Management Chapter 5 Homework Essentials Organizational Behavior e sage Publishing 2021 question Location Escalation Commitment an s Think Leaders Suffer

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Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior 3e

SAGE Publishing, 2021

Sample Answers to In–Text Questions

Note: Answers to Case Questions are available in the Case Notes. Answers to Toolkit Activities

are personal to the student therefore there are no sample answers.

Chapter 5: Perception, Decision Making, and Problem Solving

Critical Thinking Questions

1. How can leaders employ the focusing illusion to improve follower satisfaction with pay

and benefits? What aspects of the job can employees focus on besides pay and benefits?

Question Location: Would You Be Happier if You Were Richer?

Ans: Leaders can try to help employees look at their pay and benefits in a different perspective.

2. If you make a bad first impression in an interview, what would you try to do to change

it? Provide examples of the specific behaviors you would engage in.

Question Location: The Primacy Effect

Ans: First, I would try to recognize why the bad first impression was made. Then I would try to

acknowledge the cause of the impression and try to offset or overcome it. If I felt the interviewer

has erroneously arrived at the wrong impression, I may call her or him on it in a respectful way.

3. How can elaborative interrogation be used to change perceptions of a follower who does

not like to work on a team?

Question Location: The Availability Bias

Ans: Elaborative interrogation can increase the willingness to let go of preconceived notions and

learn material that challenges beliefs. It requires people to generate their own explanations of

Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior 3e

SAGE Publishing, 2021

4. What are your perceptions of leaders? Provide an example of a situation where leaders

are believed to have the power to make major changes in society.

Question Location: Halo Error

Ans: I believe that leaders are a powerful force for change, but they are human and sometimes

5. How can you use the knowledge of employability to improve your chances of getting

hired? What dimensions of employability will you focus on?

Question Location: Employability: Self-Fulfilling Prophecies During the Application Process

Ans: Recent research on employability suggests the degree to which you are perceived as

employable may determine whether or not you are hired for a position. Employability is defined

as “an attribution employers make about the probability that job candidates will make positive

contributions to their organizations.” There are three important aspects to an applicant’s profile

6. What is it about each of these decisions that caused them to be listed as the most

important business decisions? Propose a recent business decision that is a candidate for this

list.

Question Location: Individual Decision-Making

Ans: Each of these decisions had a significant effect on the companies at the time but also

affected other organizations as well. They were significant in that they changed how business

7. In your opinion, do leaders follow the rational decision-making model in practice? Give

an example of when the process is followed and an example when it is not followed.

Compare and contrast the outcomes of these decisions.

Question Location: The Rational Decision-Making Model

Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior 3e

SAGE Publishing, 2021

Ans: In my opinion, leaders do not follow the rational decision-making model in practice. They

8. How can you use knowledge of prospect theory to improve your chances of getting a

good deal during a negotiation? What role do you think framing of options as gains or

losses plays in negotiations?

Question Location: The Importance of How Decisions Are Framed

Ans: Framing your point as a gain for the other party will help put more emphasis on your side

9. What are the risks of relying on intuition to make decisions? What can a leader do to

address these risks and gain the benefits from intuition?

Question Location: Benefits of Intuition

Ans: There are various risks in relying on intuition to make decisions. For one, decision makers’

intuition may be off. Secondly, they may fail to consider all possible alternatives or outcomes of

10. What is an example of a wicked organizational problem (one that is complex, dynamic,

and constrained with most of the characteristics listed above)?

Question Location: Wicked Organizational Problems

11. Why do you think leaders suffer from overconfidence and escalation of commitment?

List some personality traits that may contribute to escalation of commitment.

Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior 3e

SAGE Publishing, 2021

Question Location: Escalation of Commitment

Ans: I think leaders suffer from overconfidence because they have been successful in the past

and assume that the success will continue. In order to be a leader, it takes a level of ability that

12. Do you believe that creativity is an in-born trait that only a few people have? If so,

why? If not, how would you encourage creativity in your followers?

Question Location: Creative Problem Solving

Ans: I believe that everyone can be creative to a point, but certain individuals are inherently

What’s #Trending in OB?

Using Big Data Analytics to Improve Decisions

1. Which of the “Five V’s” of big data do you consider to be most critical and why? Rank

order them in terms of importance and explain your ranking.

Ans: Sample ranking and explanation below:

1. Veracity: This is the most essential “V” of big data as it relates to the ability for companies to

extract new insights that guide decision makers to adapt their necessary business practices in a

way that captures the most value.

2. Velocity: This “V” is a close second due to the fact that decisions need to be made faster than

ever in the current marketplace, and the velocity of data generation enables that response time.

Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior 3e

SAGE Publishing, 2021

2. Research and locate another example of how an organization uses big data analytics to

inform its decisions. What sources of data did the organizations collect and how did they

collect them?

Ans: Carters used big data analytics to better inform its supply chain forecasts. It did this through

a transformational platform called Anaplan, that gathered data from its variety of disparate

3. What are the potential privacy issues with big data? Explain how some people might

view the collection of data without them being aware of it as intrusive.

Ans: The collection of consumer data, specifically consumer browsing data, is a concern for

many people. Opting in to targeted marketing is one thing, but there are ethical concerns about

Research in Action

Perception Is Not Reality

1. How many different things do you do at once? Give an example of a distraction that may

be causing you to misperceive reality.

Ans: While I study, I typically text my girlfriend and have the golf channel playing on silent in

the background. These are distractions that make it much longer for me to get my studying done.

2. What steps can you take to improve your perceptions for the example you provided in

question 1?

Ans: The first step would be to eliminate the distractions from the first place. I would tell my

girlfriend I need a concrete time slot of no texting and I would turn off the golf channel in the

Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior 3e

SAGE Publishing, 2021

3. Why do you think that people became defensive when they made a perceptual error?

Give an example of when you have seen this happen from work or school.

Ans: I think people become defensive when they made a perceptual error because they knew that

they were wrong. It is very difficult for people to admit wrongdoing or mistakes, so it follows

4. Explain why it is important for a leader to understand that their perception may not be

reality? Give an example of what could happen if leaders are distracted and make errors.

Ans: It is important for a leader to understand that their perception may not be reality because

they cannot see what employees are doing at all times. For example, I am a business owner with

three different business partners. I am in charge of sales; one of my partners is in charge of