Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations | 4th edition
Robert B. Denhardt • Janet V. Denhardt • Maria P. Aristigueta
Sage 2015
Test Bank | Chapter 3
Fostering Creativity and Innovation
Multiple Choice
1. The biggest challenge facing public and private enterprises in the future will be:
A) The neutral pace and the separation of global society into individual systems
B) The accelerating pace and complexity of global society operating as a massively
interconnected system
C) The decline of global society to operate as an interconnected system
D) The decline of global society to operate as an individual system
2. Creativity can be defined as the entire process by which ideas are:
A) Generated, developed and transformed into value
B) Generated, but are not developed or transformed into value
C) Generated, but only if there is an end value determined beforehand
D) Generated, with or without a goal in sight
3. Pick the best set of adjectives that may be negatively associated with creativity.
A) Eccentric, commonplace, resourceful
B) Overconfident, judgmental, humorous
C) Conventional, submissive, affected
D) Reflective, commonplace, persistent
4. Creativity is directly and positively linked to organizational effectiveness and to:
A) Increased manpower inefficiencies
B) Reduced need for team dependence
C) Increased profitability at the bottom line
D) Improvements in quality and productivity
5. Creativity allows public organizations to be:
A) Adequately funded for future operations
B) Responsive and to develop new and better ways of serving citizens
C) More process oriented
D) Efficient at reducing overheads
6. The five steps of the creative process are:
A) Preparation, incubation, illumination, verification, and implementation
B) Verification, incubation, concentration, idealization, and preparation
C) Incubation, discussion, illumination, verification, and implementation
D) Preparation, concentration, incubation, illumination, and verification
7. In the creative process, “preparation” is:
A) About conscious mental activity, but it is a matter of choice
B) Identification of issues to be dealt with at the concentration stage
C) The largely unconscious phase
D) About gathering ideas for addressing the problem
8. In the creative process, “verification” is:
A) The final step involving testing
B) The penultimate testing step before actual “implementation” stage
C) The step following “implementation” to measure results
D) The process of verifying that everybody understands the problem
9. Which of the following is not a characteristic of the creative process?
A) Long, rather than short in duration
B) Ambiguous, rather than certain and concrete
C) Oriented towards defining problems rather than finding short-term fixes
D) Involving simple mental models to solve bigger problems
10. In terms of roles people can play, the four types of creativity types are:
A) Innovation, sublimation, extension, and duplication
B) Innovation, synthesis, extension, and duplication
C) Invention, sublimation, synthesis, and implementation
D) Incubation, idealization, synthesis, and verification
11. Which of the following is true in terms of social and structural connections, under some
circumstances?
A) Weak ties can actually facilitate creativity more than strong ties
B) Strong ties promote creativity more than weak ties
C) Strong ties discourage creativity more than weak ties
D) Weak ties discourage creativity due to lack of social strength and support structure
12. Which of the following is an accurate statement?
A) Skills can be learned, whereas characteristics cannot
B) Skills can be learned, whereas characteristics develop over time
C) Skills develop over time automatically, while characteristics need effort
D) Skills and characteristics are both pre-set intrinsic qualities, which may develop over time
with concentrated effort
13. The motivation to be creative within people is influenced by:
A) Social environment
B) Cultural environment
C) Structural environment
D) All of the above
14. Which of the following does not contribute to or influence a person’s intrinsic motivation?
A) Interests
B) Culture
C) Values
D) Attributes
15. Which of the following sets forms a part of the key elements of a creative organizational
climate?
A) Communication, competition, and change
B) Change, reward, and orientation
C) Trust, diversity, and rewards
D) Competition, diversity, and rewards
16. In order to create a culture of innovation, organizations often have to:
A) Hire consultants
B) Modify or create new myths, stories, language, and metaphors
C) Establish success parameters
D) Modify employee expectations
17. The effect of workload pressure on creativity is:
A) Positively correlated
B) Negatively correlated
C) Difficult to gauge
D) Minimal; these are two different concepts
18. Which of the following is not a step to generate an idea box?
A) Specify the purpose
B) List variations
C) Try combinations
D) Implement solutions
19. The word “Synectics” means:
A) Exploring synergy across cross functional teams in a public organization
B) Providing synergistic co-dependent support structure
C) Joining together different and apparently unconnected or irrelevant elements
D) Joining together similar ideas and connecting the dots to find a useful solution
5
20. In Synectics, which type of metaphor uses an image to represent the problem?
A) Fantasy analogy
B) Personal analogy
C) Physical analogy
D) Symbolic analogy
21. Pick the best set of adjectives that may be positively associated with creativity.
A) Self-confident, commonplace, resourceful
B) Overconfident, suspicious, humorous
C) Original, clever, reflective
D) Affected, commonplace, capable
22. ___________ thinking occurs when a problem is defined in a single way and there are no
alternatives considered until the solution is reached.
A) Horizontal
B) Unitary
C) Vertical
D) None of the above
23. Which of the following is a method used in organizations to kill creativity?
A) Postponing action
B) Establishing clear and reliable cost estimates
C) Enlisting troublemakers
D) None of the above
24. Which of the following is a way to enhance positive emotions at work?
A) Providing background music
B) Humor
C) Meditation
D) All of the above
True/False
25. Anyone can be creative.
26. “Any form of action that leads to results that are novel, useful, and predictable” is one of
many definitions of creativity.
27. Creative people probably will be creative wherever they are situated.
28. According to the behavioral view of creativity, creativity is what the person is rather than
something a person does.
29. When creativity is defined as a process, it is a highly complex phenomenon involving
multiple phases and stages.
30. People are not likely to be creative when they love what they do as it removes the motivation
to do anything else.
31. Weak relationships may foster creativity up to a point, beyond which the number of ties may
even constrain creativity at work.
32. Creativity is based on the ability to think of more than one place or on more than one level at
a time.
33. Taken together, job design, supervision, organizational climate, and the allocation of
adequate time, and resources can have a potent and synergistic effect on individual and
organizational creativity.
34. In matrix analysis, a three-dimensional “idea box” is used to explore new ideas of
alternatives.
35. Creativity and innovation are considered to be the same phenomenon.
36. A person who is good a producing new ideas can generally be expected to put those ideas
into practice.
37. It is relatively easy to kill creativity in an organization.
Essay
38. Name and explain four different viewpoints on creativity.
39. Illustrate with examples how an individual with advanced cognitive skills and abilities can be
as creative as an individual with creative traits.
40. Describe the five steps or stages of the creativity process.
41. “Anyone can be creative.” Discuss in detail whether you agree or disagree with this
statement, using support from the book, class notes, or relevant examples, where appropriate.
42. Enumerate and explain key impediments to creativity in an organizational setting, using
examples where appropriate.
43. Why do we need creativity in public organizations?
44. Pick an organization you are familiar with. What are some of the ways in which the
organization promotes or inhibits innovation? What might be done to promote innovation?