PAF 311: Leadership and Change

According to leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, leaders create in-groups and out-groups. Those in the OUT-GROUP will have higher performance ratings, less job turnover, and higher levels of job satisfaction.

FALSE. Those in the IN-GROUP will have higher performance ratings, less job turnover, and higher levels of job satisfaction.

Public manager are never influenced by public opinion

False

There was no opposition from the community or from internal stakeholders (teachers,, teacher's union, parents, etc.) to Michelle Rhee's reforms.

False

Throughout Michelle Rhee's reform efforts, the Washington , D.C. council members always supported her actions

False

An omnipotent view of management is the perspective that much of an organization's success or failure is due to external forces on the organization that are outside of managers' control

False this is a symbolic view of management. An omnipotent is the view that managers are directly responsible for an organization's success or failure

The "white-water rapids" metaphor suggests that managing change has a clear beginning and end that can be planned for

False. This is "clear-water rapids".

Decentralization is the degree to which decision making takes place in the upper levels of the organization.

False. This is Centralization. Decentralization is the degree to which lower-level managers provide input or actually make decisions.

Efficiency is doing the right things, or completing activities so that organizational goals are attained.

False. This is Effectiveness.

Intergroup development is best described as using outside consultants to assess organizational processes such as workflow, informal intra-unit relationships, and formal communication channels.

False. This is Process consultation.

Effectiveness is defined as getting the most amount of output for the least amount of input.

False. This is efficiency.

Revolutionary changes at the system-level focus on the organizational design and structure, informational systems, and management practices.

False. This is evolutionary

Evolutionary changes as the system-level focus on the big picture: organization's purpose, mission, strategy, leadership, and culture.

False. This is revolutionary

Which theory of leadership proposes that effective group performance depends on the proper match between a leader's style and the degree to which the situation allowed the leader to exert control and influence?

Fiedler contingency model

Which theory of leadership says that the leader's job is to assist followers in attaining their goals and to provide the direction or support needed to ensure that their goals are compatible with the organization or group's goals?

Path-goal theory of leadership

According to the Hersey and Blanchard model of situational leadership which leadership style is most appropriate fro an employee who is UNABLE but WILLING to do what the leader wants?

Selling

Which type of change is associated with, "visioning, trial and error discovery, and learning"?

Transformational

Which type of change is described as "replacing what is with something entirely different"?

Transitional

A process refers to set on ongoing and interrelated activities.

True

A transformational change process can be very unpredictable, uncontrollable, and often messy. It must be crafted, shaped, and adapted to as it unfolds.

True

Developmental change is the improvement of an organization's existing way of operating, such as improving employees' skills, increasing communications, making an organization's process more efficient, or improving and existing process.

True

Power in an organization setting is an individual's capacity to influence decisions.

True

The primary strength of the matrix structure is that it can facilitate multiple sets of complex and interdependent projects while still retaining the economies that result from keeping functional specialists grouped together.

True

The single greatest predictor of leadership potential is emotional intelligence.

True

The teacher's union opposed some of the actions taken by Michelle Rhee.

True

Traits alone are not sufficient for identifying effective leaders.

True

When we say organizations function as an open system, this means they are influenced by and interact with their environment.

True

Which of the following could be a change agent for an organization?

A manager A non-managerial employee An outside consultant hired by the organization Correct: All of the above could be change agents for an organization

Which of the following would be best described as a change occurring at the organizational level?

An employee receives a training on a new computer system. Correct: An organization implements a new software system. Diverse stakeholders are engaged in the organization. None of the above.

Responsibility refers to:

An obligation to performed assigned duties.

In the systems metaphor, organization transformation processes might include:

Management activities. Employees' work activities. Technology and operations method.

People who work directly on a job or task and have no responsibilities for overseeing the work of others are best described as:

Non-managerial employees.

Which of the following is true about organizational behavior (OB)?

OB considers topics such as motivation, leading building trust, working in teams, and managing conflict. OB researchers do research on human behavior in organizations. Much of what managers do today come is informed by the study of OB Correct: All of the above

If a manager or an organization puts in place a plan to change the attitudes and expectations of employees, what is the manager trying to change about the organization?

People

In the systems metaphor, organization output processes might include:

Products and services. Financial resources. Information. Human resources.

In the systems metaphor, organization inputs might include:

Raw materials. Human Resources. Capital. Technology. Information.

Which is not a characteristic of mechanistic organization?

Rigid hierarchal relationships Many rules Centralized decision authority Correct: Informal communication

Constituencies in an organization's environment that are affected by that organization's decisions and actions are commonly referred to as:

Stakeholders

Interpersonal skills refer to:

The ability to work with, understand, mentor, and motivate other.

Who of the following is true about public organizations?

They produce public goods and services. They are subject to political oversight. While we think of them as government agencies, there are many different ownership structures that are involved in the provision of public goods. Correct: All of the above

Why do we have public organizations?

To provide public good and address the issue of free riders. To protect consumers from information asymmetries. To protect individual liberty and freedom. Correct: All of the above

An organizations is a deliberate or systematic arrangement or people brought together to accomplish some specific purpose.

True

Behavioral theories of leadership try to isolate the behaviors the differentiate effective leaders from ineffective leaders. Knowing what behaviors are related to effective leadership can inform the training of people to become more effective leaders.

True

Individuals are who are typically responsible for translating goals set up by top managers to lower-level employees are referred to as middle managers.

True

Munificence refers to the availability of needed resources

True

Organizational change can be driven by forces internal or external to the organization

True

the drivers of change model helps connect larger changes in environmental forces to employee micro-behaviors and mindsets that are necessary for successful organizational change.

True

The three steps of Lewin's change process (in order) are:

Unfreezing, changing, refreezing

Change in one aspect of the organization:

Can also affect other aspects of the organization.

According to Robbins, Coulter, & DeCenzo text, a leader is someone who:

Can influence others. Has managerial authority. Correct: Both A and B None of the above.

Environmental factors that might drive organization change include:

Community demographics. Technological shifts. Economic Conditions Correct: All of the above.

Examples of organization stakeholders might include:

Communties Social and political action groups media: Correct: all of the above

Which of the following would be best described as a change occurring at the individual level?

Correct: An employee receives a training on a new computer system. An organization implements a new software system. Diverse stakeholders are engaged in the organization. None of the above.

Which of the following is true about employee empowerment?

Empowerment involves increasing the decision-making discretion of workers. Technology has contributed to employee empowerment. Organizations empower employees because they often need quick decisions by those most knowledgeable on the certain issues- and often those employees are in lower levels of the organization. Correct: All of the above

The challenges associated with transformational change require that leaders:

Engage with their own personal change process to shift how they think, lead, and relate. Authentically and deeply engage stakeholders early in the change process. Overtly set up the change process to welcome and respond to rapid course correction along the way. Correct: All of the above

According to the presentation, change at the system-level can be:

Evolutionary. Revolutionary. Correct: Both A and B. Neither A nor B.

Geographic departmentalization:

Grouping employees together based on the location served.

Functional departmentalization refers to:

Grouping employees together based on the type of work performed (e.g. engineering, accounting etc.)

Process departmentalization refers to:

Grouping employees together on the basis of work flow (e.g. testing, payment, etc.)

The extent to which important components of an organizations's environment are similar or dissimilar are best described by which analytical dimensions?

Homogeneity and heterogeneity

Leader and employee behavioral imperatives refer to:

How behavior change in leaders and staff t express the organization's desired culture.

Imagine an organization where the top managers allocate decision making responsibilities to employees in the lower levels of the organization. What can we say about this organizations's decision making?

It is decentralized.

Which of the following is true about organizations?

Organizations have distinct purposes. Organizations consist of people working to achieve a common goal. Organizations have structures that define and place limits on the behavior of its members. Correct: All of the above

If a manager or an organization starts to change the organization's coordination mechanisms or job designs of the employees, what about the organization is changing?

Structure

Organizational imperatives refer to:

The changes required in the organization's structure, systems, prowesses, technology, resources, skill, base, or staff to implement and achieve its strategic imperatives.

Environmental uncertainty refers to:

The degree of change in an organization's environment

Chain of command refers to:

The line of authority extending from upper organization levels to lower levels, which clarifies who reports to whom.

Cultural imperatives refer to:

The norms, or collective way of being, working, and relating in the organization that must change to support and drive the organization's new design, operations, and strategy.

Environmental complexity refers to:

The number of components in an organization's environment and the extent of the knowledge that the organization has about these components

According to Hersey and Blanchard model of situational leadership, the best leadership style depends on:

The readiness of the employee (or the follower)