COM3120 Exam 2

The themes identified by Peters and Waterman characterize excellent organizations as

staying focused on what they do best and avoiding radical diversification.

A match between words and deeds are not an important part of exemplification.

False

There is a difference between studying organizational culture as something an organization is versus something that it has.

True

Which of the following would be the most accurate description of a narrative theory approach to understanding corporate communications crisis?

There is a conflict between the company's story and competing stories

Individual characteristics such as personality and gender exert a strong influence on the ways in which conflict is resolved.

True

Who was known as the father of narrative theory?

Walter Fisher d. Elton Mayo

A leader should always avoid using metaphors to frame communication if there is a chance a word or phrase may be in danger of overuse.

False

Withhold and uphold is the most effective strategy to communicate change.

False

Which one of the following is not a key theme in the research regarding reactions to the change process?

community support

The four key components of Deal and Kennedy's "strong cultures" are

values, heroes, rites/rituals, and the cultural network.

The managerial strategy for communicating about change where the management focuses on fundamental issues related to change success and allows employees the creative freedom to explore various possibilities is

underscore and explore

__________ are usually described as being interactional, contextual, episodic and improvisational.

Cultural performances

Eleni works as a conflict arbitrator for the federal government. Her role differs from a management/union mediator because

Eleni can make a binding decision about the conflict.

Bernard is attending his first faculty meeting. He asks his colleagues what he should say at thesis meetings. His coworkers tell him there is nothing in particular that he say or do. He should "go with the flow." What aspect of cultural performance does this represent?

Episodic

Peters & Waterman in In Search of Excellence wrote about what kind of culture?

Excellent

An arbitrator facilitates a dispute but holds no decision power.

False

Bargaining involves collaboration while negotiation involves compromise.

False

Ethnographic methods differ little from traditional social science techniques.

False

Global leaders today can still rely on only having the traditional leadership skills of self-confidence and intelligence.

False

If a mediator is attempting to secure information and clarify misunderstandings, he or she is using directive tactics.

False

In distributive bargaining, the parties are working with a "fixed pot" from which each wants to create a win-win situation.

False

Planned change never involves top management dictating change processes to lower level employees.

False

Schein defines culture as an episodic phenomenon.

False

The main difference between the accommodating and the avoidance conflict management styles is the level of concern for self.

False

The second level of Schein's model is the "core" assumptions that group members hold about the world and the way it works.

False

Who was the first AT&T officer level executive who was also a pubic relations professional?

None of the choices are correct.

Which corporation has been perhaps the quintessential contradiction in crisis - the world leader in consumer products and yet shot itself in the foot with consumers when a crisis reared its ugly head.

Procter & Gamble

According to the prescriptive approach to culture, successful companies can be identified in terms of their cultures.

True

Blake and Mouton's Leadership Grid argues that the team management style is the most effective leadership style.

True

Deal and Kennedy argued that business success could be enhanced through the development of a "strong" culture.

True

Discursive leadership is a way of looking at how leadership occurs through interactions among organizational actors.

True

Dixon is experiencing perceived conflict if he is thinking about his incompatible working relationship with his supervisor but he has not mentioned this concern to anyone.

True

Ethnographers create mini-theories about an organization's culture that are grounded in observations of a particular organization's culture.

True

In viewing conflict from a cultural perspective, a negotiator would want to consider the tension that may exist between the underlying values of the parties involved in the controversy.

True

Kline et al. argue that in crisis situations, it is important for organizations to focus on a message that portrays the company as a public ally.

True

Perceived conflict involves at least one of the parties in the conflict realizing his/her goals are incompatible with the other party's goals.

True

Observing a sports fan wearing a Tampa Bay Rays shirt and a _____ Lightning sticker on her car represents which level of Schein's model?

artifacts and behaviors

Georgette has always thought she and Ted had the perfect marriage. Every time they disagree, she pushes for her side, and he wants her happy, so she always gets her way. Georgette uses a ______ style of conflict resolution and Ted uses a ______ style.

competitive/accommodative

Distributive bargaining is characterized by which of the following?

compromises

A leader who models the behaviors he or she wants followers to do is fulfilling which concept of transformational leadership?

exemplification

Approaching organizational culture with the idea that there may be multiple manifestations of culture that are difficult to interpret represents which perspective of culture?

fragmentation

What are the three key components of Putnam and Poole's definition of conflict?

incompatible goals, interdependence, interaction

A university is competing with other state universities for a bigger share of limited funds. What level of conflict is this?

interorganizational

Fairhust argued that _____ has the most impact on organizational change.

management support

Reactions to organizational change by lower level employees that interfere with change implementation processes are called:

resistance

Corporate Cultures and In Search of Excellence had an enormous impact on organizational communication because

they provided prescriptions for managerial practice.

Steve and Judy have been coworkers for a long time and have always gotten along well. Lately, though, Judy has felt Steve has taken advantage of her by asking her to make excuses for his tardiness due to his personal problems. Judy hasn't said anything to Steve yet, but she has been thinking of ways to address the problem. According to the phases of organizational conflict, Judy and Steve are in the

felt conflict stage

Communication is enacted at which phase in the conflict process?

manifest conflict

A traditional model of conflict and negotiation includes which of the following characteristics?

mutual gain

Schein's model might best be illustrated as a(n)

onion