Test #2 Organizational Psych

Which one of the theories does NOT explain motivation?

(xxx) Social comparison theory (SCT) Job characteristics theory Equity theory VIE theory

Which of the following is NOT a necessary condition for an effective performance-based merit pay system?

Accurate measurement and documentation of employee performance. Fair administration of performance-based pay decisions. Merit pay increases large enough to be meaningful to employees. (xxx)All of the above are critical.

What is the most important characteristic of workplace incivility that differentiates it from other similar types of CWBs?

Ambiguous intent

A psychological contract represents:

An employee's expectation of how the organization should treat the employee.

Which one of the below statements is NOT true about job satisfaction?

An employee's job satisfaction is not affected by what other people think of the job.

Which of the following is NOT one of the facets suggested by Beehr and Newman's model that would affect the process of stress?

Appraisel facet

Based on the course materials, which one of the below is NOT a type of behavior that organizations attempt to influence through compensation plans (organizational rewards)?

Attraction Turnover Organizational Citizenship Behavior (xxx) Profit

Choose the best definition of counterproductive organizational behavior.

Behavior that runs against the goals of an organization

Which one of the compensation plans (organizational rewards) below is NOT tangible?

Bonus (xxx)Status symbol Fringe benefit Perks

Which of the following is NOT the person-based causes of CWBs suggested by the textbook and the lecture slides?

Conscientiousness Trait anxiety Self-control (xxx)Childhood abuse experience

Which of the following theories (models) of stress best explains why people decide not to engage in organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) such as helping other coworkers when they are stressed out?

Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory

The three most commonly researched forms of organizational commitment are referred to as:

Continuance, affective, normative

Which of the following concept describes the idea that "justice is valued for its own sake, not because there are benefits associated with it."

Doentic justice

Which one of the following aspects is NOT the component of whether individuals consider their jobs as favorable or unfavorable?

Emotional (xxx)Subjective Behavioral Cognitive

Which of the following statements regarding the stressor of layoffs is true?

Employees who survive layoffs may also feel extreme stress.

The theory of motivation that is based on the perceived fairness of transactional relationships between individuals and organizations is:

Equity theory

Which one of the following theories best describes this comment of an employee?: "Well, my company doesn't really pay well for my effort. So taking one or two products once in a while is a way to achieve fairness in my salary."

Equity theory

Which one of the following statements is NOT true about equity theory?

Equity theory only considers an employee's comparison of outcome within himself/herself, regardless of how other employees are getting rewarded.

Based on the textbook, which of the following is the most legitimate reason why executive salaries tend to be so much higher than other employees' salaries?

Executive decisions can dramatically impact an organization's survival.

Which one of the components of VIE theory best explains this comment of an employee?: "To get a promotion at the end of this month, I need to have a good performance rating from my boss. Although I really want to get a promotion this time, considering my boss's personality and work ethic, I don't think my boss will give me a good performance review regardless of whether I achieve the department's monthly goal. So what's the point?"

Expectancy

Employees have only one type of commitment for organizations. That means employees can either have affective commitment or continuance commitment, not both.

False

High blood pressure, migraine, and backache are the examples of behavioral strain.

False

Institute for Social Research (ISR) Model of stress suggests that individual differences are irrelevant to how individuals perceive an objective environment.

False

Job satisfaction and organizational commitment are NOT related to each other. In other words, they are two completely distinct constructs (concepts).

False

The relationship between job satisfaction and job performance is rather weak. Therefore, we do not need to care about job satisfaction as it does not affect job performance much

False

Whether an individual has a favorable attitude toward his or her job is NOT affected by how much the individual is getting paid.

False

Which one of the following motivation theories best describes the idea of management by objectives (MBO)?

Goal setting theory

Which one of the following theories best explains this comment from a supervisor?: "Our team achieved the best performance in the nation last year by achieving 11 million dollar sales. Let's try 13 million dollars this year!"

Goal setting theory

Which one of the following sentences does NOT describe a motivating goal?

Goals that are moderately difficult than goals that are too easy. (xxx) Goals that are imposed by the management but not accepted by employees. Goals that are specific than abstract. Goals that provide feedback while employees try to reach that goal.

Which of the following is NOT considered as organizationally-oriented CWB (CWB-O)?

Harassment

Job rotation is an example of which of the following types of job design?

Humanistic

What is the major implication of the Stressor-Emotion Model suggested by Spector and Fox (2005)?

Individuals engage in CWB when they are stressed out.

Which of the following components of behavior is not determined by motivation?

Inspiration

Within expectancy theory, a person's belief that his or her performance will lead to a particular outcome is known as:

Instrumentality

Which of the following is NOT the component of CWB?

Intention to harm

Which of the following theories (models) of stress best explains why people experience strain when they have more job demands than job control?

Job Demands-Control (JDC) Model

Which one of the following statements best describes the major difference between the Job Demands-Control (JDC) model and the Job Demands-Resources (JDR) model?

Job Demands-Resources (JDR) model expanded the Job Demands-Control (JCD) model by defining the demands and resources more broadly to increase the applicability of the theory.

Vertical loading refers to which of the following job design strategies?

Job enrichment

Which one of the following statements is NOT true about job redesign?

Job rotation may promote skill development of an employee but the jobs that the employee takes for rotation themselves stay the same. Job enrichment is mostly done through providing more responsibilities and autonomy at the same time. Use of job diagnostics survey (JDS) is the first step for job redesign according to the job characteristics approach. (xxx) Although organizations try to motivate employees through job redesign, the empirical findings suggest that it does not increase job satisfaction.

Which of the following statements is NOT true about Maslow's Need Hierarchy?

Maslow's needs hierarchy has been given ample empirical support.

Which of the following is NOT one of the factors of CWB structure defined by Spector et al. (2006)?

Misuse of information

Which one of the following is NOT true about the definition and assumptions about motivation?

Motivation by itself is not observable, but the results of it can be observed. The form of behavior determined by motivation means types of behaviors individuals choose to do. Motivation is relevant to both the ideas of typical performance and maximum performance as motivation determines intensity and duration of behavior. (xxx) Motivation is a driving force, and therefore, motivated people do not get to choose their own behaviors they want.

Motivation is best described in terms of a person's:

Needs Cognitive processes Behaviors

Which one of the following commitment types best describes this sentence? "My supervisor has done so much for me when I needed her help. I cannot just leave her behind for a better job."

Normative commitment

Which one of the following statements is NOT true about job insecurity, lay-off, and merger/acquisition?

Observing other coworkers getting laid-off during economic downturn relieves those who survived the layoff.

Which one of the following is true about the needs-based motivation theories?

One of the limitations of Maslow's need hierarchy is that some people pursue needs located in higher stages without satisfying all below (lower) stages of needs.

Which one of the following is NOT true about organizational rewards?

Praise should be sincere to be effective as a reward. Size and location of an office provided for an employee is an example of status symbol. The idea of "Employee-of-the-month" award is an example of recognition. (xxx) Free lunches and bike repair shops within organizations are examples of fringe benefits.

Which one of the following does NOT increase employees' organizational commitment suggested by the textbook and lecture slides?

Providing realistic job preview (xxx) Increasing transactional exchange relationship Providing more benefits Building trust

_________ role overload is due to the amount of demands; ________ role overload is due to the difficulty of those demands perceived by a particular employee.

Quantitive, qualitative

Which one of the statements below is NOT true about the organizational reward systems?

Rewards can be in intangible or tangible form. Salary/wage is often considered as an indicator of career success by people. (xxx) If a car salesman is getting paid $1,000 for every 10 cars sold, it is an example of merit pay. Gain sharing is based on the cost saving while profit sharing is based on the profit generated.

Which of the following concepts is NOT a type of role-stressors?

Role constraint

Which of the following types of CWBs is considered as the CWBs with a low base rate (less observable in workplaces)?

Sabotage

Which of the following is NOT an example of incivility?

Sara yells at Jane in front of others and calls her a jerk.

"Quid pro quo" and "hostile work environment" are two forms of which of the following forms of counterproductive behavior?

Sexual Harassement

Which one of the below components is NOT traditionally studied and conceptualized as job characteristics, based on the lecture slides and the textbook?

Skill variety (xxx)Perceived attractiveness Feedback Autonomy

Which one of the below theories describes this organizational phenomenon: "A new employee who interacts with other dissatisfied employees may have lower job satisfaction later on."

Social comparison theory

Which of the following terms is defined as an aspect of the work or job environment for which an employee may need to adapt or change?

Stressor

Which one of the following statements is NOT true about social exchange theory?

The employee-organization relationship is irrelevant to the idea of social exchange.

Which one of the following statements is NOT one of the tenets of the conservation of resources (COR) theory?

Those who have more resources are more likely to gain more resources. Individuals react more negatively to resource loss than resource gain. Individuals strive to increase their resources. (xxx)Failing to gain increased resources after resource investment is not necessarily considered as resource loss.

CWBs are usually the results of the interaction between individuals and the situations that the employees are put into.

True

If an employee's psychological contract terms are not met by the organization, the employee may experience anger, feeling of betrayal, and frustration.

True

Once an individual is hired by an organization, perceived organizational support (POS) is mostly shaped by the interaction between the individual and the supervisor.

True

Some counterproductive work behaviors such as absenteeism, turnover, and substance abuse are examples of strain as a response to stressors as well.

True

The definition of counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) is similar to that of workplace deviance, and many of CWBs are also considered as unethical behaviors.

True

The idea of challenge and hindrance stressors suggests that some stressors motivate individuals to perform better than discouraging them.

True

Which of the following is a well-documented strong predictor of sabotage to an organization?

Unfair rules or treatment at work

An employee takes a pen from work home every day but does so because he forgets and leaves it in his pocket. Is this a counterproductive work behavior?

Yes, it is theft

A _________ reward might be salary and benefits, whereas a ________ reward could be recognition or praise.

tangible, intangible