Org Psych Exam 2

social worker, nurse accountant, banker sculptor, novelist

Social Conventional Artistic

If one wants to frame a decision in such a way as to increase the likelihood that people will be more willing to take risks, you should:

frame the problem in terms of the potential losses to be suffered

When speaking of motivation, it is apparent that:

motivation is neutral regarding the goodness or badness of an action or goal

A decision making technique that improves the quality of decisions by adding one member at a time and requiring that member to present his/her ideas independently to the group is the stepladder technique.

true

A new employee who is being advised and counseled by a senior employee is a protégé.

true

Unhealthy separation can occur between a mentor and a protégé if one party wants to terminate the relationship and the other wants to prolong it.

true

Randy, Marvin, and Mary Virginia sell for Made-for-You. As they are having lunch together Randy discovers that he is receiving a higher commission rate than Marvin or Mary Virginia. Further, Randy has higher expenses and has less time with the company compared to Marvin and Mary Virginia. What is Randy's likely future behavior and feelings based on Equity Theory of motivation?

All of the above are possible actions and feelings by Randy

Which of the following questions will help a newcomer to an organization determine who has a high level of power?

All of the above will help determine who has a high level of power in on organization.

When it comes to gender and career issues, research shows:

C and D are correct

Managers who do favors for others who might feel obligated to repay them are using which political tactic?

Creating obligations and using reciprocity

Which of the following is NOT a desirable quality of feedback?

It is only positive, because even negative constructive feedback makes people defensive and angry

Which of the following represents a state of inequity for Person, according to Equity theory of motivation?

Person Other 50 150 ____ ____ 50 100

Which ethical principle is exemplified by "We have an obligation not to harm others"?

Principle of Non-Maleficence

The idea of evaluation apprehension recognizes that:

This results from the fear of what others might think of the task performance

Which of the following is NOT a sign that your career may be in trouble?

You're being rotated to different functional areas in the company and learning new skills

The Motivating Potential Score (MPS) is:

a and c above are both correct

Elizabeth applies for a job as a bank teller. During the job interview, the recruiter tells her what the job is going to be like, stressing both the positive and the negative aspects. This is an example of:

a realistic job preview

Which of the following is true about social influence?

a, b, and c above are all correct statements about social influence

According to the Holland's type, individuals who are dependable, disciplined and orderly are best suited to which of the following:

accountant

Organizational politics is concerned with:

actions not officially sanctioned by the organization to meet one's own goals

According to Kurt Lewin, behavior is a function of which of the following:

all of the above

Group decision making does have a few disadvantages, such as:

all of the above

The concept of motivation is concerned with:

all of the above

The perceived difficulty of the decision can be decreased through:

all of the above

Which of the following is an important factor that influences cohesiveness?

all of the above

Mentors tend to select as protégés employees with particular characteristics. Which of the following protégé characteristics are associated with being chosen?

all of the above characteristics are associated with being selected

The concept of motivation is concerned with:

all of the above.

According to equity theory, an underpaid person might do which of the following?

all of these

Which of the following characterizes teams?

all of these

To enrich a job, an employer might:

allow employees to decide how to do their jobs

When task performance of a group is determined by pooled efforts, it is known as

an additive task

When making a decision, if an individual is more willing to consider complex solutions based on ambiguous information after carefully studying the data, and enjoys solving problems, his/her decision style is most likely to be:

analytical

When a manager is thinking about motivating people and is considering the choices available, he/she is considering the element of ________ in motivation. Group of answer choices

arousal

Jessica is trying to increase the freedom and discretion that employees have in scheduling and planning their work. In terms of the job characteristics model, Jessica is trying to increase:

autonomy

The extent to which employees have the freedom and discretion to plan and schedule their jobs as desired is known as:

autonomy

Allison is a novelist. Which of the following career anchors best characterizes her?

autonomy and independence

The fact that people incorrectly think that people are more likely to die from shark attacks rather than falling airplane parts because they can more readily bring to mind more examples of shark attacks given media coverage is an example of:

availability heuristic

An example of a self-oriented group role would be

blocker

Nermina is preparing to implement teams in there functional area. Currently she is studying how to create a team. In her past experience she often found that groups of people did less work than just one or two people could do. It is now two weeks later. Nermina is well into the process of creating teams. She is ensuring the correct resources, both human and material are available for the team. How could Nernia have prevented the problem?

by doing all of the above

The evolving sequence of work experiences over time is known as a(n):

career

A person whose career has peaked and is unlikely to develop further is said to have a:

career plateau

In an effort to apply expectancy theory, a company requires supervisors to orient new employees, set goals with all employees and regularly communicate with employees. This is an example of:

clarifying people's expectancies

The strategic contingencies model explains intraorganizational power in terms of the capacity of some subunits to:

control the actions of other subunits

If an individual withholds information that might make him/her look bad or avoid those who might ask for information, he/she is probably using the organizational political tactic of:

controlling access to information

The capacity to neutralize another's influence is known as:

counter-power

Rick's primary interest in starting new companies. Which of the following major career anchors is best describes such a career choice?

creativity

Which kind of team consists of members from different specialties and organizational units?

cross-functional teams

In this stage of mentoring, the protégé makes rapid career progress, due in part to the mentor's help:

cultivation

During Bob's first oral presentation at college, the UNO bell tower started chiming and he completely forgot what he had been talking about. Bob's lapse in performance can BEST be explained by which of the following theories:

distraction-conflict (or conflict-distraction) model of social facilitation

Sally didn't receive the promotion she wanted but thought that the process her company used to select the employee that was promoted was very fair. Sally did not experience __________________ justice, but she did experience __________________________ justice.

distributive; procedural

Coach Kooney prefers games on weekdays rather than weekends as the weekday games draw fewer fans as his team is a young team with primarily freshman and sophomores. Indeed, the team performs better and has a better record for weekday games compared to weekend games. Coach Kooney's thought processes and the team performance patterns are best explained by which group theory?

drive theory

The key to equity theory is the:

employee's perception regarding the balance of outcome to input of self relative to another person

When managers think about motivation there are three keys they should consider, such as:

employees can have several motives at the same time.

The process of putting people in charge of what they do, by passing power from managers to employees is known as Group of answer choices

empowerment

The process of putting people in charge of what they do, by passing power from managers to employees is known as:

empowerment

Research on feedback and goal setting has shown that job performance is:

enhanced most when feedback and goal setting are used together

Job design involves a number of techniques. If a job is redesigned by adding additional different tasks but not increasing responsibility or the number of skills needed, a job has been

enlarged

Walter enjoyed Disney movies as a child. He always thought that working for Disney would be a fun job. As a summer intern, he was disappointed to find out how much hard work was involved. Walter can be said to have experienced:

entry shock

Bill is trying to get his first shift workers to stay on the job an extra two hours in order to meet a production volume goal, because a snow storm has delayed the arrival of second shift. Given there is no overtime pay available, Bill is concerned about the issue of:

equity

Bob is in a work team with colleagues who laugh and make fun of each other when someone makes a mistake. Becuase of this group norm, Bob is feeling extreme nervousness as he plans for a presentation he must make in front of his team and project manager, despite the fact that Bob is quite competent and experienced in his field and the topic. Bob's feelings can best be explained by which group theory?

evaluation apprehension

Which of the following is NOT a principle of brainstorming?

evaluation of ideas must be included

According to equity theory, if Sam believes that the ratio of his outcomes/inputs is greater than the ratio of Joe's outcomes/inputs, then Sam will:

experience guilt

The skill variety, task identity, and task significance together create the critical psychological state of:

experienced meaningfulness

A prescriptive model of decision making explains how decisions are actually made.

false

Groups always make better decisions than individuals.

false

Hindsight bias occurs when one favors the decision alternative seen first.

false

Most mentor-protege relationships end in an unhealthy separation

false

One's choice of college majors is very important to ensuring success and happiness in one's career.

false

People high in self-monitoring are less likely to engage in politics than those low in self-monitoring.

false

Research indicates that currently most people tend to stay within a particular career path throughout their life span.

false

The glass ceiling is no longer a problem in the U.S. because the percentage of women and minorities at the executive level has significantly increased in the past 20 years.

false

The process by which less experienced individuals are helped and guided by more experienced ones is called organizational socialization.

false

The social loafing phenomenon is so powerful that it generalizes to groups in collectivistic countries such as Israel.

false

Groups that are created by the organization and are intentionally designed to direct its members toward some important organizational goal are known as

formal groups

The tendency for members of highly cohesive groups to conform to group pressures so strongly that they reject the potentially correcting influence of outsiders is known as: Group of answer choices

groupthink

The job characteristics model is especially effective in describing the behavior of workers who are high in: Group of answer choices

growth need strength

According to the resource-dependency view, the most powerful organizational subunits are ones that:

have greatest control over resources that other subunits need

Research on mentoring programs shows that:

having a mentor early in one's career is an important predictor of success

Simple rules of thumb or shortcuts used to help make decisions quickly are:

heuristics

According to the expectancy value approach to motivation, if an employee believes with a high level of certainty that his/her effort will result in high performance and in turn a highly valued outcome, then the worker's motivation will be:

high

The expectancy theory suggests that motivation may be enhanced by:

implementing a pay for performance plan.

Organizational political activity is likely to occur in which of the following situations?

in all of the above situations

The level of uncertainty in a decision can be reduced by:

increasing the information available from which to make the decision

Generally speaking, when it comes to mentoring programs: Group of answer choices

individuals with high self-monitoring skills tend to seek out mentoring relationships

Groups that tend to form naturally among an organization's personnel are called

informal groups

John is trying to influence the behavior of his company's softball team by appealing to their values and ideals about teamwork and winning. Lee attempts to get his subordinates to help him by asking them to be involved in the process of planning organizational change. Prior to asking Pam to help him write a report, John first tries to put Pam in a good mood by bringing flowers and complimenting her work. Dwight tells Jim, his subordinate, that as his boss he has the right to expect him to meet deadlines. Rick does research on absenteeism and summarizes for his boss five primarily reasons that it makes sense for their company to change their absenteeism policy.

inspirational appeal consultation ingratiating legitimating rational persuasion

In expectancy theory ________ recognizes that employees may perform at low levels if their opportunities for promotion are limited even when they perform well.

instrumentality

People who engage in organizational politics would likely possess all of the following characteristics EXCEPT:

introversion

Arousal is critical to the process of motivation because it:

is the drive behind our behavior to attain goals.

A predetermined set of activities one is expected to perform is known as a(n):

job

Supervisors at the Johnson Corp. help introduce a work motivation program based on providing continuous informal and formal feedback. This action addresses the critical psychological state of: Group of answer choices

knowledge of results

Dana has focused on a certain field and worked her way up the organizational ladder. Ben has moved through a series of occupations, each of which requires new skills and builds on existing knowledge and skills. Beth's career has been marked by many different and unrelated positions. Fred's career choice has been to a single job.

linear career spiral career transitory career steady state career

After an organization has energized its employees to work hard toward attaining a highly valued goal, if the goal is actually accomplished, organizational leaders often report subsequent difficulty in: Group of answer choices

maintaining motivation

________ describes the duration of motivation, how long people will persist in seeking to meet their goals.

maintenance

Which of the following major career anchors is characterized by a focus on jobs that allow for analyzing business problems and dealing with people?

managerial competence

Organizational political activity varies with the stage of an organization's life. The most intense political activity takes place during the __________ stage. Group of answer choices

maturity

The process by which less experienced employees are helped and guided by more experienced ones is called:

mentoring

Research has shown that people will be motivated to work at their highest level of effort when performance goals are:

moderate in difficulty and specific

When it comes to mentoring:

most mentors are most comfortable with protégés similar to themselves

Sushani is observing group functioning as part of her OB studies. The group she's observing seems to be fairly cohesive, is developing close interpersonal relationships and a feeling of camaraderie, etc. This group is in the ________ stage of group development.

norming

When a decision is made on concrete verifiable data, the decision is based on:

objective probabilities

A coherent set of jobs is known as a(n):

occupation

Social loafing seems to occur because:

of diffusion of responsibility

Fred, a supervisor of salespeople, provides them with information that lets them know how well they are performing. This is an example of:

open feedback channels

"Getting In" and "Settling In" are two stages of :

organizational socialization

The process through which new employees make certain adjustments and become fully functioning members of their organization is called:

organizational socialization

Randy, Marvin, and Mary Virginia sell for Made-for-You. As they are having lunch together Randy discovers that he is receiving a higher commission rate than Marvin or Mary Virginia. Further, Randy has higher expenses and has less time with the company compared to Marvin and Mary Virginia. In this case, based on Equity Theory, it appears that Randy is in a state of:

overpayment inequity

Which of the following is NOT true about high performing teams?

people on the team check with each other to make sure they approve of their decisions

The best established finding about goal-setting is that:

performance increases with specific assigned goals.

In what stage of group development do group members work toward getting their jobs done?

performing

Suppose that you have studied piano for many years and have practiced a certain Mozart concerto diligently every day for six months. Now, you are about to perform it in front of an audience. According to the drive theory explanation of social facilitation, you would be expected to

play better than you did while practicing alone

When people in an organization make decisions in order to make themselves look good, the organizational barrier of ________ is interfering with rational decision making.

political face-saving

Individuals perform better than groups on:

poorly structured, creative tasks

A(n) _________ decision is routine, with heavy reliance on past decisions.

programmed

A norm that guides behavior that should be avoided is known as a

proscriptive norm

The tendency for individuals to continue supporting previously unsuccessful courses of action in order to justify the time and effort they have already invested is:

psychological entrapment form of escalation of commitment

Practical personality Analytic personality Sociable personality Disciplined personality

realistic investigative social conventional

Sally's need for friendship and companionship is being fulfilled on her current job. According to Alderfer's ERG theory of motivation, Sally is therefore motivated by:

relatedness needs

The capacity to control access to jobs and money. George tells Mike that he better improve his attendance or he'll be fired. "Mike, I'm really in a bind. Unless I get that report finished, Mr. Johnson will be very upset with me. Because you're my friend, I'm asking you to help me out of this jam." If an individual tries to influence others through the vision he/she has for the organization and by being emotionally expressive, based on the trust he/she inspires. Suppose that you do something the way your boss asks you to do it because you believe your boss knows the best way to do it.

reward power coercive power referent power charisma expert power

The emergence of the roles that different group members play is

role differentiation

The typical behaviors that characterize a person in a social context are called

roles

According to Maslow, employees are concerned about their social needs only after they have satisfied their Group of answer choices

safety needs

In Maslow's hierarchy once a person's physiological needs are met, the next need level is:

safety needs

Aaron is interested in a military career. Which of the following major career anchors is best describes such a career choice?

security and stability

Goal-setting theory is closely tied to the self-management concept of:

self-efficacy

Maslow's ________ need refers to an individual's need for self-respect and the approval of others.

self-esteem

In which kind of team do members operate with a high degree of autonomy and make their own key decisions

self-managed teams

The extent to which a job requires doing different activities using several skills and talents is known as:

skill variety

Sometimes the presence of others enhances task performance, and sometimes it impairs it. This phenomenon is known as:

social facilitation

Nermina is preparing to implement teams in there functional area. Currently she is studying how to create a team. In her past experience she often found that groups of people did less work than just one or two people could do. It is now two weeks later. Nermina is well into the process of creating teams. She is ensuring the correct resources, both human and material are available for the team. Nermina's original experience with groups is an example of:

social loafing

When a group of people perform a task together as a group, there is a tendency for each individual to contribute less to the group's product than when they perform alone. This effect is known as

social loafing

A business owner has offered free lunches if employees work through their lunch hour and has provided a living wage base salary and job security to his employees. Given these two needs are met by the owner, the employees would be predicted to be at what level of Maslow's need hierarchy?

social needs

Maslow's __________ need corresponds to Alderfer's __________ need.

social; relatedness

Someone who shifts his/her own opinions to harmonize with the group or who suggests ways the group can operate more efficiently is taking on the:

socio-emotional or relational role

The relative social positions or ranks given to groups or group members by others are called

status

Fred's career choice has been to a single job. Dana has focused on a certain field and worked her way up the organizational ladder. Ben has moved a series of occupations, each of which requires new skills and builds on existing knowledge and skills. Beth's career has been marked by many different and unrelated positions.

steady state career linear career spiral career transitory career

In what stage of group development do group members come to resist control of leaders and show hostility?

storming

The writers of television programs would be considered:

strategic thinkers

Which of the following constitutes a group?

students working together on a final project which determines if they pass or fail

The process of using the consensus of expert judges collected by email to make decisions is known as:

subjective probability

Negative reinforcement consists of _______________________ with the goal of ____________________.

taking away something negative; increasing desired behavior

The extent to which a job requires completing a whole piece of work from beginning to end is known as:

task identity

According to the job characteristics model, a task's experienced meaningfulness is determined by:

task significance

According to the job characteristics model, if an employee perceives that a task is important to the goals of the organization, that task is high in

task significance

If a person's role seems to be helping the group reach its goal more than other members are, this person has taken on:

task-oriented role

Which of the following describe the tendency for people to perceive others in stereotypical ways if they appear representative of the category to which they belong?

the representativeness heuristic

Organizations are perceived as most political at:

top management level

Holland's theory of vocational choice says that people will perform best at occupations that match their:

traits and personalities

All teams are groups but NOT all groups are teams. Group of answer choices

true

Hispanic female entrepreneurs account for the majority of new small businesses.

true

If a supervisor gets a subordinate to do what she wants by threatening him or her with suspension or firing, the supervisor is using coercive power.

true

In selecting a career an individual should include an assessment of his/her abilities as well as their interests.

true

Individuals make better decisions than groups or teams when an individual possesses the expertise tosolve the problem and the problem is ambigous and ill-structured.

true

Nancy is in the process of deciding which markets her company should pursue in the next five years. Nancy is making a non-programmed strategic decision.

true

Novices are less likely to discriminate between relevant versus irrelevant information.

true

Peer mentoring is less effective than traditional mentoring due to the lack of power held by a peer.

true

Research shows that people spend more time researching and thinking about their first new car purchase than their initial career path coming out of school.

true

Strategic decisions are types of non-programmed decisions.

true

The addition of extrinsic rewards to employees who are already intrinsically motivated can sometimes reduce overall motivation, especially when employees feels the organization is trying to control them.

true

The human resource decisions considered to be most unethical are those in which favoritism dictated hiring, promotions, raises and other important decisions.

true

Top-down decision making can be effective in some contexts.

true

When Ben in accounting aligns himself with Mabel in marketing and they with Jeb the VP of operations, in order to achieve the goal of getting the company to consider a cafeteria benefits plan, they are using the political tactic of building a powerful coalition.

true

About ________ of all U.S. workers say that they would make major career changes if they could.

two-thirds

The tendency for people to quickly change their minds and to adopt the first new idea to come along is:

unconflicted change

Which of the following schedules of reinforcement should be used to help maintain productivity?

variable ratio

Which component of engagement is characterized by high levels of energy and mental resilience and persistence in face of obstacles?

vigor

If a worker believes that his/her effort will result in excellent performance, that the reward is one the worker values, but the worker expects that his/her individual performance will not be rewarded, then according to expectancy theory the worker's motivation will be:

zero