Quiz Ch. 1

The study of organizational behavior involves both human behavior and characteristics of organizations, but its principal focus is the exterior environment that surrounds the organization.

False

Which of the following scenarios most clearly exemplifies the successful use of a manager's diagnostic skills?

Sally suspects that Gary is underperforming because he is not getting enough sleep, not because he is incapable. She lets him work from 10 to 6 instead of 9 to 5, and his performance improves.

Listening to employees, recognizing their work, building trust, and behaving ethically has been shown to boost each of the following measures of performance EXCEPT

environmental preservation

Organization-level outcomes, including productivity, absenteeism and turnover, and profitability, are assessed at the individual level as well as at the organizational level.

false

The study of organizational behavior is useful in that is enables managers to predict behavior patterns before they develop

false

Deming believed that removing _______ from the workplace gives employees pride in their workmanship, which increases production.

fear

The ability to think in the abstract and visualize the big picture is classified as a technical skill

flase

The __________ effect occurs when people improve some aspect of their behavior or performance simply because they are being assessed.

hawthorne

___________ are written predictions specifying expected relationships between certain variables.

hypotheses

According to __________, an individual's behavior results from a continuous, multidirectional interaction between the characteristics of the person and of the situation.

interactionalism

One of your remote employees makes a mistake on an important project, so you must write her an email that explains the nature of the mistake and stresses how vital it is that the mistake is both fixed and never repeated. At the same time, because it was an honest mistake, you do not want your email to demoralize, demotivate, or otherwise unduly upset your employee. Your ability to write an email that corrects your employee's behavior without damaging her productivity or your relationship with her falls under which category of skills?

interpersonal skill

Which managerial function involves designing jobs, grouping jobs into units, and establishing patterns of authority between jobs and units?

organizing

Most managerial work involves simultaneous use of the planning, organizing, leading, and controlling functions.

true

The successful application of organizational behavior principles can reduce a company's rates of turnover and absenteeism.

true

Deepak is the founder of a small game development studio. He devised a method for meeting deadlines that has proven very effective for his organization. Deepak believes that his method will also work for any other organization. What type of perspective does this belief reflect?

universal

Michael Porter says that, to have a competitive advantage, a company must ultimately be able to give customers _______________.

superior value for their money

Successful business strategies are grounded in creating and maintaining a competitive advantage that is ______________.

sustainable

Deming believed that when things go wrong, it is almost certain that the ________ rather than the __________ is the cause.

system, worker

Organizational behavior is defined as the study of three interrelated areas, one of which is

the individual organization interface

The steps of the scientific method go in which order?

theory, hypothesis, data, verification

Which of the following characteristics gives Costco a competitive advantage?

committed employees

Firms pursuing a __________ strategy strive to be the lowest cost producer in an industry for a particular level of product quality.

cost leadership

Organizations pursuing a specialization strategy often try to develop a competitive advantage based on which of the following?

customer intimacy

Which of the following is not a facet of human resource management?

developing incentives to use fewer employees

If a company creates and maintains a culture that encourages employees to bring new ideas into the company, it is most likely to be using what strategy?

differentiation

Which of the following is NOT an example of organizational citizenship?

not asking for raises

The _________ method relies on systematic studies that identify and replicate a result using a variety of methods, samples, and settings.

scientific

___________management is based on the belief that productivity is maximized when organizations are rationalized with precise sets of instructions based on time-and-motion studies.

scientific

A biologist wants to know whether a plant's growth is affected by the material it's planted in. She plants lima bean seeds in a jar of dirt, a jar of cotton, and a jar of rocks, then provides each jar with equal amounts of water, plant food, and sunlight. In this experiment, what is the independent variable?

what the seeds are planted in

The study of organizational behavior is beneficial to managers because _________

working with people is an improvable skill