Organizational Behavior Unit 2
A firm's strategy includes which of the following:
Captures how vision and mission will be achieved
Which of the following statements regarding the creation and maintenance of culture is INCORRECT?
Computer-based orientation programs are more cost efficient and are more effective at conveying corporate culture than classroom-based programs.
The monitoring step of the mission and vision statements development process is analogous to which step of the principles of management framework?
Controlling
Shared values and beliefs that are in direct opposition to the values of the broader organizational culture represent a
Counterculture
Which of the following statements regarding culture in organizations is INCORRECT?
Countercultures are never tolerated by an organization once they are identified.
A system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs that shows employees what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior is
Culture
A statement of purpose describing who a company is and what it does is
A Mission Statement
Which if the following statements regarding the impact of reward systems on culture shaping is correct?
A firm that rewards purely on the basis of goal achievement is likely to have an outcome-oriented culture.
Which of the following organizational structures relies heavily on horizontal relationships?
A matrix structure
In which of the following organizational structures, an organizational chart is usually not needed?
A simple Structure
Goals and objectives serve to accomplish all of the following EXCEPT:
Align goals with objectives
All of the following are effective tips for developing mission and vision statements EXCEPT:
Avoid using concrete words and descriptions, the broader the statement the better
All of the following are effective tips for developing mission and vision statements EXCEPT:
Be sure to include everything, the longer the statement the better.
Goals are outcome statements that define what an organization is trying to accomplish:
Both programmatically and organizationally
All of the following are good tips for developing mission and vision statements EXCEPT:
Do your best to get it done quickly, any mission statement is better than none.
Which of the following statements regarding the attraction-selection-attrition (ASA) process is INCORRECT?
Due to economic circumstances, companies today hire people for fit with the job only and are much less concerned about fit with the culture.
Scientific management's primary focus is
Efficiency
Which of the following statements is true about empowerment?
Employees who are nervous about empowerment may also worry about the increased responsibility.
Which of the following is true regarding the motivating potential of a job?
Even though a job is designed with the express purpose of motivating individuals, some employees may not find the job motivational.
A functional structure works best for organizations that offer wide variety of products lines.
False
A vision captures the key elements of the organization's past and present.
False
Division of labor can improve coordination between different tasks and the people who perform them.
False
Goals and objectives are a not a basis for reward systems.
False
Historic financial goals and objectives are typically good predictors of where you are going.
False
Horizontal linkages refer to unofficial relationships such as personal friendships, rivalries, and politics.
False
Horizontal linkages tie supervisors and subordinates together.
False
Multidivisional structures create cross-functional teams that each work on a different project.
False
Simple organizational structures rely on formal systems of division of labor.
False
The role of goals and objectives are achieved only in the planning stage.
False
Using a multidivisional structure violates the unity of command principle.
False
Vertical linkages are of great importance when close coordination is needed across different segments of an organization.
False
Vertical linkages are often called committees, task forces, or teams.
False
Which of the following describes the elements of the Hackman and Oldham job characteristics model?
Five core job characteristics lead to three psychological states which lead to five outcomes.
Which of the following statements regarding founder's values is INCORRECT?
Founder values lay the cornerstone of the firm's culture, but values have a rapidly decreasing impact as the firm grows and ages.
Because _____ structures are slow to execute change, they tend to work best for organizations that offer narrow and stable product lines.
Functional
Mission and vision statements play all of the following important roles EXCEPT:
Give the impression that management is working without actually doing anything
An organization's _____ describes the narrower aims that organizations pursue in an effort to serve their visions and missions.
Goal
Which of the following statements regarding organizational culture and its impact on the firm is INCORRECT?
Having a culture that fits with the company leads to good company performance, but having a culture that does not fit has no impact.
Which of the following statements regarding the organization's role in onboarding and orientation activities is INCORRECT?
How companies do onboarding doesn't really matter much.
Firms that are flexible, adaptable and experiment with new ideas are _________ firms.
Innovative
Which of the following factors has the most influence on worker motivation?
Job Design
Which of the following statements about job enlargement is NOT true?
Job enlargement involving giving employees more tasks requiring them to be knowledgeable in different areas has fewer positive effects than job enlargement adding tasks that are very simple in nature.
Which of the following statements is true about job design approaches?
Job enrichment may lead to employee frustration or dissatisfaction with pay.
Best practices for onboarding programs in firms suggest all of the following EXCEPT
Keep the program as an informal plan. Formalization of the plan will prevent its adaptation to new types of employees.
The act of influencing others toward a goal is
Leadership
_____________ is (are) part of the culture maintenance phase.
Leadership
___________ is an example of felt empowerment.
Meaningful work
Which of the following psychological states is the most important for employee attitudes and behaviors?
Meaningfulness
A trusted individual who provides the employee with advice and support regarding career-related matters is a
Mentor
Which of the following is the solution to the challenge created by division of labor- figuring out how to coordinate different tasks and the people who perform them?
Organizational structure
Those who emphasize achievement, results and action create a(n) _________ __________ culture in their organizations.
Outcome Oriented
Which of the following statements regarding culture dimensions is INCORRECT?
Outcome-oriented cultures hold managers accountable for success, but not other employees.
Which of the following factors do not determine empowerment?
Pay
Which of the following is NOT a core job characteristic in the Hackman and Oldham job characteristics model?
Pay
Firms with clearly communicated, widely understood and collectively shared mission and vision have been shown:
Perform better than those without them
Mission and vision development are analogous to which step in the principles of management framework:
Planning
Which of the following statements is INACCURATE about job rotation?
Rotation leads to slightly elevated blood pressure measured in employees using the process due to their movement between jobs.
If a firm consisting of more than one person is following a _____ organizational structure, tasks tend to be distributed among them in an informal manner rather than each person developing a narrow area of specialization.
Simple
_____ organizational structures do not rely on formal systems of division of labor.
Simple
Which of the following is a disadvantage of using a functional structure?
Slow execution of strategic changes
Which of the following is an advantage to job specialization?
Staffing costs are lower because the repetitive nature of tasks makes skill requirements lower.
A defined set of values unique to a limited cross-section of the organization is
Subculture
Which of the following statements holds true for the "realistic" aspect of a goal?
The achievement of the goal is feasible.
Which of the following statements holds true for the "specific" aspect of a goal?
The goal is explicit rather than vague.
Which of the following statements holds true for the "aggressive" aspect of a goal?
The goal presents a significant challenge to the organization.
Which of the following statements holds true for the "measurable" aspect of a goal?
The goal that is achieved is quantifiable.
Which of the following statements about the effectiveness of a mission statement is INCORRECT?
The mere act of publishing the mission statement makes it effective as it clarifies to all employees the purpose of the organization.
Which of the following is used by executives when mapping out the vertical linkages in an organizational structure?
The unity of command principle
Which of the following is true about horizontal linkages?
They are of great importance when close coordination is needed across different segments of an organization.
Which of the following best describes informal linkages?
They refer to unofficial relationships such as personal friendships, rivalries, and politics.
Which of the following statements about functional structures is accurate?
They tend to create highly-skilled specialists.
Which of the following best describes vertical linkages?
They tie supervisors and subordinates together.
Which of the following statements about matrix structures is accurate?
They violate the unity of command principle.
A functional structure keeps costs low and creates efficiency.
True
A functional structure tends to create highly-skilled specialists.
True
A well-formulated vision that is embraced by employees can give an organization an edge over its rivals.
True
Creating a structure that effectively coordinates a firm's activities increases the firm's likelihood of being successful.
True
Division of labor can improve efficiency.
True
Functional areas, like accounting and marketing, will need to have goals and objectives that help show how those functions are contributing to the organization's goals and objectives.
True
Goals and objectives provide a form of control since they create a feedback opportunity regarding how well or how poorly the organization is executing its strategy.
True
Horizontal linkages are relationships between equals in an organization.
True
Informal linkages do not appear in organizational charts.
True
Matrix structures rely heavily on horizontal relationships.
True
Multidivisional structures tend to be more costly to operate than functional structures.
True
One of the key litmus tests for the setting of goals, objectives, and measures is whether or not they are linked in some way to the key factors driving an organization's success or competitive advantage.
True
Setting organizational goals that are easy to reach encourages employees to work just hard enough to reach the goals.
True
The best strategies, corporate and business, are based on a thorough SWOT analysis.
True
The most effective goals are those that are specific, measurable, aggressive, realistic, and time-bound.
True
The way that the firm is organized can affect goals and objectives in a number of ways.
True
While goals may sometimes be general, the objectives and the metrics that gauge them should be specific.
True
Which of the following is a basic building block of an organizational structure?
Vertical Linkage
_____ show the lines of responsibility through which a supervisor delegates authority to subordinates, oversees their activities, evaluates their performance, and guides them toward improvement when necessary.
Vertical Linkages
Examples of business strategy include all the following EXCEPT:
View an organization as a portfolio of things.
An organization's _____ describes what the organization hopes to become in the future.
Vision
Which of the following statements regarding culture creation is correct?
When the organization's way of doing business provides a successful adaptation to environmental challenges, those beliefs and values are retained.
Which of the following statements regarding visual elements of culture is INCORRECT?
While physical layouts impact motivational levels in employees, they do little to convey the firm's culture to those employees.
Controlling consists of the following steps EXCEPT:
Write a mission and vision statement
A culture that emphasizes precision and paying attention to details is
a detail-oriented culture.
One of the dimensions of structural empowerment is
access to information.
Job enrichment
allows workers more control over how they perform their own tasks.
Strong cultures
are evidenced by consensus among employees on the values of the company.
The visible and tangible elements of culture are
artifacts
Organizational culture consists of three levels:
assumptions, artifacts and values.
During onboarding activities, employees must do all of the following to be successful EXCEPT
be reactive.
If an industry is highly regulated, firms competing within it likely have
bureaucratic structures.
To empower your employees,
change the company structure so employees have more power on the job.
What is the final step in a successful cultural change process?
creating new stories and symbols
Security, safety and social equality are all examples of
cultural values.
If onboarding activities are successful
employees are more confident about their ability to perform in the organization and are likely to remain longer with the firm.
All of the following are advantages of job rotation EXCEPT
employees become less marketable after rotating because their skill sets become very company-specific.
Conflicts within departments are relatively rare in organizations that follow a _____ structure because all the people in a particular department share the same background, training, and as such, they tend to get along with each other.
functional
Leaders impact organization culture in all of the following ways or practices EXCEPT
industry characteristics.
Job rotation
involves moving employees from job to job at regular intervals.
Job specialization
is breaking down jobs into their simplest components and assigning them to employees so that each person will perform a few tasks in a repetitive manner.
Employee autonomy has all of the following positive benefits but
it makes the employees more reactive in doing their jobs.
All of the following statements about job enrichment are true EXCEPT
job enrichment is a suitable technique to be used with any employee.
Studies indicate that the most influential factor in creating an ethical culture is
leadership
Cultural assumptions
lie below the awareness level and reflect beliefs about human nature and reality.
A _____ structure can help develop new managers by putting a person without managerial experience in charge of a relatively small project as a test to see if the person has a talent for leading others.
matrix
Research on mentoring suggests
mentor training enhances program outcomes.
Job specialization can
minimize training costs.
An organization's _____ describes the reasons for an organization's existence.
mission
Characteristics of the approach to setting and managing goals and objectives include which of the following EXCEPT?:
more is better
A big advantage of a _____ structure is that it allows a firm to act quickly.
multidivisional
Which of the following is NOT an outcome in the Hackman and Oldham job characteristics model?
organizational citizenship
The process through which new employees learn the attitudes, knowledge, skills, and behaviors required to function effectively within an organization is
organizational socialization.
Frederick Taylor's work led to a fundamental change in management philosophy. The change
paved the way for today's automation and standardization.
A company with a stable culture is
predictable, rule-oriented and bureaucratic.
Research on the employee role in onboarding activities indicates all of the following to be true EXCEPT
reactive individuals are more successful than proactive individuals.
Job enlargement
refers to expanding the tasks performed by employees to add more variety.
Structural empowerment
refers to the aspects of the work environment that give employees discretion, autonomy and the ability to do jobs effectively.
A functional structure differs from a simple structure in that a functional structure:
relies on a formal system of division of labor.
Strategic decision making in a _____ organizational structure tends to be highly centralized, with the owner often making all the important decisions.
simple
Effective controlling requires the existence of plans,
since planning provides the necessary performance standards or objectives.
Tactical planning is designed to develop:
specific action steps to implement the strategic plan.
Three different types of planning used in the function of management are:
strategic, tactical, and operational,
Companies that are collaborative and emphasize cooperation among employees have a(n) __________ _________ culture.
team-oriented
Autonomy is
the degree to which a person has the freedom to decide how to perform his tasks.
Task identity is
the degree to which a person is in charge of completing an identifiable piece of work from start to finish.
Skill variety is
the extent to which the job requires a person to utilize multiple high level skills.
Strategic decision making in a simple structure tends to be highly centralized.
true
People-oriented cultures
value fairness, supportiveness and respecting individual rights.
Shared principles, standards and goals are
values
Task significance is
whether a person's job substantially affects other people's health, work or well-being.