BUS 301 Exam 1

According to research, the relationship between job performance and job satisfaction is best summarized by which of the following statements?

Both variables indirectly influence each other.

Eleanor wants to be sure that the final team project in a senior capstone course is of top quality. Jerome, another team member, just wants to get it done quickly. Using Alzen's model, what can Eleanor do to try and encourage Jerome to work hard?

Create a positive attitude.

American Airlines pilots created widespread slowdowns in flights to pressure their company in negotiations with their union. This was illegal.

False

Bill, who has an internal locus of control, failed his last history test. Which of the following is he likely to say?

I didn't study hard enough for this test.

At Cornet Company, employees and teams had higher performance, greater job satisfaction, and increased organizational commitment when their managers showed ________ behaviors.

Theory Y

According to research, the most common predictor of cheating in school is peer behavior.

True

Based on Schwartz's Value Theory, if you value achievement over universalism, you will spend your evening working hard on your term paper so that you can get a good grade, rather than volunteering at the soup kitchen.

True

Benny has the ability to learn and use spoken and written languages. He shows linguistic intelligence.

True

Complex, relatively brief responses aimed at a particular target are known as emotions.

True

Many effective managers select employees based on positive, job relevant, relatively stable individual differences.

True

OB includes topics such as managing your peers and your bosses, as well as managing your subordinates.

True

Organizations with the most effective teams typically use hybrid rewards that reward and recognize both individual and team performance.

True

Personal attitudes affect behavior via intentions.

True

Problem solving is a systematic process for closing the gap between an actual and a desired outcome.

True

A(n) _______ helps guide behavior as well as avoid and overcome conflict.

charter

As a senior student representative on the ethics advisory board of your university, you feel strongly that cheating on college exams is unethical. You never cheated on any exam. However, this semester your best friend was desperate for your help, and you allowed him to take a quick "peek" at your answer sheet. Since then, you feel uncomfortable every time you think of the situation. Which of the following concepts best explains your psychological discomfort?

cognitive dissonance

Klaus works in a very stressful job, but maintains his "cool" even in the worst times. This represents the ________ dimension.

emotional stability

Katherine does especially well in her language courses, but struggles in chemistry. She has ______ intelligence.

linguistic

In the Integrative Framework, which of the following is an outcome?

organizational turnover

Norms only emerge on their own in group situations; they are not consciously formed.

False Norms either emerge on their own, over time, or as a more conscious effort.

When hiring people, the best thing a manager can do is to find someone like himself or herself and make sure the person "fits" into his or her stereotype of a good worker.

False While "liking" and "fit" matter, these general and evaluative types of descriptions aren't very useful from a management standpoint.

Research in industrial-organizational psychology concluded that the typical personality test is not a valid predictor of job performance.

True

The first step in combating bullying is to document the event in writing, particularly if the bully is your boss.

True

Alana has a capacity for constructive thinking, reasoning, and problem solving. She exhibits intelligence.

True Intelligence represents an individual's capacity for constructive thinking, reasoning, and problem solving. Naturalist intelligence is the capacity to live in harmony with one's environment.

Johan believes that saving the earth is our most important responsibility. He will be strongly committed to an employer who issues hybrid cars to all sales people, emphasizes recycling, and supports volunteerism to clean up the local river.

True Organizational commitment exists to the degree that personal values generally match the values that undergird a company's organizational culture.

The basic idea of POS is that people are willing to work hard and commit to their organizations when they believe that the organization truly cares about their best interests.

True POS= Perceived Organizational Support

Groups share norms and have goals.

True We define a group as (1) two or more freely interacting individuals who (2) share norms and (3) goals and (4) have a common identity.

Giovanni is expressing ________ when he says, "I can run a mile in under five minutes."

a high self-efficacy

Fiona was telling her friend about the freedom and discretion given to her in scheduling and deciding the procedures used to complete the tasks assigned to her. Which of the following job characteristics was she talking about?

autonomy

Chuck is concerned with what he considers to be an unfair situation at work. Although he put in 10 hours of overtime last week, he received the same pay as a co-worker who didn't put in any overtime. This week he decided to take an extra hour for lunch every day. Using the terminology of equity theory, Chuck has decided to

decrease his inputs.

Joe expresses concern with Rita, an intern scheduled to work on his team for three weeks. José, Joe's manager, quickly decides to move Rita to another team. Which key problem-solving step has Jose skipped?

define the problem

The idea that satisfaction results from the perception that a job allows for fulfillment of an individual's important values is called "met expectations."

false Met expectations represent the difference between what an individual expects to receive from a job, such as good pay and promotional opportunities, and what she or he actually receives.

Job satisfaction across the United States has gone up, according to a national survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management. The top three facets of satisfaction include

feeling safe at work, having good relationships with coworkers, and having a good relationship with an immediate supervisor.

Carol is a recent high-school graduate with an excellent grade point average. After much thought, she decides to pursue a graduate degree in physics after she finishes her undergraduate degree and eventually become a professor. To attain this goal, she realizes that she must first study hard and do well in her undergraduate classes, then take the graduate entrance exam and apply to the best graduate programs in her field. Along the way, she wants to obtain an internship, as this will help her get into a quality graduate program. Which motivational mechanism of the goal-setting process does this scenario demonstrate?

fostering strategies and action plans

Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) harms other employees, the organization as a whole, and/or organizational stakeholders such as customers and shareholders. Which of the following is not an example of CWB?

presenting poor financial results at the quarterly meeting

A(n) _______ is someone who is relatively unconstrained by situational forces and who effects environmental change.

proactive person

Core self-evaluations represent a broad personality trait comprised of all of the following except

proactivity

As part of a work team in his office, it is Larry's job to make photocopies of relevant materials and hand them out to the team members during meetings. Which of the following task roles is Larry performing in his work team?

procedural technician

Janice creates advertising slogans for the advertising firm that employs her. She works with beliefs, perceptions, and informal obligations about what she is entitled to receive in return for what she provides to the organization. A(n) ________ represents Janice's beliefs.

psychological contract

A follower is a person who

serves as a passive audience.

Javier is dealing with several employees who are chronically late. He unilaterally decides to dock everyone's daily pay 5 percent if they are more than 10 minutes late. Javier will have better results using

the contingency approach.

Javier asked Maria for general advice on homework. Then he asked her to let him see specific problems. Now he wants to copy her assignment, claiming he has no time and the content is too difficult. This is an example of

the slippery slope.

In _________ job design, managers change employees' tasks with the intent of increasing motivation and productivity.

top-down

Genevieve is a very religious person who does volunteer work for her church on weekends. When it came to selecting who would chair the United Fund drive for the department, her manager immediately thought of her and asked her to serve. The manager's action reflects the __________ model of job satisfaction.

value attainment

Common sense focuses on the past, and because of this, it is strong in responding to the unexpected.

False

There is only one best way to manage people, teams, or organizations. A particular management practice that worked today will work tomorrow. This is called the contingency approach.

False

Unethical behavior erodes trust, but has no effect on cooperation in organizations.

False

Teams are a cornerstone of work life in today's organizations.

True

CSEs are related to reduced conflict and lower stress.

True CSE= Core Self-evaluations

Openness to experience refers to a person being trusting and good-natured.

False someone scoring high on openness to experience would be intellectual, imaginative, curious, and broad-minded.

The components of engagement are urgency, being focused, intensity, and job satisfaction.

False The components of employee engagement are four feelings: urgency, being focused, intensity, and enthusiasm.

Trust of character is known as contractual trust.

True

Turnover is always bad for organizations.

False Turnover can be a good thing when a low-performing person quits or is fired.

One effective use of virtual teams is in brainstorming ideas or solutions to problems.

true The vast majority of organizations (72 percent) that use virtual teams indicate that brainstorming ideas or solutions to problems is the most successful task for such teams.

Research has clearly indicated that self-managed teams perform better than traditional work groups.

False

Soft skills are job specific; they are useful only in certain jobs.

False

OB concepts and theories can be classified into three broad categories: person factors, group characteristics, and environmental characteristics.

False OB concepts and theories can be classified into two broad categories: person factors and environmental characteristics.

Stress can have positive effects on certain OB-related outcomes. For instance, it is negatively related to absenteeism because people feel they have to work harder to meet management expectations.

False Stress has negative effects on many different OB-related outcomes. For instance, it is positively related to absenteeism, turnover, coronary heart disease, and viral infections.

One of the top five drivers of employee engagement for organizations in North America is pay.

False The organization-level factors are career opportunities, managing performance, organizational reputation, communication, and recognition.

Research shows that sustainable businesses are led by CEOs who take a people-centered, inclusive approach.

True

The "organizing framework" for understanding and applying OB is based on the systems approach.

True

The combination of stable physical, behavioral, and mental characteristics that give individuals their unique identities is known as personality.

True

The interactional perspective states that behavior is a function of interdependent person and environmental factors.

True

The members of the management faculty in the business school go out at the end of the semester to a local restaurant for dinner and socializing. They are both a formal and informal group.

True

All work groups progress through the stages of group development to become effective teams.

False Because of conflicts due to power, authority, and unstable interpersonal relations, many work groups never qualify as a real team.

The lack of face-to-face contact actually helps virtual teams to establish strong cohesion.

False Compared to traditional face-to-face teams, it is more difficult to establish team cohesion, work satisfaction, trust, cooperative behavior, and commitment to team goals. Researchers and consultants are consistent about one aspect of virtual teams-there is no substitute for face-to-face contact.

The ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions is known as emotional stability.

False Emotional Intelligence is the ability to monitor your own emotions and those of others, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions.

Carl has a high self-efficacy belief. He is not likely to work hard in preparation for challenges because he is confident he can succeed.

False If you have high self-efficacy you will work harder, more creatively, and longer.

Organizations should use selection based on attitudes and emotions to choose which employees to hire.

False Many effective managers select employees based on positive, job relevant, but relatively stable individual differences.

It is clear from research that personal friendship helps organizational productivity.

False Some managers firmly believe personal friendship fosters productive teamwork on the job, while others view such relationships as a serious threat to productivity.

According to Schein, a crowd is merely a large group.

False The size of a group is . . . limited by the possibilities of mutual interaction and mutual awareness. Mere aggregates of people do not fit this definition because they do not interact and do not perceive themselves to be a group even if they are aware of each other as, for instance, a crowd on a street corner watching some event.

Dawn is a manager at a big box store. One of her employees, Edward, appears to have low self-efficacy. To help him, Dawn should set a very challenging sales goal.

False goal difficulty needs to match the individual's perceived self-efficacy. As self-efficacy and performance improve, goals and quality standards can be made more challenging

A decision is a gap between an actual and a desired situation.

False A problem is a difference or gap between an actual and a desired situation.

John is spending 12 hours a day at work and is exhausted. He decides that he will work no more than 8 hours—no matter what. This is a good example of the Three-step Problem-Solving Approach.

False 1) define the problem 2) identify potential causes using OB concepts and theories 3) make recommendations or take action

A norm is a set of expected behaviors for a particular position.

False A norm is an attitude, opinion, feeling, or action—shared by two or more people—that guides behavior. A role is a set of expected behaviors for a particular position.

According to the Ajzen model, someone's intention to engage in a particular behavior is not necessarily a strong predictor of that behavior.

False According to the Ajzen model, someone's intention to engage in a given behavior is a strong predictor of that behavior.

Managers should attempt to reduce the negative effects of stress by improving job satisfaction and by encouraging employees to take work home.

False Managers should attempt to reduce the negative effects of stress by improving job satisfaction and by encouraging employees to detach from work during off-job time

There is only one model of the causes of job satisfaction.

False OB has developed numerous concepts to improve our understanding of job satisfaction: need fulfillment, met expectations, value attainment, equity, and dispositional/genetic components.

Practical intelligence is very similar to logical-mathematical intelligence.

False Practical intelligence is the ability to solve everyday problems by utilizing knowledge gained from experience in order to purposefully adapt to, shape, and select environments. Logical-mathematical intelligence is the potential for deductive reasoning, problem analysis, and mathematical calculation.

The two basic dimensions of Schwartz's value theory are self-enhancement/self-transcendence and ethical/unethical.

False Schwartz identifies two bipolar dimensions that summarize the relationships among all 10 values (i.e., self-enhancement/self-transcendence and openness to change/conservation

When major league baseball officials failed to notice they had created conditions that encouraged players to use steroids, this was an example of "motivated blindness."

True

In Schwartz's model, conformity and tradition are in the same wedge, but conformity is seen as less extreme than tradition.

True Tradition and conformity share a single wedge, supporting the same broad motivational goal. Conformity is toward the center because it does not conflict with openness to change and self-enhancement quite as much as tradition, which is toward the periphery.

Personality models are not unique to the cultures in which they were developed.

True A comprehensive analysis of Big Five studies revealed: "To date, there is no compelling evidence that culture affects personality structure."

In a true team, leadership must be shared.

True A group becomes a team when certain criteria are met, including that leadership becomes a shared activity.

A group role is a set of expected behaviors for members of the group as a whole.

True A role is a set of expected behaviors for a particular position, and a group role is a set of expected behaviors for members of the group as a whole.