Sometimes it may help to play the role of devil’s advocate, to intentionally find fault
with a proposed solution. This would be most useful for which of the following
strategies for avoiding groupthink?
A) Using subgroups
B) Admitting shortcomings
C) Holding second-chance meetings
D) Promoting open inquiry
Companies with reputations for treating people well are:
A) ignored by prospective employees.
B) highly sought by prospective employees.
C) unknown by prospective employees.
D) None of the above.
Which of the following is NOT an element in the pyramid of corporate social
responsibility?
A) Philanthropic
B) Ethical
C) Financial
D) Cultural
The pursuit of efficiency refers to what characteristic of an ideal bureaucracy?
A) Impersonal treatment
B) Formal rules and regulations
C) Authority structure
D) Rationality
The ability to understand complex ideas, adapt effectively to the environment, and learn
from experience is known as an individual’s ________ intelligence.
A) practical
B) contextual
C) emotional
D) cognitive
When speaking of motivation, it is apparent that:
A) the term motivation is synonymous with job performance.
B) single factors play the most important part in motivating an individual employee.
C) if arousal is high, direction is low, and maintenance is high, employees will only be
moderately motivated.
D) motivation is just one predictor of job performance.
When a third party has the power to impose the terms of an agreement, you have:
A) bargaining.
B) mediation.
C) an integrative agreement.
D) arbitration.
Researchers have identified which of the following characteristics of successful
leaders?
A) Ambition, the desire for achievement
B) The ability to integrate and interpret large amounts of information
C) Creativity and originality
D) All of these.
Table 8.3
Management is considering the implementation of teams in the company. Several issues
come up during the initial discussion. First, should the teams be permanent or
established simply for specific projects and terminated when the project is completed?
Second, do we want self-managing teams, supervisor led teams, or a mix? Third issue,
do we want teams within departments or should we use some cross-functional teams?
The discussion concludes with a fourth issue, do we want teams focused on improving
our processes or simply accomplishing the work we are already doing?
Refer to Table 8.3. The second issue discussed focuses on the ________ dimension of
teams.
A) time
B) authority structure
C) degree of autonomy
D) purpose or mission
In his book entitled The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli’s guiding principles included:
A) never show humility.
B) it is much better to be feared than loved.
C) morality and ethics are for the weak.
D) All of the above.
To become a transformational leader, one needs to:
A) build group confidence by pointing out small accomplishments toward the goal.
B) use a more permissive and participative management style.
C) discover the shortest decision path in problem solving with the group.
D) set and delegate clear attainable goals to self-managed work teams.
The concept of ________ involves people’s perceptions of the fairness of the manner in
which others treat them.
A) distributive justice.
B) informational justice.
C) procedural justice.
D) interpersonal justice.
The extent to which a job requires completing a whole piece of work from beginning to
end is known as:
A) task identity.
B) task significance.
C) autonomy.
D) skill variety.
An organization that is experiencing planned or unplanned transformations in its
structure, technology, and/or people is experiencing:
A) organizational change.
B) organizational cultural change.
C) the development of a competitive strategy.
D) first-order change.
Leroy is trying to get his idea through to the operations director about TQM. He has
talked to other floor supervisors and with the HR VP and takes one supervisor and the
HR director in with him to talk with the OPS director. Leroy is selling his TQM idea up
the organization by use of the technique of:
A) credibility.
B) responsibility.
C) coalition building.
D) congruence.
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 first two hours of this meeting is a report on the company’s
progress over the last year, supported by data pertaining to growth in market share,
overall profits, revenue forecasts, etc. The most effective medium for conveying this
information would be:
A) just what they are doing, a oral presentation.
B) the telephone for one-on-one discussion.
C) text-messaging or micro-blogging.
D) a written memo or report, supported by graphs and tables.
Table 7.1
Shue-Fan is surprised at the amount of motivational energy her recent “pep-talk” seems
to have created in her staff. They seem to be very concerned about making her happy
and making a good impression on her. As she ponders their reaction, she concludes that
her emphasis on helping her employees develop their potential is really paying off. An
employee approaches her and asks if their team could create a team T-shirt and wear it
on casual dress day. Shue-Fan agrees. Finally, Shue-Fan decides the company ought to
do more to recognize employee accomplishments, so she proposes a company-wide
recognition/awards program.
Refer to Table 7.1. Shue-Fan is surprised by the motivational element of:
A) arousal.
B) direction.
C) maintenance.
D) performance.
Written guidelines that are used to control all employee behaviors refer to what
characteristic of an ideal bureaucracy?
A) Impersonal treatment
B) Formal rules and regulations
C) Authority structure
D) Rationality
Approximately what percentage of males have filed sexual harassment charges?
A) 5%
B) 15%
C) 26%
D) 33%
Table 9.3
Jane has been tasked with the responsibility for opening the communication channels
between employees and management. She implements a simple system quickly, where
employees can share their good ideas about how to improve the organization by
submitting their ideas in writing and being rewarded for the ideas that are used by the
company. Corporate executives like the idea but they want broader participation. They
would like feedback from all employees if possible. Once they have that feedback, they
want to informally meet with selected employees to discuss the issues the broader
outreach raises.
Refer to Table 9.3. To meet the desires of upper management, Jane should implement
a/an:
A) corporate hotline.
B) suggestion system.
C) employee survey.
D) brown bag meeting.
Low LPC leaders tend to be most effective when situational control is:
A) somewhat high.
B) somewhat low.
C) moderate to neutral.
D) either very high or very low.
Table 15.1
As the new general manager of a regional cable service, Joe is studying the formal
configuration of groups and individuals in respect to the allocation of tasks,
responsibilities, and authority within the cable company. He notices that there are
numerous layers of people between the cable installers and technicians and himself as
general manager. He thinks this is because of the high degree of specialization in the
company. Everyone seems to have very narrowly defined jobs. Joe decides he wants
fewer layers of employees and for each manager to have responsibility for more
employees. He reduces the number of managers from 10 to 3. As a consequence, each
manager will make of his/her own decisions and rely less on Joe.
Refer to Table 15.1. Joe’s eliminating of management layers resulted in:
A) a greater division of labor.
B) decentralization of decision-making.
C) more line positions.
D) small spans of control.
Table 8.3
Management is considering the implementation of teams in the company. Several issues
come up during the initial discussion. First, should the teams be permanent or
established simply for specific projects and terminated when the project is completed?
Second, do we want self-managing teams, supervisor led teams, or a mix? Third issue,
do we want teams within departments or should we use some cross-functional teams?
The discussion concludes with a fourth issue, do we want teams focused on improving
our processes or simply accomplishing the work we are already doing?
Refer to Table 8.3. The third issue discussed relates to the ________ dimension of
teams.
A) time
B) authority structure
C) degree of autonomy
D) purpose or mission
Which of the following characterizes a group?
A) Members pursue diverse goals
B) Independence of membership
C) The ability to solve problems
D) The perception that they are a group
Table 6.1
Three middle managers are discussing their attitudes about work over lunch. Lee is
expressing how much he likes working for his boss, but he dislikes his current work
assignment, and he says it’s too tedious. He’s looking forward to its completion so he
can move on to more exciting work. Tim tells his luncheon partners that he’s convinced
he got his current position because his previous boss wanted to help him along in his
career. (Tim doesn’t know his previous boss couldn’t stand him and wanted to move him
out of his area.) Tim is very happy because he believes he has the right skill mix to be
successful in his new position. Andrea tells everyone that she is looking for another job.
She has been for several months, but “the right thing hasn’t come along yet.” She has
advanced her career by changing jobs every 12-18 months. Their fourth luncheon
partner, Leslie, is also unhappy on the job and looking for another position. She
believes that her current boss is threatened by her competence and is holding her back
from greater opportunities. Leslie wants to stay with the company but wants to work for
someone else.
Refer to Table 6.1. Leslie’s thoughts about her boss’s role in her career display the
________ component of Leslie’s attitudes about her work.
A) behavioral
B) cognitive
C) affective
D) evaluative
Fred provides his subordinates with information that lets them know how they are
doing. This is an example of:
A) combining tasks.
B) opening feedback channels.
C) establishing client relationships.
D) loading jobs vertically.
Understanding why Italians and Norwegians behave differently on the job would
involve which of the following tools of skills-based training?
A) Cross-cultural understanding
B) Skill-based diversity training
C) Flexibility and adaptability
D) Intercultural communication
By definition, leadership is primarily a process involving:
A) the use of influence.
B) the use of power.
C) participative management.
D) organizational politics.
Arvin tries to get others to comply with his requests by using his friendship with the
person as part of the appeal. He is using:
A) exchange.
B) legitimating.
C) pressure.
D) personal appeals.
Table 13.3
As the President of his own company, Todd has provided his employees with a vision
and created a strong sense of mission. He has helped them recognize their problems and
find ways to solve them while providing support, encouragement, and attention. He is
developing a strong company through the development of strong employees. Within
Todd’s company, his marketing VP is also able to motivate his employees. He has them
excited about what the marketing department can become. Employees constantly come
to the VP for guidance and instructions. He invests little time or money into their
development, but they love working for him. Each time a new product comes to them to
market, he is able to build real enthusiasm for the process. Joan is a product manager
who works for the VP of marketing. She encourages her product team to interact with
customers and suppliers. She constantly tries to make things work better, even if they
aren’t ‘broken.’
Refer to Table 13.3. Todd is an example of a:
A) dynamic leader.
B) transformational leader.
C) country club style of leader.
D) contingency style leader.
Which of the following characteristics of burnout is associated with low energy?
A) Depersonalization
B) Emotional exhaustion
C) Physical exhaustion
D) Feelings of low personal accomplishment
Research into the semi-conductor industry in California found that the most powerful
organizational subunits tended to be those that:
A) were dependent on other departments for significant portions of their operating
budgets.
B) had the largest number of employees with degrees in business administration.
C) resided in areas that pertained to the expertise of the company’s founder.
D) were trained in organization behavior and organizational development techniques.
Which one of the following statements would be most likely made by a supervisor who
endorses a contingency approach to management?
A) “People work best when left alone.”
B) “I treat different people in different ways based on the situation we’re facing.”
C) “The only way to get people to work hard is to push them.”
D) “Focus on organizations and people will take care of themselves.”
At Disney World, employees use ________ in order to make customers happy on the
spot.
A) empowered decision-making
B) top-down decision-making
C) the Delphi technique
D) nonprogrammed decisions-making
The means by which the message is carried from its origin to the recipient is called:
A) feedback.
B) encoding.
C) communication.
D) the channel.