Management: A Focus on Leaders, 2e (McKee)
Chapter 2 The Leadership Imperative
1) People tend to remember the bad leaders they have known rather than the good ones.
2) Change within an organization is something that is ubiquitous and should never come as a
surprise.
3) The statement, “Leaders are born, not made,” is more true today than ever.
4) When it comes to success in business, basic intelligence is more important than competency.
5) A competency is an ability that is directly linked to job performance.
6) In the Iceberg Model, skills and knowledge are abilities that are hidden beneath the surface of
an individual.
7) Limbic resonance is a term that refers to the fact that emotions are contagious.
8) Emotions actually travel from one person to another in the form of an electrical potential.
9) Legitimate power is the ability to influence others through fear or punishment.
10) Managers who subscribe to the Theory X view of people are more likely to empower
employees than those who believe in Theory Y.
11) The secret to responsible management and leadership is for leaders to be ethical.
12) Honesty is a terminal value.
13) Difficult ethical situations often define a company’s reputation.
14) An ethical dilemma is a situation in which it is not clear what the “right thing to do” is.
15) The statement, “Everyone else is breaking the rule; I will too so I don’t lose out,” is an
example of pluralistic ignorance.
16) Fiedler’s Contingency Theory states that leaders must change style according to the situation.
17) In the Situational Leadership Theory, managers match their managing style to how ready and
able their workers are.
18) A transactional leader uses his or her vision to inspire employees.
19) In today’s uncertain business world, HR leaders have shifted from being change agents to
promoting the status quo.
20) Social and emotional intelligence are at the center of the four HR leadership roles.
21) Jill Guindon-Nasir of the Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center believes that effective leaders
should NOT be ________.
A) logic-driven, since emotions take priority in leadership
B) risk-averse
C) continuous learners
D) people-person; they need to be task-driven
22) The idea of a workplace that is stable and has continuity is ________ today’s world.
A) a critical component of
B) something to insist on in
C) not realistic in
D) still very important in
23) Successful leaders see change as which of these?
A) an opportunity
B) a disruption
C) a necessary evil
D) a threat
24) Which statement is TRUE about leaders and leading?
A) Leaders can only be born, not made.
B) You can learn how to be a great leader.
C) You cannot learn how to be a great leader.
D) Only managers can learn to lead.
25) Which of the following is NOT one of the three secrets to becoming an outstanding leader?
A) emotional and social competence
B) power
C) ethics
D) corporate politics
26) Competencies include both intent and ________ and are always related to ________.
A) action, intelligence
B) motivation, leadership
C) leadership, action
D) action, performance
27) Research indicates that there is ________ correlation between intelligence and success at
work.
A) no
B) little
C) a strong
D) an inverse
28) In the Iceberg Model, which of these factors are hidden “below the water line”?
A) motives, traits, and self-concept
B) motives, skills, and traits
C) traits, knowledge, and skills
D) self-concept, drivers, and skills
29) Being able to see the “big picture” pattern in a complicated situation represents which kind of
competency?
A) cognitive
B) relational
C) technical
D) subconscious
30) Which competency distinguishes superior performers from ordinary performers?
A) sustaining
B) threshold
C) differentiating
D) undifferentiating
31) Studies conducted by Richard Boyatzis’s group determined which of these competencies as
the defining factors for effective leadership?
A) friendliness and sociability
B) technical skill and basic intelligence
C) knowledge, skills, and flexibility
D) emotional and social intelligence
32) Which of these competency categories is NOT a key component of social and emotional
intelligence?
A) self-awareness
B) self-management
C) self-consciousness
D) social awareness
33) What people call intuition is usually just ________.
A) picking up clues from body language, facial expressions, and positioning
B) making guesses about who a person is and what he or she is likely to do
C) inaccurate guessing that has no validity
D) a form of extra-sensory perception
34) The president of a company holds which kind of power?
A) Expert power — because she controls employee pay.
B) Referent power — because she can force people to do things.
C) Legitimate power — because her power comes from her position.
D) Illegitimate power — because no person should have control over others.
35) The primary force behind coercive power is ________.
A) the ability to trade
B) valuable rewards
C) the threat of punishment
D) the power of persuasion
36) The key to referent power is ________.
A) fear
B) whom you know
C) respect and admiration
D) being well-known
37) Managers can avoid micromanagement by
A) monitoring employees as closely as possible
B) empowering employees to make their own decisions
C) using majority rule for all decision-making
D) looking only at the “big picture” and avoiding details
38) A manager with a Theory Y view of human nature is more likely to ________.
A) distrust his employees and watch them carefully
B) trust his employees and empower them with decision-making ability
C) give his employees lifetime job opportunities if they are competent
D) institute strict reward systems to induce employees to work hard
39) What is a major reason why empowerment is a successful management approach?
A) Employees are more intelligent in today’s workplace.
B) Employees are more responsible in today’s workplace.
C) The person who organized the work can make the best decisions in a given situation.
D) The person who is closest to the work can usually make the best decisions in a given
situation.
40) Which of the following is a terminal value?
A) creativity
B) honesty
C) know-how
D) justice
41) Which of the following is an instrumental value?
A) love
B) ambition
C) peace
D) freedom
42) The profession you choose is likely to have ________.
A) its own set of ethical standards
B) no set of ethical standards
C) a set of ethical standards that conflicts with your personal ethical standards
D) a written set of standards that must be committed to memory
43) A stakeholder in a company is a party that has ________.
A) no interest in the company’s ethics
B) majority ownership of the company
C) minority ownership in the company
D) an interest in the company’s success or failure
44) Dogs are often pampered in the United States, while they are treated little better than rats in
some foreign countries. What type of ethics is at work here?
A) individual
B) organizational
C) societal
D) professional
45) The Sarbanes-Oxley Act established strict new standards and improved on existing ones
________.
A) to prevent corruption in Congress
B) for all U.S. public company boards, management, and accounting firms
C) to promote women in company boards
D) to eliminate oversight in company boards
46) In terms of business ethics, ________ be held legally and ethically responsible for misdeeds.
A) organizations cannot
B) individuals only can
C) both individuals and organizations can
D) neither individuals and organizations can
47) Which of the following describes an ethical dilemma?
A) The most profitable solution is difficult to determine.
B) Determining “right” and “wrong” is easy.
C) Determining “right” and “wrong” is not important.
D) Determining”right” and “wrong” is difficult.
48) Google’s slogan, “Don’t be evil,” can be best characterized as ________.
A) primarily a dig at its rival, Microsoft
B) a pledge to “do the right thing” in general
C) a pledge to avoid criminal behavior
D) a promise that Google will never seek profits
49) Which of the following is NOT a common statement that helps people rationalize unethical
behavior?
A) Everyone does it.
B) If I don’t do it, I’ll get fired.
C) My boss told me to do it.
D) The ends fail to justify the means.
50) What is the first step to prevent a lapse into unethical behavior?
A) Follow your company’s code of ethics.
B) Avoid situations in which ethics are involved.
C) Clarify your own personal code of ethics.
D) Go by the rules no matter what the situation.
51) Trait theories of leadership tried to define ________ that could identify a successful leader.
A) physical and psychological tests
B) habits, customs, and traditions
C) physical qualities, such as symmetry
D) characteristics, such as intelligence and sociability
52) Which of the following is NOT included in the social characteristics category of leadership
traits identified in research?
A) trust/credibility
B) stewardship
C) charisma
D) diplomacy
53) In the mid-20th century, researchers turned away from trait theories that studied who a leader
was and moved toward studies that analyzed the leader’s ________.
A) behavior
B) background
C) goals
D) social intelligence
54) The Michigan management studies divided manager behavior into which two dimensions?
A) production-oriented and efficiency-oriented
B) task-oriented and production-oriented
C) production-oriented and employee-oriented
D) effectiveness-oriented and time-oriented
55) Which of the following would be considered an initiating structure of leadership behavior as
defined by the Ohio State studies?
A) holding an employee brainstorm session
B) offering an employee with a sick child the afternoon off
C) creating a task rotation schedule for cleaning the employee refrigerator
D) implementing a Friday afternoon open-door policy for employee feedback
56) Which statement best describes contingency approaches to leadership?
A) A leader must have certain leadership characteristics.
B) A leader cannot change his or her leadership style.
C) Different situations require different leadership styles.
D) A leader can change his or her leadership traits.
57) Fiedler’s contingency scheme states that since leaders cannot ________, the only way to be
successful is to ________.
A) maintain a constant leadership style; place the leader in a variety of different situations
B) change their leadership style; match a leader’s style to the situation
C) maintain a constant leadership style; make the followers change their style
D) change their leadership style; make the followers change their style
58) The Situational Leadership Theory focuses on ________.
A) looking at the traits of successful leaders
B) linking leader style with followers’ readiness for tasks
C) asking followers to change their behavior
D) looking at the behaviors of successful leaders
59) The idea behind the Path-Goal Theory is to ________.
A) suggest a possible goal for employees to let them clear the path of any obstacles
B) allow employees to find their own paths to goals without managerial interference
C) create rigid paths to employee goals that are the same for all employees
D) provide a path for employees to a goal and clear the path of any possible obstacles
60) Transactional leaders try to ________.
A) inspire rather than reward employees
B) provide a vision for employees to work toward attaining
C) trade rewards for satisfactory performance on a job
D) convince employees that they don’t need to be rewarded
61) Transformational leaders usually have which of these above all other traits?
A) energy
B) drive
C) intelligence
D) charisma
62) HR has an obligation to ________.
A) define and label ethical goals
B) develop programs that address issues of ethical leadership
C) propose laws governing corporate ethical leadership
D) refuse compensation to employees suspected of using unethical practices
63) According to the Stanford Graduate School’s Business Advisory Council, ________ is by far
the most important characteristic that a leader can have.
A) self-awareness
B) honesty
C) humility
D) energy
64) Courageous leaders have the ability to resist ________ and do what they know is right.
A) complexity
B) competency
C) conformity
D) conflict
65) Shanika runs leadership seminars for young managers and entrepreneurs. In a recent session,
a young man from a manufacturing company complained that he was just not a “born leader.”
How should Shanika respond?
A) Tell him that he may not ever be a good leader, but that he can become an effective manager.
B) Tell him that leadership skills can and should be learned.
C) Tell him that leadership is not a necessary characteristic of a manager.
D) Tell him that he should adjust his goals and resign himself to the fact that he will never be a
great success.
66) In his performance review, Geraldo rated high in all areas except grasping the “big picture.”
What should he focus on?
A) Geraldo should focus on his cognitive competencies; the skills that help him identify and
recognize patterns.
B) Geraldo should work on his technical competencies; the skills that help him use tools
common in his industry.
C) Geraldo should work on his relational competencies; the skills that help him deal with people.
D) Geraldo should work on his self-concept; which includes attitudes, values, and self-image.
67) Sean is a middle manager attending a leadership seminar. He tells the group that his social
and emotional intelligence is high, but he is not very good at controlling his own emotions. What
should the seminar leader tell Sean?
A) He is correct to think his social and emotional intelligence is high because social and
emotional intelligence has nothing to do with one’s own emotions.
B) He shouldn’t worry about his deficiency because social and emotional intelligence is not very
important in leadership.
C) He is mistaken to think his social and emotional intelligence is high because self-
management, or controlling one’s own emotions, is a key part of social and emotional
intelligence.
D) He shouldn’t worry because self-control is not a very important part of social and emotional
intelligence.
68) Jayne is teaching an HR workshop for a group of new college graduates. What might she
suggest to help these new employees be receptive to the emotions of others?
A) Listen only to what people say, not what they do.
B) Read in between the lines of what people say.
C) Pay attention to body language, facial expressions, and how people are arranged in the room.
D) Ask people how they are feeling and give each response a numerical value from 1 to 10.
69) Martin’s professional goal is to be an outstanding leader. He knows it’s important to develop
his self-awareness. To practice, what question might Martin ask himself?
A) What should I be doing to maximize my potential?
B) What am I feeling, and how are these feelings affecting my thoughts and actions?
C) How can I demonstrate to others that I am concerned with their welfare and genuinely care
about them?
D) Which feelings in this room are negative and should be rejected or ignored?
70) Dawson Consulting is restructuring to make the firm more profitable. Mack, the CEO, is
using his authority to restructure the incentive system for anyone who brings in a potential client.
What kind of power is Mack employing?
A) legitimate power
B) expert power
C) referent power
D) reactive power
71) Wei is an analyst for an insurance company. The firm uses her data to make all of its
business predictions. What kind of power does she have?
A) connection power
B) reward power
C) coercive power
D) expert power
72) Due to the slow economy, Gretchen has asked employees to follow her footsteps and forego
their raises for the upcoming year. Gretchen is beloved by everyone in the company and
everyone listens to her and willingly follows her. What kind of power is she attempting to use?
A) coercive power
B) legitimate power
C) referent power
D) inherent power
73) Several supervisors at a metals fabrication plant have told workers that if they don’t increase
production, they will lose their holiday bonuses and vacation days. What kind of power are the
supervisors attempting to use?
A) referent power
B) coercive power
C) information power
D) expert power
74) Mr. Vasquez has offered his sales team an all-expenses-paid weekend cruise if they beat last
quarter’s numbers by 25 percent. What kind of power is Mr. Vasquez using?
A) reward power
B) referent power
C) coercive power
D) expert power
75) To take advantage of an expiring car warranty, Daniel claimed that his car had broken down
a day earlier than the incident actually occurred. Which code of ethics did Daniel violate?
A) a professional code of ethics
B) his personal code of ethics
C) his socio-economic code of ethics
D) Daniel did not violate a code of ethics.
76) An auto repair technician saw that Susan qualified for a free oil change, but decided not to
tell her about it. There is no law requiring the technician to inform customers of this service, but
the company prides itself on “looking out for its customers.” Which code of ethics did the
technician violate?
A) The technician did not violate a code of ethics.
B) a personal code of ethics
C) an organizational code of ethics
D) a societal code of ethics
77) A beef processing plant makes some of its employees work overtime hours with no
compensation. Which code of ethics did the plant violate in this situation?
A) a societal code of ethics
B) the technician’s code of ethics
C) a personal code of ethics
D) an organizational code of ethics
78) Beatriz hires a lawyer to sue a company over its unsafe products. The lawyer does not tell
Beatriz that he is also on retainer to the same company. Which code of ethics did the lawyer
violate?
A) an organizational code of ethics
B) a personal code of ethics
C) a professional code of ethics
D) a societal code of ethics
79) When Jason learns that the “new” car he bought is actually a refurbished used model, he puts
a stop-payment on the check he wrote to the dealership. Which code of ethics did Jason violate in
this situation?
A) Jason did not violate a code of ethics.
B) his personal code of ethics
C) an organizational code of ethics
D) a societal code of ethics
80) Which of the following statements about leadership in today’s business world is NOT true?
A) Good leaders use power.
B) Leaders should see change as opportunity.
C) Employees should adopt an “us” versus “them” attitude toward leaders.
D) Employees are motivated by leaders who are authentic and real.
81) Which of the following personal characteristics related to competencies is often the focus of
development in training programs?
A) motives
B) skills
C) traits
D) self-concept
82) In the Iceberg Model, where would a quality like optimism be located?
A) Optimism is a trait, so it would be located “below the water line.”
B) Optimism is a skill, so it would be located “above the water line.”
C) Optimism is a trait, so it would be located “above the water line.”
D) Optimism is a motive, so it would be located “below the water line.”
83) A candidate for a leadership position in a company seems to have all of the qualifications for
the job except self-awareness. Should the company hire this person?
A) No, because self-awareness is a critical part of social and emotional intelligence and
leadership
B) Yes, because self-awareness is only one of many components of social and emotional
intelligence
C) Yes, because self-awareness and social and emotional intelligence are not critically important
to leadership
D) No, because a self-awareness and social and emotional intelligence indicates dishonesty in a
person
84) Dan Nowlin of Sunglass Hut Global Culture believes that effective leadership requires
certain kinds of intelligence. Which of the following does NOT fit Nowlin’s criteria?
A) emotional intelligence
B) common sense
C) operational intelligence
D) intellect
85) A university president offers her men’s basketball coach the following deal: If he wins
enough games to qualify for the national tournament, he will receive a three-year contract
extension. If he fails to make the tournament, he will be fired. What kinds of power is the
president exercising?
A) legitimate power, expert power, and referent power
B) legitimate power, expert power, and coercive power
C) legitimate power, reward power, and coercive power
D) expert power, reward power, and coercive power
86) Which of the following is the most “defensible” case of rationalizing unethical behavior?
A) failing to report a crime because you don’t want to get involved
B) failing to report a crime because you are too busy
C) failing to report a crime because you could implicate people you know
D) failing to report a crime because you fear retaliation from the perpetrator
87) Which of the following statements about trait theories of leadership is most accurate?
A) All trait theories of leadership have been shown to be flawed and worthless.
B) All trait theories of leadership have been shown to be superior to other leadership theories.
C) Though trait theories of leadership are flawed, some traits, like self-awareness, can accurately
predict who the best leaders are.
D) Though trait theories of leadership are flawed, some traits, like extroversion and intelligence,
can accurately predict who the best leaders are.
88) Are scandals like the one carried out by Bernard Madoff a failure of leadership or a failure of
ethics? Explain.
89) Some people would just prefer to go to work, keep their head down, do their job, and not get
“involved.” Why is this attitude inappropriate in today’s business environment?
90) Your supervisor tells you to destroy all e-mails involved in a project because it could cause
trouble for him and the organization. What would you do?
91) Is Google’s Code of Conduct, “Don’t be evil,” just a joke, or does it have serious
implications? In your view, does the company live up to its slogan?
92) Why are transformational leaders more likely to be successful in today’s business climate
than transactional leaders?
93) Why do you think social and emotional intelligence are at the core of the four HR leadership
roles in an organization?
94) What does Jim Hightower’s statement, “even a dead fish can go with the flow,” mean to you?
95) How self-aware are you? What might you do to become more self-aware?