural hypothesis
B) divergence hypothesis
C) convergence hypothesis
D) diversity efficacy
Jessica is trying to increase the freedom and discretion that employees have in
scheduling and planning their work. Based on the job characteristics model, Jessica is
trying to increase:
A) task significance.
B) autonomy.
C) task identity.
D) skill variety.
Orin is trying to persuade his date to go see the latest action movie. He has decided that
what he needs to do is emphasize what she will miss, how hurt he will be, and that he
will go anyway but with his other friends, something she doesn’t want him to do. Orin
has framed the issue in terms of:
A) attributes.
B) goals.
C) relationships.
D) heuristics.