Chapter 16 A Productive Workplace and Success
True / False Questions
1.
(p. 402)
Productivity is defined as the ratio of inputs to its outputs.
TRUE
2.
(p. 402)
Most strategies to improve productivity are always within the individual control of an
employee.
FALSE
3.
(p. 402)
The overall mood of an individual or a group based on attitudes and satisfaction is referred
to as groupthink.
FALSE
4.
(p. 402)
The first step to improve the morale of the workplace is to involve everyone in goal setting.
FALSE
5.
(p. 402)
Morale is mostly a static force.
FALSE
6.
(p. 403)
Encouraging communication among departments and within teams seldom contributes to
improving the morale of a workplace.
FALSE
7.
(p. 403)
Relieving employees from individual or group accountability is a means of sending a
message that the company cares for them.
FALSE
8.
(p. 403)
Creative appraisal systems stimulate productivity by encouragement, two-way
communication, and motivation.
TRUE
9.
(p. 403)
A yearly appraisal where the negatives saved over a year are presented to the employee is
considered the most effective form of appraisal to improve morale.
FALSE
10.
(p. 403)
Individual job performance can be increased by discovering and reducing behaviors we do
to sabotage our own performance.
TRUE
11.
(p. 403)
Task maturity refers to an employee’s age or seniority on the job.
FALSE
12.
(p. 403)
“Stretchable” in the S.M.A.R.T.S system means that an appraisal system should “stretch”
the employee, giving him or her new goals and new horizons to grow into a new comfort
zone.
TRUE
13.
(p. 403)
Task maturity encourages productivity.
TRUE
14.
(p. 403)
Low self-esteem or insecurity is one of the reasons for self-sabotage.
TRUE
15.
(p. 404)
Procrastination is a major source of stress.
TRUE
16.
(p. 404)
Hidden benefits of procrastination do exist.
TRUE
17.
(p. 404)
Procrastination is a systemic disorder and cannot be altered.
FALSE
18.
(p. 404)
Combining the smaller tasks into a complex job is a technique to stop procrastinating.
FALSE
19.
(p. 405)
Overloading and underutilizing are two essential skills of time management.
FALSE
20.
(p. 405)
Time management seldom requires planning.
FALSE
21.
(p. 405)
Procrastination is one cause of underutilization of time.
TRUE
22.
(p. 405)
While setting priorities, if all tasks seem equally important, the individual should work on all
tasks simultaneously.
FALSE
23.
(p. 405)
A to-do list is a list of what you need to do, when, and where.
TRUE
24.
(p. 409)
Violence that can be defined as physical or verbal, against another family member is known
as congenital violence.
FALSE
25.
(p. 411)
In cases of substance abuse by employees, supervisors should try to counsel or advise
employees themselves so that the issue is handled before it requires expert counseling.
FALSE
26.
(p. 411)
Employee assistance programs (EAPs) are government programs that treat employees with
substance abuse problems, marriage and family conflicts, and financial difficulty.
FALSE
27.
(p. 413)
A company policy on substance abuse should omit stating the possible disciplinary actions
that the company may take against employees who are abusing alcohol or other drugs.
FALSE
28.
(p. 413)
At the national level, the “Drugs Don’t Work” program for small and mid-sized companies
provides free booklets and step–by-step guidance on substance abuse policy writing.
TRUE
29.
(p. 413)
Managers often feel they should not get involved with an employee’s personal problems.
TRUE
30.
(p. 421)
Positive psychologists believe that we all have strengths that can overcome barriers to
healthy self-development.
TRUE
Multiple Choice Questions
31.
(p. 402)
Which of the following statements holds true for the strategies involved in increasing
productivity?
A.
Short-term goals form a major part of these strategies.
B.
Many of these strategies are out of the individual control of the employee.
C.
Productivity can be increased only by improving the efficiency of the production
process.
D.
Efficiency can be increased only by gaining high output for low input.
32.
(p. 402)
Which of the following is the first step to improve workplace morale?
A.
Encouraging communication between employees
B.
C.
Understanding the morale of your environment
D.
Relaxing on individual and group accountability
33.
(p. 402)
Morale is defined as the overall mood of an individual or a group based on ____.
A.
task maturity
B.
income and security
C.
procrastination
D.
attitudes and satisfaction
34.
(p. 402)
Which of the following statements on morale is NOT true?
A.
Morale is the overall mood of an individual or group.
B.
When morale is low, productivity is affected.
C.
Morale is invariably static.
D.
Morale is based on attitudes and satisfaction.
35.
(p. 402–
403)
Which of the following steps is NOT recommended for improving the morale of your
workplace?
A.
Don’t relax on individual and group accountability.
B.
Let everyone in the company know “what’s in it for them?”
C.
Monitor and control communication between employees, among departments, and
within teams.
D.
Get everyone in the organization involved in goal setting, both individually and
collectively.
36.
(p. 403)
Being “stretchable” is the most important aspect in the S.M.A.R.T.S system of appraisals
because the appraisal system:
A.
should be applicable to companies with different organizational structures.
B.
must be flexible enough to include assessments on technical and management skills.
C.
needs to be stretched to include further psychometric assessments, if necessary.
D.
should give the employee new goals and new horizons to grow into a new comfort zone.
37.
(p. 403)
Task maturity pertains to:
A.
an employee’s age or seniority on the job.
B.
the grouping of tasks together by location.
C.
the possession of the skill set required for the job at hand.
D.
an employee setting long and short term goals for himself.
38.
(p. 404)
Reasons for self-sabotage of our own efforts are tied to the following EXCEPT:
A.
lack of motivation.
B.
low self-esteem or insecurity.
C.
fear or apprehension.
D.
lack of procrastination.
39.
(p. 404)
Which of the following statements is true of procrastination?
A.
Individuals cannot make a choice to stop procrastinating.
B.
Procrastination merely refers to a form of self-sabotage.
C.
Hidden benefits of procrastination do exist.
D.
Procrastination is not a source of stress.
40.
(p. 404)
Which of the following is NOT a method to stop procrastination?
A.
Thinking positive
B.
Looking for motivation to start
C.
Giving yourself credit
D.
Rewarding yourself along the way
41.
(p. 405)
Which of the following terms refers to making poor use of the available time that we do
have?
A.
Rationalizing
B.
Fudging
C.
Underutilizing
D.
Overloading
42.
(p. 405)
Which of the following statements is true of time management?
A.
Grouping tasks together by location will allow individuals to save time by going to each
location only once.
B.
Setting priorities means individuals identify which tasks take lesser time to complete
and complete them first and leave the longer tasks to be completed toward the end.
C.
While setting priorities, if all tasks seem equally important, then the individual should
work on all tasks simultaneously.
D.
Grouping smaller tasks into larger parts makes the project more complex and thus,
motivates individuals into accomplishing them.
43.
(p. 413)
Which of the following statements is true of workplace substance abuse policies?
A.
The policy should be kept confidential.
B.
The policy should omit stating the testing and search procedures.
C.
Employees and if possible, their families, should receive drug awareness education.
D.
Supervisors must be trained to ignore the symptoms of substance abuse in employees.
44.
(p. 408)
What qualifies as drug abuse depends on:
A.
whether the drug is legal or illegal.
B.
whether the substance in use is actually considered a drug.
C.
how the substance in use affects a person’s behavior.
D.
the age of the individual taking the drug.
45.
(p. 408)
The effects of substance abuse in the workplace include all of the following EXCEPT:
A.
loss in productivity of substance abusers.
B.
loss of employee morale and group unity.
C.
reduced safety of nonabusing employees.
D.
improvement in the performance of substance abusers.
46.
(p. 409)
Employees affected by family violence tend to:
A.
get preoccupied with their problems which leads to low productivity.
B.
stop trying to achieve anything for fear of criticism.
C.
feel that they have gotten away with something.
D.
feel that they do not succeed because of their talent and hard work.
47.
(p. 410)
Compulsive gamblers:
A.
are free of substance abuse problems.
B.
may face depression and relationship problems.
C.
control their betting when they lose money in gambling.
D.
solely refer to teenagers who gamble for fun.
48.
(p. 411)
Eric is the shop floor supervisor in Leo Engineering Inc. He finds that Brian, one of the
machine operators, has a substance abuse problem. As a result, there is a drop in his
productivity. As a responsible supervisor, Eric should:
A.
ignore Brian’s substance abuse problem.
B.
refer Brian to a community counseling center.
C.
directly accuse Brian of having a drug problem.
D.
openly criticize Brian for his poor productivity.
49.
(p. 411)
When supervisors become aware of substance abuse problems in their workplace, they
should not directly accuse employees of having such problems because:
A.
company policies generally do not support supervisors’ interventions in such matters.
B.
the supervisors have no say in this matter; it is the top management that should accuse
the employee.
C.
the employees may respond with denial and it could also lead to legal issues.
D.
the freedom to consume any substance of their choice is guaranteed as a fundamental
individual right for all citizens.
50.
(p. 412)
Employee assistance programs (EAPs) can help the employees on all of the following
EXCEPT:
A.
family and marriage conflicts.
B.
pension plans.
C.
legal troubles.
D.
financial problems.
51.
(p. 417)
_____ is the ability to teach or guide yourself to set up and carry out your goals and plans.
A.
Fudging
B.
Self-discipline
C.
Self-deprecation
D.
Procrastination
52.
(p. 418)
_____ means feeling in control of your life, having the power to change things, and feeling
comfortable about doing so.
A.
Procrastination
B.
Taking responsibility
C.
Setting priorities
D.
Task maturity
53.
(p. 419)
_____ is the ability to set short-term and long-term goals for yourself.
A.
Self-direction
B.
Fudging
C.
Self-deprecation
D.
Procrastination
54.
(p. 420)
People affected by the impostor phenomenon:
A.
consider the feeling of success to be painful and uncomfortable.
B.
may feel that they have gotten away with something.
C.
may stop trying to achieve anything for fear of criticism.
D.
may find the feeling of success to be fleeting.
55.
(p. 420)
People having the fear of success:
A.
may find the feeling of success to be fleeting.
B.
may fear failing and then being judged in a negative way.
C.
may feel that they have gotten away with something.
D.
may stop trying to achieve anything for fear of criticism.
56.
(p. 420)
People having the fear of failure:
A.
may feel that they have gotten away with something.
B.
may find the feeling of success to be fleeting.
C.
may stop trying to achieve anything new for fear of criticism.
D.
always feel they are not talented and hard-working.
57.
(p. 421)
Positive psychologists believe that:
A.
thinking in terms of catastrophes and defeat is important.
B.
strengths such as optimism and perseverance cannot be learned through training.
C.
everyone can overcome the barriers to self-development.
D.
the strengths people build helps improve poor performance, but does not prevent such
problems from happening in the future.