Chapter 12

In leading the push for proficient strategy execution and operating excellence, the roles of top-level managers include

E. All of these

A strongly implanted corporate culture has a powerful influence on behavior because

E. All of these.

Which one of the following is NOT something to look for in identifying a company's culture?

B. The company's resource strengths, core competencies, and competitive capabilities

A company's culture is typically grounded in and shaped by:

D. its core values and the bar it sets for ethical standards.

The most important symbolic actions are those that top executives take to

A. lead by example.

Which one of the following is not an appropriate step management can take to change a problem culture?

C. Appointing a team of key managers and employees to design a plan for cultural change and then lead the internal effort to change the culture

Which of the following is a benefit of closely aligning the corporate culture with the requirements for proficient strategy execution?

C. A tight strategy-culture fit steers company personnel into displaying behaviors and adopting operating practices that promote good strategy execution.

The place for management to begin in trying to change a problem culture is

A. identifying facets of the present culture that are obstacles to executing the company's strategy and meeting performance targets.

Changing a problem culture:

A. is one of the toughest managerial tasks because of the heavy anchor of ingrained behaviors and ways of doing things.

Changing a problem culture is

A. never a short-term exercise.

Which one of the following statements about a weak company culture is true?

C. Weak cultures provide little assistance in executing strategy because there are no traditions, values, or behavioral norms that management can use as levers to mobilize commitment to executing the chosen strategy.

What makes a politicized internal environment so unhealthy?

E. All of these.

What defines an insular, inwardly focused culture?

B. The firm believes they have all the answers because of their past great market success and is thus, overconfident.

Which one of the following is Not a typical characteristic of a weak company culture?

C. A complicated value chain and a very diverse set of core competencies—both of which act to create multiple subcultures.

Which of the following is NOT one of the positive impacts that a company's stated values and ethical standards have on its corporate culture?

E. None of these.

What is the distinctive characteristic of an unhealthy corporate culture?

E. All of these.

A corporate culture founded on ethical business principles and socially approved values:

D. is a positive force underlying a company's long-term financial success and reduces the likelihood of lapses in ethical and socially approved behavior that can damage the company's reputation.

Leading the drive for good strategy execution and operating excellence calls upon senior executives to

B. be out front personally leading the implementation process and driving the pace of progress.

A company's corporate culture is BEST defined and identified by:

B. by the company's shared values, ingrained attitudes, core beliefs and company traditions that determine norms of behavior, accepted work practices of "how we do things around here," and styles of operating.

The characteristics of a strong culture company include:

E. All of these.

What defines an unethical and greed-driven culture?

E. All of these.

Which of the following techniques are utilized by leaders to stay informed on how well strategy execution process is progressing?

A. Managing by walking around (MBWA).

Which one of the following statements about a high performance culture is true?

A. Results-oriented, high performance cultures are permeated with a spirit of achievement and have a good track record in meeting or beating performance targets.

Which one of the following is something to look for in identifying a company's culture?

A. The atmosphere, spirit and character that pervades the work climate and the values, business principles, and ethical standards that management preaches and practices.

Which of the following is NOT an example of leadership actions or managerial practices taken to foster a results-oriented, high-performance culture?

A. Treating employees as individuals with no regard for their rank or contributions.

A company's culture is in part defined and identified by:

A. a company's internal work climate and personality—as shaped by its shared values, work practices, traditions, and ingrained attitudes and behaviors that define "how we do things around here."

A strongly implanted culture provides huge assist in executing strategy because company managers can use the tradition, beliefs, values, common bonds, or behavioral norms:

A. as levers to mobilize commitment to executing the chosen strategy.

A company's values statement and code of ethics:

A. helps to mold the culture and communicate what kinds of actions and behaviors are expected of all company personnel.

Once established, company cultures can be perpetuated by:

A. relying on word-of-mouth indoctrination and the power of tradition to instill the culture's fundamentals, as well as frequent reiteration of core values by senior managers and group members, and regular ceremonies honoring members who display desired cultural behaviors.

In a strong culture company,

A. values and behavioral norms are like crabgrass—deeply rooted and hard to weed out.

Which one of the following statements about a high performance culture is false?

B. High performance cultures often have a low regard for high ethical standards, a strong preference for high-risk strategies, and a slow and methodical approach to responding to changes in the marketplace.

Which of the following statements about adaptive corporate cultures is false?

B. The standout cultural traits are a "can-do" spirit, pride in doing things right, no-excuses accountability, and a pervasive results-oriented work climate where people go the extra mile to meet or beat stretch objectives.

Which of the following is NOT an integral part of transforming core values and ethical standards into cultural norms?

B. Immediately dismissing any employee caught violating the company's code of ethics or disregarding core values.

Which one of the following is a substantive culture-changing action that a company's managers can undertake to alter a problem culture?

B. Revising policies and procedures in ways that will help drive cultural change and replacing senior executives who are resisting and obstructing needed organizational and cultural changes.

The hallmarks of a high performance corporate culture include:

B. a "can-do" spirit, pride in doing things right, no-excuses accountability, and a pervasive results-oriented work climate where people go the extra mile to meet or beat stretch objectives.

Companies with change-resistant cultures

B. are prone to be preoccupied with avoiding risks, are unlikely to pursue actions to capture emerging opportunities, are frequently lax when it comes to product innovation and continuous improvement in performing value chain activities, and prefer following rather than leading market change.

The single most visible factor that distinguishes successful culture-change efforts from failed attempts is

B. competent leadership at the top.

When trying to change a problem culture, management should have

B. identifying facets of the present culture that are supportive of good strategy execution and which ones are not and then specifying what new actions, behaviors, and work practices are needed in the new culture to improve performance.

A work environment where the culture is in sync with the chosen strategy and is conducive to good strategy execution it is considered a valuable managerial ally because:

B. it provides company personnel with clear guidance regarding "how we do things around here and produces significant peer pressures from co-workers to conform to culturally acceptable norms".

Companies, especially ones with multinational operations and/or newly acquired businesses, typically

B. multiple cultures (or subcultures) rather than a single culture.

Codes of ethics and statements of core values:

B. serve as yardsticks for gauging the appropriateness of particular actions, decisions and behaviors.

Frequently, a significant part of a company's culture is captured in:

B. the stories that get told over and over again to illustrate the importance of certain values and the depth of commitment that various company personnel have displayed.

To deeply ingrain core values and ethical standards, a company must:

B. turn the espoused core values and ethical standards into strictly enforced cultural norms.

Which one of the following is NOT likely to be an effective management action (making a compelling case to employees) about culture-remodeling efforts that can create a better strategy-culture fit?

C. Calling upon first-level supervisors and rank-and-file employees to identify cultural barriers to good strategy execution and then lead the cultural change effort

Unhealthy company cultures typically have such characteristics as:

C. a politicized internal environment, hostility to change and an aversion to looking outside the company for best practices, new managerial approaches, and innovative ideas.

What is the hallmark of an adaptive corporate culture?

C. A clear willingness on the part of organizational members to accept change and take on the challenge of introducing and executing new strategies.

Which one of the following statements about a company's culture is false?

C. A company's culture, once established, tends to remain stable and entrenched over time.

Which of the following contribute to the emergence and sustainability of a strong culture?

C. A sincere, long-standing company commitment to operating the business according to established traditions, thereby creating an internal environment that supports decision making and strategies based on cultural norms.

Which of the following topics would least likely be contained in a company's statement of its core values?

C. Mandating full compliance with all laws and regulations.

The task of top executives in making corrective adjustments includes

C. a thorough analysis of the situation and exercising good business judgment in deciding what actions to take.

Changing a problem culture to create better alignment with strategy generally does not involve

C. altering the company's strategic vision and/or its strategic and financial objectives.

The hallmark of a strong-culture company is:

C. the dominating presence of certain deeply-rooted values, norms of behavior that are widely shared and operating approaches that "regulate" the conduct of a company's business and the climate of its workplace.

The leadership challenges that top executives face in making corrective adjustments when things are not going well include

C. undertaking a thorough analysis of the situation, exercising good business judgment in deciding what actions to take and then ensuring good implementation of the corrective actions that are initiated.

Which of the following is the best test of good strategic leadership?

D. All of these.

Which of the following is NOT a common trait of an unhealthy company culture?

D. An aversion to incentive compensation, failure to recruit the best and brightest employees, subpar support for employee training, overemphasis on working in teams, and low ethical standards.

Which of the following is NOT a factor in contributing to the emergence and sustainability of a strong culture?

D. Centralized decision-making, strict enforcement of company policies, and a strong commitment to being the market share leader.

Which one of the following is NOT a fundamental part of a company's culture?

D. The company's strategic vision, strategic intent, and culture strategy.

A company's stated core values and ethical principles:

D. are fostering a work climate where company personnel share common and strongly-held convictions about how the company's business is to be conducted and provide guidance in displaying the core values in their actions and behaviors.

At companies where executives believe in the merits of practicing the values and ethical principles that have been espoused:

D. the stated core values and ethical principles are the foundation of the corporate culture.

Which one of the following is a typical characteristic of a weak company culture?

D. A lack of values and principles that are consistently preached or widely shared.

Which of the following statements about the match between a company's culture and its strategy is false?

D. A tight strategy-culture alignment facilitates building core competencies and distinctive competencies that lead to low operating costs and a cost-based competitive advantage.

Which of the following statements about a strong-culture company is false?

D. Centralized decision-making, strict enforcement of company policies, diligent pursuit of a distinctive competence, and a bold strategic intent are the hallmarks of a strong-culture company.

Which of the following topics would least likely be contained in a company's code of ethics?

D. Committing to a no-layoff policy and to adequate funding of employee retirement programs.

When management is leading the drive for good strategy execution and operating excellence it calls for the following actions on their part, EXCEPT

D. Initiating corrective actions to improve strategy execution, when necessary.

Which one of the following is NOT particularly helpful in perpetuating a company's culture?

D. Maintaining a consistent strategic vision and strategic intent over time.

Which one of the following is NOT a substantive culture-changing action that a company's managers can undertake to alter a problem culture?

D. Urging company personnel to search outside the company for work practices and operating approaches that may be an improvement over what the company is presently doing and paying sizable bonuses to those employees who identify practices that the company ends up adopting

Which of the following is NOT one of the leadership roles that senior managers have to play in pushing for good strategy execution and operating excellence?

D. Weeding out managers who are consistently in the ranks of the lowest performers (the bottom 10 percent) and who are not enthusiastic about the strategy or how it is being executed.

When should a culture be changed as rapidly as it can be managed?

D. When a strong culture is unhealthy or otherwise out of sync with the actions and behaviors needed to execute the strategy successfully.

When is a subculture MOST problematic?

D. When multiple subcultures have embraced conflicting business philosophies which are inconsistent with superior strategy execution.

The retelling of legendary stories does a lot for establishing a company's core values, but they should NOT:

D. communicate the company's good intentions towards ethical behavior.

The two culture-building roles of a company's stated values and ethical standards are to:

D. foster a work climate where company personnel share common and strongly held convictions about how the company's business is to be conducted and to provide them with guidance about how to do their jobs- steering them toward both doing things right and doing the right things.

When a company's culture is out of sync with what is needed for strategic success and good strategy execution,

D. the culture has to be changed to accommodate the requirements of good strategy execution as rapidly as can be managed.

In adaptive corporate cultures,

D. there's a spirit of doing what's necessary to ensure long-term organizational success provided that core values and business principles are not compromised and provided top management undertakes the changes in a manner that exhibits genuine concern for the legitimate interests of stakeholders.

In moving to alter a problem culture, management should

E. All of these.

Symbolic culture changing actions include

E. All of these.

The character of a company's corporate culture is a product of:

E. All of these.

Which of the following is an example of leadership actions or managerial practices taken to foster a results-oriented, high-performance culture?

E. All of these.

Which of the following managerial practices are used to successfully lead the effort to foster a results-oriented, high-performance culture?

E. All of these.

Which of the following is not an example of an unhealthy company culture?

E. Hyper-adaptive cultures.

Which of the following is NOT a technique that companies employ to hammer in and ingrain core values and ethical standards?

E. Instituting standard practices and procedures for employees to follow as a foundation for maintaining ethical and cultural norm conflict clashes and behavioral lapses.

A company's culture is NOT manifested in which one of the following?

E. Its strategic vision, strategic intent, and strategy.

The corporate strategy process does NOT entail

E. None of these.

he menu of actions management can take to change problem culture does NOT include which one of the following?

E. Shifting from decentralized to centralized decision-making so as to give senior executives more authority and control in driving the cultural change.