OB Chapter 11

A person with a low tolerance for ambiguity who is oriented toward people and social concerns when making a decision portrays which style? A. analytical B. conceptual C. directive D. behavioral E. consultative

D

At Peter James Consulting, managers are in the process of submitting their budget cuts for the next fiscal year. In evaluating alternatives, managers should consider all of the following except A. Will these cuts impact the quality of our service? B. What is the budget impact of these changes? C. Are these the right choices to make for our company? D. Is this the choice that I, personally, would like to make? E. Is this the best use of our resources company-wide?

D

In the _________ bias, a decision maker is influenced by the first information received about a decision, even if it is irrelevant. A. confirmation B. availability C. representativeness D. anchoring E. framing

D

Multitaskers end up switching tasks hundreds of times a day. This makes them ______ in their work environment. A. more efficient B. more intelligent C. good problem solvers D. less efficient E. more responsible

D

The forms of intuition are A. tacit and explicit. B. formal and informal. C. rational and nonrational. D. holistic hunches and automated experiences. E. directive and analytical.

D

Which of the following is not a question in Bagley's decision tree? A. Is the proposed action legal? B. Is the proposed action ethical? C. Does the proposed action maximize shareholder value? D. Does the proposed action affect any stakeholders? E. Would it be ethical not to take the proposed action?

D

_______ is a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action. A. Brainstorming B. Brainwriting C. Brainwashing D. Groupthink E. Goal displacement

D

Teresa is using _______ in order to make this decision. A. her expertise B. a managerial style C. rational processes D. informal guidelines E. optimizing abilties

A

The first question asked in Bagley's decision tree is: A. Is the proposed action legal? B. Is the proposed action ethical? C. Does the proposed action maximize shareholder value? D. Does the proposed action affect any stakeholders? E. Would it be ethical not to take the proposed action?

A

Which of the following is one of the assumptions underlying nonrational models of decision making? A. Managers do not possess complete information. B. Rational decision making is easy. C. The context for managerial decisions is simple and stable. D. Decisions can be made with certainty. E. Managers do not face restrictions when making decisions.

A

_________ is a group process that anonymously generates ideas or judgments from physically dispersed experts. A. The Delphi technique B. Brainstorming C. Groupthink D. Goal displacement E. Decision support systems

A

A(n) ________ is a graphical representation of the process underlying decisions. A. PERT chart B. GANNT chart C. decision tree D. flowchart E. organizational chart

C

Lily graduates from high school and is ready to go to college. However, she also loves sports. She wants to join a basketball academy and become a professional basketball player. Lily finds her uncertainty about her future very stressful and is psychologically uncomfortable about it. This implies that Lily has a(n) A. low tolerance for ambiguity. B. conceptual decision-making style. C. low need for structure. D. analytical style of decision making. E. high social concern.

A

Madetra makes low-priced leather handbags and wallets. They keep their costs down, but have to cut some corners. Now, their rate of return is 25 percent. Madetra considers this a(n) ________ or "good enough" solution. A. satisficing B. optimizing C. minimizing D. intuitive E. rationalizing

A

A manager of an advertising firm appointed two employees to strike an advertising deal with one of their big clients. They were chosen as they had made a similar agreement previously with another client. Which of the following biases was the manager engaging in? A. representativeness B. anchoring C. framing bias D. fundamental attribution error E. self-serving bias

A

An example of the ________ heuristic occurs when you see news reports about people losing their jobs, and then start believing that you are in danger of being laid off. You start lying awake in bed each night worrying that you are about to be fired. A. availability B. hindsight C. representativeness D. anchoring E. framing

A

Individuals who are directive in decision-making style A. risk being autocratic and focusing on the short term. B. sometimes overanalyze situations. C. rely on intuition and discussions with others to acquire information. D. are good at finding creative solutions to problems. E. have a tendency to avoid conflict.

A

Jolene is a mathematics major. She has a high tolerance for ambiguity and tends to overanalyze many situations. What style does Jolene represent? A. analytical B. conceptual C. directive D. behavioral E. consultative

A

Nicole is a manager at a fast food restaurant. She is under a lot of pressure from headquarters to increase her monthly profits. Nicole isn't sure what the solution is for her financial dilemma. She decides to use the rational decision-making model to determine the best path for a solution. The problem has already been defined by headquarters. Now Nicole has to A. generate alternative solutions. B. evaluate the alternative solutions. C. identify additional opportunities. D. implement a solution. E. evaluate the solution.

A

Norm and his creative team need to present an idea for marketing a new detergent to the head of their advertising agency. Diane, a member of the team, always resented Norm's promotion to team leader. She objects to every idea Norm suggests and spends the entire meeting selling her approach. Diane hopes that this will be a chance to show her skills to the head of the agency. This is known as A. goal displacement. B. social pressure. C. groupthink. D. role modeling. E. decision rationale

A

The first stage of the creative performance behavior process is A. problem formulation/definition. B. preparation/information gathering. C. idea generation. D. idea evaluation. E. idea validation.

A

Carla tends to take long-term view and rely on discussions with others to acquire information. She has a high tolerance for ambiguity and is oriented toward people and social concerns when making decisions. Which decision-making style does Carla possess? A. analytical B. conceptual C. directive D. behavioral E. consultative

B

Despite the information available, Becky consistently uses her cell phone to text when driving down the highway. This is an example of ______ decision making. A. rational B. nonrational C. optimizing D. normative E. alternative

B

Dr. Barbara Sonders determines financial trends in European markets. She analyzes worldwide financial and economic trends to determine the best course of action for European economies. Her decisions are based on complicated and sometimes ambiguous information, and she has to carefully considers all sides of the issue. What type of decision-making style does Dr. Sonders possess? A. directive B. analytical C. conceptual D. behavioral E. ambiguous

B

Evidence collected after the fact can be used to convince an external audience that the organization is following a sound course of action in a complex and ambiguous decision context. On the positive side, this can lead to A. shareholders questioning management. B. confidence and goodwill about the company. C. less input from employees. D. insecurity about management decision making. E. supplying only the most pertinent information.

B

In a complicated decision environment, a manager should use the _______ method of decision making. A. heuristic B. rational C. satisficing D. nonrational E. intuition

B

In a simple environment, a manager should use the _______ model of decision making. A. heuristic B. rational C. satisficing D. nonrational E. intuition

B

Jess has completed her two-year medical assistant program. She really wants to be a nurse, but needs to start working as soon as possible in order to pay her bills and loans. Unbeknownst to her, one of her professors has put her name in for an award program at the local nursing college. She is notified that she is a finalist for the award—full paid tuition and a living stipend. This _______ can enable her to exceed her goals. A. problem B. opportunity C. propportunity D. holistic hunch E. alternative

B

Mark is looking to buy his first home. His friends suggest that he check the style of the house and the number of rooms. He is, therefore, focusing extensively on the look of the house to evaluate its value, rather than its condition or location. This implies that Mark was engaging himself in the _________ bias. A. representativeness B. anchoring C. availability D. fundamental attribution E. self-serving

B

Marketing firms strive to ensure that people are aware of their products because people assume that if they have heard about certain products, the products will work well. Which of the following biases are the marketing firms trying to take advantage of? A. creativity B. availability C. fundamental attribution error D. representativeness E. inclusion

B

Max needs to create a plan for his final art project. Inez, also in the class, passes by and sees Max sitting at an outdoor café, having coffee. He seems really relaxed. Inez asks him how come he isn't stressed thinking about the final project. What does this scenario indicate? A. Coffee can help stimulate creative ideas. B. Doing "nothing" may be one of the most important creative things we can do. C. Max has a good relationship with his art instructor so he's not worried. D. Max does his best creative work right before the due date, so he's not in any rush. E. It's easy to ask for an extension for the project.

B

The idea that creativity starts from a base of knowledge is represented in the _______ stage of the creative performance process. A. problem formulation/definition B. preparation/information gathering C. idea generation D. idea evaluation E. idea validation

B

The senior managers of Optimum Inc., a multinational information technology firm, were concerned that people were not buying their computers. They were shocked to hear of a salesperson recommending to customers to buy something other than an Optimum PC because they were of poor value. This small incident motivated the organization to conduct an extensive survey to understand real customer experience in order improve their products accordingly. This was an example of A. a normative process. B. evidence-based decision making. C. satisficing. D. a nonrational process. E. escalation of commitment.

B

Which of the following is not an advantage of group decision making? A. greater commitment to a decision B. less time spent making a decision C. better understanding of the decision rationale D. greater pool of knowledge E. more visible role modeling

B

Yuri is very task-focused at work and does not pay much attention to people issues. Tina is just the opposite. These are examples of ________, the extent to which an individual focuses on either task and technical concerns or people and social concerns when making decisions A. extraversion B. value orientation C. locus of control D. individualism E. tolerance for ambiguity

B

_______ is the sense of "we-ness" that overrides individual differences and motives. A. Group coherence B. Group cohesiveness C. Groupthink D. Peer pressure E. Stereotyping

B

________ is solving problems by producing the best possible solution. A. Satisficing B. Optimizing C. Minimizing D. Using intuition E. Rationalizing

B

_________ bias is especially evident in entrepreneurs who are deciding to start and sustain new ventures. A. Representativeness B. Overconfidence C. Escalation of commitment D. Framing E. Confirmation

B

__________ represent(s) cognitive shortcuts or biases that are used to simplify the process of making decisions. A. Normative intuitions B. Judgmental heuristics C. Holistic hunches D. Explicit knowledge E. Tacit knowledge

B

Individuals who are conceptual in decision-making style A. risk being autocratic and focusing on the short term. B. sometimes overanalyze situations. C. rely on intuition and discussions with others to acquire information. D. adopt a short-term perspective. E. have a tendency to avoid conflict.

C

Kathryn is looking for ideas on how best to grow her small business. She and her three partners sit down to brainstorm suggestions. Which of the following rules will help ensure a positive brainstorming session? A. Offer criticisms of ideas right away so you don't waste time. B. Don't be too focused...let your mind wander. C. Encourage wild ideas. D. Let everyone jump in to the conversation. E. Focus on the quality of the ideasnot the quantity.

C

Leon Law Offices only hires graduates from Ivy League schools because clients have been impressed by those credentials in the past. This is an example of ________ , and in this case, the "school attended" criterion is being used to facilitate complex information processing associated with employment interviews. A. confirmation B. availability C. representativeness D. overconfidence E. Framing

C

Many organizations, such as Google, Zappos, Salesforce.com, and Yahoo!, are designing the work environment to encourage casual conversations among employees who don't generally work together. They also are "installing playful prompts, like trivia games, to get workers talking in traditional conversational dead zones, such as elevators." It is thought that __________ demonstrate a form of social support for employees, leading them to put more effort into creative behaviors. A. low-performance work systems B. high stress work environments C. high-performance work systems D. independent E. low stress work environments

C

Marvin is a medical technician who administers stress tests. He has a low tolerance for ambiguity and is oriented toward task and technical concerns when making decisions. The ________ style is well suited for this position. A. analytical B. conceptual C. directive D. behavioral E. consultative

C

One of the benefits of using intuition to make decisions is that it can A. be useful when you have unlimited resources. B. help managers who are bounded. C. speed up the decision-making process. D. help managers understand all of the highly desirable conditions. E. slow down the decision-making process so you don't make a mistake.

C

Rachel bought a table at a thrift store for $20. She had a feeling it might be valuable. When cleaned up and assessed, the table turned out to be an antique from the 1700s, worth $3,250. What was Rachel using to make her decision? A. satisficing B. rationalization C. intuition D. explicit knowledge

C

Ryan is looking to buy a used car. He seems to be most concerned with the color and style of the car, and uses those criteria as a basis for evaluating the value of the car, rather than considering how well the engine or the transmission is maintained. This is an example of A. confirmation bias. B. availability bias. C. anchoring bias. D. overconfidence bias. E. framing bias.

C

The primary intent of Bagley's decision tree model is to A. improve rationality in decision making. B. assist in conducting evidence-based decision making. C. help in making more ethical decisions. D. reduce bias in decision making. E. increase creativity in decision making.

C

Three years ago, the City of Recker committed to build a park and music venue by the river. It was expected to cost $2.5 million and be paid for from an additional meals tax in the community. The residents pushed back. Local restaurants suffered as people ate out less or patronized restaurants in neighboring communities. The project has stalled, but the town council kept pushing it on. This spring, a flood devastated the venue. The town council appears to have suffered from _______ bias. A. confirmation B. availability C. escalation of commitment D. overconfidence E. framing

C

Which of the following statements about tendencies in managerial decision making is false? A. Managers make decisions too quickly. B. Managers don't invest resources to properly study the problem and alternative courses of action. C. Managers study the problem too extensively and collect too much data. D. Managers take the easy solution without rigorously considering alternatives. E. Managers don't consider all the relevant data.

C

______ is the idea that decision makers are restricted by constraints when making decisions. A. Normative intuition B. Holistic intuition C. Bounded rationality D. Optimal satisfaction E. Explicit knowledge

C

A decision maker is influenced by the manner in which a problem or question is stated. This represents the _______ bias. A. confirmation B. availability C. representativeness D. overconfidence E. framing

E

In groupthink, the "inherent morality" symptom is likely to A. breed excessive optimism. B. cause groups to underestimate opponents. C. cause groups to interpret silence as assent. D. question loyalty of dissenters. E. cause the group to ignore ethical considerations.

E

Josephine is about to graduate from college and is excited about joining her two roommates to start a small coffee shop near campus. She has never started a business before, but she is sure that her business degree has taught her everything she needs to know. The three of them have enough money for their initial costs and figure that they can cover their expenses with the cash flow from the business. Which heuristic is probably involved? A. representativeness B. anchoring C. availability D. fundamental attribution error E. overconfidence

E

Oliver was known for his innovative promotional ideas. His boss loved listening to his presentations and trusted his ideas. Though Oliver's ideas started to get monotonous after a while, his boss took only his ideas and did not accept ideas from others. Which of the following was Oliver's boss using? A. creativity B. inclusion heuristic C. fundamental attribution error D. anchoring E. availability heuristic

E

Roger runs a small nonprofit group. He wants to buy a copier, because he knows it will be cheaper than going to the copy store. One of the other employees remarks that they should make do with an inexpensive copier from Walmart or Staples, but Roger wants one that will copy legal documents and collate reports. Roger may be impacted by _______ bias. A. framing B. hindsight C. anchoring D. availability E. confirmation

E

Selecting the most creative and promising idea from among multiple options relies on analytical and mainly conscious thinking. This is _______, the final stage opf the creative performance process. A. problem formulation B. problem definition C. preparation/information gathering D. idea generation E. idea evaluation/validation

E

The _______ model of decision making assumes that managers are completely objective and possess all information for their decisions. In this model, decisions demonstrate excellent logic. A. intuition B. satisficing C. holistic D. evidence-based E. rational

E

Wanston operates factories in Southeast Asia. After a fire burned down one of the factories, Wanston needs to decide whether to continue operating in a damaged building or to wait until the damage has been repaired and chance losing orders. What might the ethical decision be? A. The ethical decision might be to close the plant because safety rules are so lax. B. The ethical decision might be to move al employees to the United States and grant them citizenship. C. The ethical decision might be to keep your customers happy, no matter what the cost. D. The ethical decision might have been to keep employees working through the repair cycle so they can get a paycheck. E. The ethical decision might be to ask employees to enter the building only after the structural problems had been fixed, and to ask customers for some leeway in filling orders.

E

We all use shortcuts or ________ when making decisions. A. bounded rationality B. holistic hunches C. rational thought D. personal biases E. judgmental heuristics

E

When Jamie comes to work in the morning, the first thing he does is head to the employee lounge where he grabs a cup of coffee and talks to coworkers for several minutes. This implies that he probably has a A. low tolerance for ambiguity. B. high tolerance for ambiguity. C. task orientation. D. low need for structure. E. social orientation.

E

Which of the following is not a symptom of groupthink? A. mindguards B. illusion of unanimity C. self-censorship D. illusion of invulnerability E. minority dissent

E

Which of the following statements is true? A. Evidence-based decision making should never be used in making decisions. B. Evidence-based decision making should never be used in informing decisions. C. Evidence-based decision making should never be used in supporting decisions. D. Evidence-based decision making should always be used in supporting decisions. E. Evidence-based decision making should sometimes be used in supporting decisions.

E

__________ and ________ drive creative performance behaviors. A. Task; person focus B. Tolerance for ambiguity; locus of control C. Heuristics; biases D. Alternatives; solutions E. Person factors; environmental characteristics

E