Organizational Behavior Exam 4 StraighterLine

A steel manufacturing firm with about 1,000 employees operates in an environment that is simple and integrated (it makes a small number of steel products to a few key customers) but also dynamic and hostile (rapidly changing technology and customer needs with many competitors). Based on the environment in which this company operates, it would be more successful with: Select one: a. an organic structure. b. a centralized structure. c. a divisionalized structure. d. a matrix structure. e. a mechanistic structure.

a.

Rituals are: Select one: a. programmed routines of daily organizational life that dramatize the organization's culture. b. deliberate attempts to communicate the corporate culture to new employees. c. events that suggest the organization's culture is about to change. d. physical structures that convey the dominant values of an organization's culture. e. games that people play to defy the dominant culture and, instead, support countercultural beliefs and values.

a.

Standardizing work through job descriptions and procedures: Select one: a. is a form of coordination. b. is more common when the work is complex and ambiguous. c. tends to reduce quality and consistency. d. is unnecessary in large organizations. e. is more common in organic rather than mechanistic structures.

a.

The chief executive of a large telecommunications company wanted to restructure the organization so product leaders would have more power than the executives in charge of each region. The regional executives tried to prevent this restructuring because it would weaken their power and possibly reduce their salaries in the long term. This action by the regional executives is mainly an example of resistance due to: Select one: a. direct costs. b. saving face. c. fear of the unknown. d. breaking routines. Incorrect e. incongruent organizational systems.

a.

Which form of departmentalization increases the risk of duplication and underutilization of resources? Select one: a. Divisional structure b. Functional structure c. Simple structure d. Matrix structure e. Network structure

a.

Which of the following organizational change activities is identified with 'bringing the entire system into the room'? Select one: a. Search conferences b. Action research c. Appreciative inquiry d. Force field analysis e. Parallel learning structures

a.

A virtual corporation: Select one: a. operates within a larger organization with a divisionalized structure. b. exists temporarily and reshapes itself quickly to fit immediate client needs. c. is a variation of a divisionalized structure. d. exists within most small and large organizations. e. is none of these.

b.

The concepts of unfreezing and refreezing the system are mainly represented in: Select one: a. action research. b. Lewin's force field model. c. appreciative inquiry. d. customer-driven change. e. the diffusion of change process.

b.

The pre-employment stage of organizational socialization is more effective when: Select one: a. employers are able to avoid forming a psychological contract. b. employers and job applicants are able to give and receive accurate information about each other. c. employers and applicants experience reality shock when meeting each other for the first time. d. job applicants are able to distort their resume and thereby be offered employment. e. all of these conditions exist.

b.

Action research is: Select one: a. the theoretical foundation for appreciative inquiry. b. a form of team building. c. a highly participative process of planned change. d. a social structure created alongside the formal organization for the purpose of refreezing the desired conditions. e. none of these describes action research.

c.

The observable symbols and signs of an organization's values, beliefs and assumptions are called: Select one: a. organizational culture b. mental models c. artifacts d. values e. socialization

c.

Which of the following is a limitation of the transformational perspective of leadership? Select one: a. It focuses too much on how leaders improve organizational efficiency. b. It is typically presented as a contingency rather than universal perspective. c. Researchers tend to define transformational leaders in terms of their success, rather than by whether they engage in specific behaviors. d. All of these are limitations of the transformational perspective. e. The transformational perspective does not yet have any known limitations

c.

Which of the following statements about path-goal theory is TRUE? Select one: a. Path-goal theory considers seven different leadership competencies. b. Path-goal theory is based on the idea that leadership is a stable personality trait, so it is easier to change the situation to match the person's leadership style. c. Path-goal theory considers the subordinate's ability and experience when determining the best leadership style for the situation. d. Path-goal theory assumes that managers can apply only one leadership style in a given situation. e. The main objective of path-goal theory is to encourage leaders to develop highly people-oriented and task-oriented behaviors whenever they interact with subordinates.

c.

Which of these conditions LIMITS the diffusion of change to other parts of the organization? Select one: a. The pilot project is successful within the first couple of years. b. Top management is committed to the change. c. Every employee involved in the pilot project stays with the pilot project rather than being moved to other areas of the organization. d. The union leadership supports the change effort. e. All of these limit the diffusion of change.

c.

Which of these statements about driving forces is FALSE? Select one: a. Many driving forces are unknown to employees beyond the top ranks of the organization. b. Some driving forces, such as the existence of a competitor, are well known to employees. c. Driving forces should be created by leaders if there are no reasons for change. d. Customer expectations represent a powerful driver for change. e. Organizational change is more likely to occur if employees experience reasonably strong driving forces.

c.

Which of these statements about leadership is FALSE? Select one: a. Anyone may be a leader at an appropriate time and place. b. Leaders use power and persuasion to get others to achieve organizational objectives. c. In the 1940s, leadership experts identified seven competencies that are consistently associated with effective leadership. d. Effective leaders provide an environment for followers to achieve team or organizational objectives. e. Organizational behavior scholars have studied leadership from several different perspectives.

c.

How does self-monitoring personality relate to leadership? Select one: a. It is easier to be an effective leader when subordinates have low self-monitoring personalities. b. Leaders are more likely to be effective if they have a low self-monitoring personality. c. It is easier to be an effective leader when subordinates have high self-monitoring personalities. d. High self-monitors are more likely to emerge as effective leaders. e. None of these statements is accurate.

d.

In a merger, the process of diagnosing cultural relations between the companies and determining the extent to which cultural clashes will likely occur is called: Select one: a. organizational socialization. b. deculturation. c. knowledge management. d. bicultural audit. e. none of these describes the diagnosis process.

d.

Organizational culture serves what purpose in organizations? Select one: a. It is a form of social control. b. It bonds employees together and makes them feel part of the organizational experience. c. It helps employees to understand organizational events. d. It does all of these things. e. It does none of these things.

d.

Senior executives at a large retail organization want employees to become more customer-friendly. Employees think they are serving customers well enough and the company is the dominant player in the market. What should the executives do in this situation? Select one: a. Stop trying to convince employees that they should change. b. Keep pushing employees to change even though they don't see the need to change. c. Threaten to fire employees who do not become more customer-friendly. d. Find information in the external environment indicating that the company's dominant position will be threatened unless they become more customer-friendly. e. Do none of these things.

d.

What effect do co-workers have on the socialization of new employees? Select one: a. Co-workers provide valuable support and information to newcomers. b. Through social interaction, co-workers reduce the newcomer's stress during socialization. c. By welcoming the newcomer to the team, co-workers tend to offer more job-related information to the newcomer. d. Co-workers potentially do all of these things. e. Co-workers have no benefit to the socialization process and should be separated from newcomers as much as possible.

d.

Which leadership theory or perspective explicitly includes the participative style? Select one: a. Competency (trait) perspective. b. Transformational leadership theory. c. Implicit leadership perspective. d. Path-goal theory. e. All of these explicitly include the participative style.

d.

Which leadership theory or perspective tends to adopt a universal rather than contingency approach? Select one: a. competency (trait) perspective. b. transformational perspective. c. behavioral perspective. d. all of these adopt a universal rather than contingency approach. e. only the competency and behavioral perspectives are universal, whereas the transformational perspective is contingency-oriented.

d.

Communication flows in all directions with little concern for the formal hierarchy in: Select one: a. a mechanistic structure. b. a centralized structure. c. a formalized structure. d. a functional structure. e. an organic structure.

e.

Dividing work into more specialized jobs tends to: Select one: a. increase training costs. b. reduce work efficiency. c. reduce the opportunity to match people with appropriate jobs. d. do all of these things. e. do none of these things.

e.