Intro to MGMT Exam 1

Task significance

How important is the job?

Skill variety

How many skills and talents are needed?

Autonomy

How much independence does the jobholder have?

T or F: Path-goal theory holds that subordinates with an eternal locus of control will be more satisfied with a directive style

T

T or F: The anchoring effect describes when decision makers fixate on initial information as a starting point and then, once set, fail to adequately adjust for subsequent information.

T

T or F:A group's performance potential depends to a large extent on the individual resources its members bring to the group

T

What is a decision?

a choice among two or more alternatives

The ________ style of leadership describes a leader who tends to involve employees in decision making, delegate authority, encourage participation in deciding work methods and goals, and use feedback as an opportunity for coaching employees

democratic

Descriptive perspective

describes how decision making does occur

Normative perspective

describes how decision making should occur

Goal-setting theory says that _________

difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher performances than do easy goals

According to the path-goal theory, a leader who lets subordinates know what's expected of them, schedules work to be done, and gives specific guidance as to how to accomplish tasks is termed _________

directive

Innovation

doing things differently, exploring new territory, and taking risks

_________________ combines linear and nonlinear thinking styles

effective decision making

Which of the following statements is true concerning problem identification?

effectively identifying problems is not easy

The type of conflicts that support group goals and improve performance are called _______

functional conflicts

What managers do

functions: plan, organize, lead, control skills needed: conceptual, human, technical

Why focus on teams?

groups and teams are increasingly the engine of knowledge work in a my-raid industries from science to banking

Policy programmed deicison

guidelines for making a decision

In the job characteristics model, task significance refers to the degree to which a job __________

has a substantial impact on the lives or work other people

Rules of thumb the managers use to simplify decisions making are known as _________

heuristics

Perception

how individuals detect and interpret environmental stimuli

T or F: Due to its emphasis on objectivity and specificity, the goal-setting theory holds across cultures

F

T or F: Making jobs smaller and more specialized is the most effective way of motivating employees

F

T or F: Non-programmed decision making relies on procedures, rules, and policies

F

Expectancy

(effort-performance linkage) the perceived probability that an individual's effort will result in a certain level of performace

Instrumentality

(performance - reward linkage) the perception that a particular level of performance will result in the attaining a reward

Motivation

-the process by which a person's efforts are energized, directed, and sustained toward attaining a goal - an interaction between the person and a situation; it is not a personal visit

Suggestions for motivating employees

1) combine tasks to create more meaningful work 2) create natural work units to make employees' work important and whole 3) establish client relationships to increase skill variety, autonomy, and feedback 4) expands jobs vertically by giving employees more autonomy 5) open feedback channels to let employees know how they're preforming and whether they are improving

8 steps to "rational" decision making

1) identify problem 2) identify decision criteria 3) allocate weights to the criteria 4) develop alternatives 5) analyze alternatives 6) select alternatives 7) implement selected alternative 8) evaluate decision effectiveness

Converting individual resources into a team product requires......

1) individual member motivation 2) effective team information processing

Even when we assume a manager aims to make rational decision that maximizes value for the organization, the decision maker often......

1) lacks important information 2) lacks quality and quantity of information b/c time and cost constraints 3) lacks memory to retain enough usable information in memory 4) cannot fully process the information to calculate the optimal choice

Team leader's job

1) managing the team's external boundary 2) facilitating the team process

Team leadership skills

1) patiently sharing information 2) trusting others and giving up authority 3) understanding when to intervene

Studying organizational behavior helps managers understand...

1) the behaviors of others in the organization 2) the interactions with people outside of the organization and other organizations

Feedback

Do workers know how well they are doing?

Task identity

Does the job produce a complete work?

T or F: Despite the best efforts of researchers, it proved impossible to identify one set of traits that would always differentiate leaders from nonleaders

T

T or F: Groupthink has the ability to undermine critical thinking in the group and harm the quality of decision making.

T

Which of the following is an example of a formal group?

a functional department in an organization

Nonlinear thinking style

a person's preference for internal sources of information and processing this information with internal insights, feelings, and hunches

Linear thinking style

a person's preference for using external data and facts and processing this information through rational, longer thinking

What is a difference between a policy and a rule?

a policy establishes general parameters for the decision maker

Programmed decision

a repetitive decision that can be handled by a routine approach

The equity theory proposes that _______

an employee compares his or her job's input-outcomes ratio with that of relevant others and then corrects and inequity

Escalation of commitment refers to ____________

an increased commitment to a previous decision despite evidence that it may have been wrong

Sophie is in charge of recruitment at her company. During a particular interview, the first thing Sophie noticed about the applicant was the he was improperly attired. Though the candidate possessed the necessary qualifications and effectively answered all her questions, Sophie rejected him. This is an example of the ___________

anchoring effect

In comparison to larger groups, small groups _______

are faster at completing tasks

Organizing

arranging and structuring work to accomplish organizational goal

Valence

attractiveness of the reward to the individual

According to the JCM, which job characteristic leads to an employee experiencing responsibility for outcomes of his her work?

autonomy

Teams perform better than the _______ member, but rarely perform better than the _______ member

average; best

Job Design thoery

characteristics of jobs create psychologically meaningful experiences that, in turn, motivate employees

Leadership Roles

coach, liaison with external constituencies, conflict manager, and trobleshooter

Leadership effectiveness is driven by a _________, not just personality traits

collection of behaviors

An organization brings together members from various departments such as marketing, accounting, human resources, and finance to form a team. This is an example of a __________

cross-functional

Non-programmed decisions

decisions that are unique and nonrecurring, involving custom-made solutions

Planning

defining goals, establishing strategies to achieve goals, developing plans to integrate and coordinate activities

Personality

encompasses the relatively stable feelings, thoughts, and behavioral patterns a person has

Overconfidence bias

erroneously believing that our judgments are more accurate than actually

Which of the following is true about job enlargement and job enrichment?

expanding the scope of knowledge used in a job leads to more job satisfaction, enhanced customer service, and fewer errors

Key pieces of expectancy theory

expectancy, instrumentality, valence

Rule programmed decision

explicit statement about what should (not) be done

_________ should be assigned to tasks where there are few benefits from pooling member's resources

individuals

The __________ of conflict management argues that some conflict is absolutely necessary for effective organizational performance

interactionist view

Which of the following statements is true about group decision making?

it generates more complete information and knowledge

A low-to-moderate level of task conflict consistently has a positive effect on group performance. What is the reason for this?

it stimulates discussion of ideas that help groups be more innovative

Technical skills

knowledge and proficiency in a specific field

___________ involves coordinating and overseeing the work activities of others so that their activities are completed efficiently and effectievly

management

Great Person theory

leaders possess special personality traits that set them a part from others, and these are what are responsible for their positioins

Transactional leadership

leaders who guide or motivate their followers in the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task requirements

Transformational leadership

leaders who inspire followers to transcend their own self-interest b altering their ideals, values, interests, which leads them to perform better than initially expected

Leaders assume different _______ at different times depending on the situation

leadership styles

Which of the following is the type of power a person has because of his or her position in the formal organizational hierarchy?

legitimate power

On decision-making tasks that benefits from pooling member's diverse knowledge, teams tend to _________

leverage their resources

Nominal group technique

members write down ideas and take turns reading their ideas aloud, they find a common surface and expand on it, then rank top ideas, the rankings are used to determine the most favored ideas

Controlling

monitoring, comparing, and correcting work

Unstructured problems

new or unusual problem for which information is ambiguous or incomplete

Does a "good decision" imply a good outcome?

no, because of outcomes are probabilistic (not certain)

Great person theory is ____________-

not supported by research

Cognitive Bias

observer effects which lead to perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgment, or illogical interpretation

The evidence supporting the superiority of transformational leadership over the transactional style is ________

overwhelmingly impressive

Expectancy theory

people exert greater effort toward activities for which they expect greater rewards

In the expectancy theory, ________ is the degree to which the individual believes that performing at a particular level is instrumental in attaining the desired outcome.

performance-reward linkage

Types of programmed decision

procedure, rule, policy

What is leadership?

process of influencing others to achieve goals

Good management is measured in terms of as employee ________ and ________

productivity; loyalty

Structured problems align well with which type of decisions?

programmed

Managers are asummed to use _________ if they make logical and consistent choices to maximize value

rational decision making

Decision makers choose a "________" alternative given their decision criteria

reasonable

Leaders can ________ and _____ with vision

redefine goals; transform

Values

refer to stable life goals that people have, reflecting what is most important to them

___________ is the power that arises because of a person's desirable resources or personal traits

referent power

The key to good management is the quality of the ___________ between a manager and his or her employees

relationship

Teams often have greater _______ than individuals

resources

Managers cannot possibly analyze all information on all alternatives, they tend to _________, rather than _________

satisfice; maximize

Leaders _______ approaches and behaviors that fit the situation and their followers

select

Procedure programmed decision

series of sequential and interrelated steps

Structured problems

straightforward, and easily defined -- information about the problem is available and complete

"_________" group discussions help because they give members a chance to think, to share, to listen, and to build on each other's ideas

structured

According to the path-goal theory, a leader who is friendly and shows concern for the needs of subordinates is termed ________

supportive

Which of the following is included in the class of contingency variables termed "environment" by the path-goal theory?

task structure and formal authority system

Research evidence suggest that teams typically you perform individuals when ________

tasks require multiple skills, judgement, and experiece

When finding and staffing the "best" person for task is difficult, tends to be better to assign a ______, rather than an individual

team

On complex tasks that require broad and deep expertise, _____ have the chance of tackling the problems

teams

Conceptual skills

the ability to think and conceptualize about abstract and complex situations concerning the organization

Human skills

the ability to work well with other people

The goal-setting theory has the most value when__________

the goals are made public

Expert power

the influence a leader can exert as a result of his or her expertise, skills, or knowledge

Path-goal contingency theory

the leader's job is to assist followers in attaining goals and to provide direction or support to ensure the goals are compatible with organizational goals

Legitimate power

the power a leader has as a result of his or her position

Reward power

the power a leader has to give positive benefits or rewards

Coercive power

the power a leader has to punish or control

Referent power

the power of a leader that arises because of a person's desirable resources or admired personal traits

Who are leaders?

those who can influence others to reach goals

A leader, such as Bill Gates of Microsoft, who can inspire followers about their own self-interests and can have a profound effect on their performance, is known as a)n_

transformational leader

What is a team/group?

two or more people who work interdependently over some time period to accomplish common goals

In the expectancy theory, _______ is the importance that the individual places on the potential outcome or reward that can be achieved on the job.

valence

Availability Heuristic/bias

weigh information that comes easily to mind (availability)

Goal Setting Theory

when people accept and are committed to goals, specific and difficult goals increase the intensity and persistence of effort

Leading

working with and through people to accomplish goals