MAN 320F: Exam 2

How should you respond to the question, "where do you see yourself in five years?"

"I would hope I am still with this organization in a position of increased responsibility, making a vital contribution to its success."

The best way to answer, "why do you want to work for this company?" is by saying:

"You've been the market leader for the past five years because of the reputation of your products and quality of customer service, and I believe my skills and abilities will make a contribution to the organization's continued success."

It's best to arrive how early before an interview?

10 minutes

Which of the following actions accurately reflects the reinforcement theory of motivation?

A company's policy of giving its sales staff cash coupons for exceeding their daily targets.

In which of the following cases has communication occurred?

Ana tells her manager that she needs a new computer, but he says that the company can't afford it.

Bill Sanderson, a manager in a manufacturing firm in New York has a tendency to view the world only through his U.S.-based perspective. What can be deduced about his attitude?

He has a parochialistic attitude.

Steve, a human resources manager, wants to let potential candidates know about the minimum qualifications that they should possess in order to successfully perform the jobs they have applied for. What should he do?

He should frame a job specification.

Which of the following is true of high-performance work practices?

It encourages extensive employee involvement and greater employee control on decision making.

Lorenzo, a sales executive at Opheus International, was identified early on as a high-achiever. His manager took a personal interest in his career and provided him good assignments and targeted training and development programs. However, after a couple of years, it was evident that Lorenzo was not living up to his potential. He was demotivated and dissatisfied with his job. Which of the following facts, if true, would explain Lorenzo's lack of motivation?

Over the past year, he was moved into a supervisory position where his main responsibility was to provide leads and support to others in his team and to help achieve their targets.

Adam has to tell the members of his department that the office timings have changed from flexible timings to a strict nine-to-five day. He calls a meeting to explain the change. Participants begin arguing and asking multiple questions about the new timing policy. The next day, Adam realizes that most people still do not have a clear idea about the change, as a result of the confusion at the meeting. Which of the following explains why the message was not understood?

The noise in the process interfered with the transmission of the message.

When the interviewer asks you the question, "tell me about yourself," what is an appropriate response?

a concise narrative of your educational and professional background as well as your goals and how they relate to the job you are seeking

An organization's grapevine works as ________.

a filter and a feedback mechanism for managers

Goal-setting theory says that ________.

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

Jon is the manager of the Finance department. He has to inform the employees in the department about the introduction of a new analytical software and the resultant changes in procedures. Which of the following types of communication does he use?

downward

Gareth has been promoted as the HR manager. He is now in charge of recruiting at Eowin Systems, and is expected to enhance the diversity of the workforce. Which of the following recruiting sources should Gareth avoid if he is to achieve the stated aim of a more diverse workforce?

employee referrals

In the context of Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, when a company names an "Employee of the Month" and "Employee of the Quarter", the company is addressing employees' ________ needs.

esteem

Listening is an active search for meaning, whereas ________ is passive.

hearing

A country with ________ is comfortable with risks and is tolerant towards different behavior and opinions.

low uncertainty avoidance

What are the three most important keys to success in interviews?

making eye contact, showing enthusiasm, speaking clearly

Business Expansion Plan (Scenario) As business expansion director, Shana's goal is to scout for potential locations and provide input on how her company should proceed with its planned expansion to Europe. There are many options, which include maintaining the company's head office in the United States and sending over company representatives when necessary or establishing a separate operations facilities abroad and hiring locals as managers. If Shana's company decides to open a completely new operation in Germany, tailoring the company to local customs and marketing strategies and hiring local managers, it would be then considered a ________.

multidomestic corporation

Which of the following are the three needs identified in the three-needs theory of motivation?

need for achievement, need for power, need for affiliation

George prepares a memorandum explaining the objectives of a newly created work team that he is expected to manage, and makes sure it reaches each team member. He is involved in ________.

organizational communication

The best thing to do in an interview when you get a question that stumps you temporarily is:

paraphrase the question while giving yourself time to think

Irene, CEO of a small company, strongly believes in Douglas McGregor's assumptions about human nature. Which of the following management practices is Irene most likely to favor to maximize employee motivation?

participatory management

Which of the following steps in human resource management helps retain competent and high-performing employees?

performance management

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

Tim is a candidate for an automotive mechanic's position. He is asked to deconstruct and reconstruct part of an engine motor to demonstrate his skill. This is an example of a(n) ________.

performance-simulation test

Which of the following is NOT one of the suggested strategies for preparing for your job interview?

plan to ask about salary and benefits at the beginning of the interview

A Foreign Alliance Talk (Scenario) As manager of the international department of your company, you have been asked by the local Chamber of Commerce to deliver a speech on foreign trade. The chamber president even goes so far as to say "and be sure to include the EU, NAFTA, and all that stuff because we're afraid that Ross Perot is rightall the good jobs will leave the United States." As you pour over your notes, you try to choose the best information to present in the allotted half hour. You plan to explain during your talk that the acronyms EU, NAFTA, and ASEAN refer to ________.

regional trade alliances

According to the JCM, which three job characteristics are crucial to an employee experiencing meaningfulness of his or her work?

skill variety, task identity, and task significance

The New Human Resources Manager (Scenario) Steve is hired as the manager of the human resources department of a local manufacturing company which is desperately trying to improve its fortunes. This company is unable to retain good employees, who treat it as a stepping stone until they find better opportunities. Employee turnover is high and morale is low. Steve is determined to change the situation and turn the organization's human resources into a competitive advantage and source of pride for the firm. Steve recommends that employees should be compensated according to their competencies, rather than their designations. Employees should be financially rewarded when they gain more knowledge and learn new processes that are relevant to the job, even if the employee is at a lower level. This implies that Steve favors a ________.

skill-based pay system

The goal-setting theory has most value in countries where ________.

subordinates are reasonably independent

Alec is hired as a senior analyst at Tech Research Institute and is assigned to a project with four other researchers. He soon realizes that two of his team mates do not see eye-to-eye on many issues. Far from being solved, the situation escalates over the next couple of months. This bothers Alec a great deal because he is expected to coordinate his work with them. He decides to speak to his manager about the problem and seek his advise. In this example, communication is being used ________.

to control

Which of the following is NOT one of the most common mistakes job-seekers make during job interviews:

too much knowledge of the company

In an effort to improve communication within the Accounts department of a large organization, the department head puts a suggestion box at the door and invites employees to communicate their thoughts, ideas, concerns, or grievances to the managers in the department. Which of the following methods of communication is he encouraging?

upward

Elizabeth was hired as a customer care executive, along with five others, by a telecommunication provider during a period when they were extremely short-staffed. However, her employers soon realized that she was impatient, easily irritated, and lacked motivation. They even began to receive complaints about her behavior from angry customers. In hiring Elizabeth, her employers were guilty of a(n) ________.

accept error

Sarah is using the JCM to redesign jobs for her small team of writers. After carefully analyzing their jobs, she determines that while their jobs are high in skill variety, task identity, task significance, and autonomy, they receive little feedback about their work. Which of the following steps will enable Sarah to improve this aspect of their jobs?

allowing the writers to directly conduct business with their clients

Selenius Inc. develops and tests software products. The work calls for a lot of collaboration among employees, who frequently brainstorm and bounce ideas off each other. Which of the following workplace designs will best suit Selenius' requirements?

an open workplace

A Foreign Alliance Talk (Scenario) As manager of the international department of your company, you have been asked by the local Chamber of Commerce to deliver a speech on foreign trade. The chamber president even goes so far as to say "and be sure to include the EU, NAFTA, and all that stuff because we're afraid that Ross Perot is rightall the good jobs will leave the United States." As you pour over your notes, you try to choose the best information to present in the allotted half hour. One of the hottest topics of your talk will be the North American Free Trade Agreement. One of the points that you will emphasize is that ________.

as of 2010, it remains the largest trade bloc in the world in terms of combined gross domestic product of its members

The STAR (situation, task, action, results) Technique refers to a tool you should consider using for developing answers to what type of interview questions?

behavioral

The New Human Resources Manager (Scenario) Steve is hired as the manager of the human resources department of a local manufacturing company which is desperately trying to improve its fortunes. This company is unable to retain good employees, who treat it as a stepping stone until they find better opportunities. Employee turnover is high and morale is low. Steve is determined to change the situation and turn the organization's human resources into a competitive advantage and source of pride for the firm. The top management of the company decides that the performance appraisal process needs to be changed. They ask Steve to make use of a rating scale that will rate the employees' actual job behaviors. The managers are asking Steve to use a ________.

behaviorally anchored rating scale

Business Expansion Plan (Scenario) As business expansion director, Shana's goal is to scout for potential locations and provide input on how her company should proceed with its planned expansion to Europe. There are many options, which include maintaining the company's head office in the United States and sending over company representatives when necessary or establishing a separate operations facilities abroad and hiring locals as managers. If Shana's company dropped its organizational structure based on country and reorganized into industry groups, it would best be considered a ________.

borderless organization

Christopher, who is based in the U.S. has been offered a chance to work in Thailand. He finds that in this society people are expected to look after others in their family (or organization) and protect them when they are in trouble. This society tends to support ________.

collectivism

Cultural Training (Scenario) Jane wants to expand her career opportunities in the international operations of a company. She is 19 years old and currently attends a university. She has only lived in her home country and has never traveled to any foreign country. While talking with her advisor at the university, Jane deduces that she has a(n) ________ attitude, as she has never traveled abroad and only relates well to people from her home country.

ethnocentric

When a manager asks an employee to complete a task, he or she is using ________ communication.

formal

Cultural Training (Scenario) Jane wants to expand her career opportunities in the international operations of a company. She is 19 years old and currently attends a university. She has only lived in her home country and has never traveled to any foreign country. Jane joins an international student association in order to better understand the views of students from other countries. She is trying to become more ________ in her attitude.

geocentric

Business Expansion Plan (Scenario) As business expansion director, Shana's goal is to scout for potential locations and provide input on how her company should proceed with its planned expansion to Europe. There are many options, which include maintaining the company's head office in the United States and sending over company representatives when necessary or establishing a separate operations facilities abroad and hiring locals as managers. If Shana's company decides to open another company in France but centralizes its management in the United States, it would be considered a ________.

global company

As soon as you get back from the interview, you should:

immediately fire off thank you letters to each person who interviewed with you

Larry is an HR manager with Merlin Infosystems. He is in charge of recruitment for entry-level positions in the company. He is of the view that job interviews should provide a realistic job preview. Which of the following is Larry likely to do during job interviews?

informing the employee about possible overtime

The New Sales Manager (Scenario) Wade McKenzie is a new sales manager for The Potomac Group, a healthcare finance consulting firm, based in the mid-South. In addition to performing his regular duties he has also been asked to evaluate the performance of his subordinates and present a report to his superiors. In his report, Wade described the strengths and weaknesses of each of his subordinates. He made a note of their past performances and the potential they displayed. He even provided suggestions for their improvements. Wade is using the ________ method of conducting a performance appraisal.

written essay