MGT Test 3

Which of the following should managers do in order to minimize the problems inherent in firing employees?

They should give employees a chance to change their behavior before firing them.

Which of the following statements about mechanistic organizations is true?

They work best in stable, unchanging business environments.

The least amount of autonomy is found in ____.

Traditional work groups

_____ means providing opportunities for employees to develop the job-specific skills, experience, and knowledge they need to do their jobs or improve their performance.

Training

_____ are best defined as groups of geographically and/or organizationally dispersed coworkers who use a combination of telecommunications and information technologies to accomplish an organizational task.

Virtual teams

_____ is a legal doctrine that requires employers to have a job-related reason to terminate employees.

Wrongful discharge

Due to an increase in the amount of employment turnover in a company, the company decided to be very thorough with gathering accurate information about the job applicants. They decided to uncover all job-related information not provided by the applicants in order to hire only those employees who do not have an inconsistent employment history. In this context, the company has decided to perform a _____.

background check

Organizational authority is traditionally characterized by _____.

chain of command

Under a sales _____ plan, salespeople are paid a percentage of the purchase price of items they sell.

commission

The term _____ refers to both the financial and nonfinancial rewards organizations give employees in exchange for their work.

compensation

An advantage of _____ is that it broadens workers' skills and increases their capabilities while also making their work more varied and interesting.

cross-training

Amethyst Inc. is a manufacturer of acrylic and latex gloves. It sells the gloves to medical laboratories, chemical factories, micro-tech equipment manufacturing companies, and cleaning services. The work and workers at Amethyst Inc. are organized to better satisfy the needs of each of its four target markets. As such, Amethyst Inc. most likely uses _____.

customer departmentalization

In the stages of team development, a team first moves from growth to decline during the _____ stage.

de-norming

Darlene Jespersen used to work in a sports bar. She was an outstanding employee, but she did not wear makeup because she felt it "took away her credibility" and interfered with her ability to be an effective bartender, which sometimes required her to deal with unruly, intoxicated guests. This changed when the sports bar implemented a "beverage department image transformation" program. Female employees were told they would be fired if they did not wear makeup. Since male employees did not have to wear makeup, Darlene contended it. This is an example of _____.

disparate treatment

The primary disadvantage of geographic departmentalization is _____.

duplication of resources

The term _____ can be best defined as a feeling of intrinsic motivation, in which workers perceive their work to have meaning and perceive themselves to be competent, having an impact, and capable of self-determination.

empowerment

Disadvantages of _____ include difficulty in cross-departmental coordination, slow decision making, and managers and workers with narrow experience and expertise.

functional departmentalization

The managers of a company decided to lay off about twenty percent of their employees to cope with the financial loss they incurred over the year. This is an example of a(n) _____.

involuntary separation

A _____ is a purposeful, systematic process for collecting information on the important work-related aspects of a job.

job analysis

Two of the most important results of a job analysis are _____.

job descriptions and job specifications

The job design approach associated with _____ involves increasing the number of different tasks that a worker performs within one particular job and gives workers the authority and control to make meaningful decisions about their work.

job enrichment

In order to be considered _____, recruitment, selection, training, performance appraisals, and employee separations must be valid and be directly related to the important aspects of the job, as identified by a careful job analysis.

job related

Bona fide occupational qualifications are most likely to be included in a(n) _____.

job specification

Self-managing teams are different from semi-autonomous work groups in that team members:

manage and control all of the major tasks directly related to production of a product or service without first getting approval from management.

With _____, most employees report to two bosses.

matrix departmentalization

A(n) _____ is an organization that is characterized by specialized jobs and responsibilities; precisely defined, unchanging roles; and a rigid chain of command based on centralized authority and vertical communication.

mechanistic organization

Group cohesion tends to be relatively strong at the _____ stage of team development.

norming

The term _____ can be best defined as the collection of activities that transform inputs into outputs that customers value.

organizational process

Functional departmentalization can be most accurately defined as:

organizing work and workers into separate units responsible for particular business operations or areas of expertise.

A team finally matures into a fully functioning team at the _____ stage of development.

performing

The three types of task interdependence are:

pooled, sequential, and reciprocal.

From a legal perspective, the two kinds of sexual harassment are _____.

quid pro quo and hostile work environment

A manager who wants to give his team the highest amount of autonomy should select _____.

self-designing teams

A(n) _____ is defined as a group that has the authority to make decisions and solve problems related to the major tasks of producing a product or service.

semi-autonomous work group

If a CEO opens a nationwide sales force meeting with a crude sexually explicit joke, it would be an example of a(n) _____.

sexual harassment

The _____ interview uses only standardized, job-related interview questions that are prepared ahead of time so that all candidates are asked the same questions.

structured

The primary disadvantage of customer departmentalization is:

that it leads to duplication of resources.

Teams should NOT be used when:

there is no clear, engaging purpose.

In the autonomy continuum, the correct sequence, from low team autonomy to high team autonomy, is:

traditional work groups, employee involvement teams, semi-autonomous work groups, self-managing teams, and self-designing teams.

The chain of command can be best defined as the:

vertical line of authority that clarifies who reports to whom throughout an organization.

A(n) _____ is defined as a small number of people with complementary skills who hold themselves mutually accountable for pursuing a common purpose, achieving performance goals, and improving interdependent work processes.

work team

A violation of the _____ used by the courts and federal agencies to determine whether there is evidence of adverse impact occurs when the members of a particular race, sex, or ethnic group are unintentionally harmed or disadvantaged because they are hired, promoted, or trained (or any other employment decision) at substantially lower rates than others.

80 percent rule

When managers delegate work, three transfers occur. The three transfers are responsibility, authority, and _____.

Accountability

_____ is unintentional discrimination that occurs when members of a particular race, sex, or ethnic group are unintentionally harmed or disadvantaged because they are hired, promoted, or trained (or any other employment decision) at substantially lower rates than others.

Adverse impact

_____ refers to the emotional reactions that can occur when disagreements become personal rather than professional.

Affective conflict

Which of the following factors is necessary for stretch goals to effectively motivate teams?

Bureaucratic immunity

Which of the following is NOT one of the core job characteristics in the job characteristics model (JCM)?

Client relationships

Which of the following types of tests accurately predicts job performance in almost all kinds of jobs?

Cognitive ability tests

Which of the following types of conflicts is most strongly associated with improvements in team performance?

Cognitive conflict

Which of the following statements about team training is true?

Cross-training is less appropriate for teams of highly skilled workers.

_____ can be best defined as the assignment of direct authority and responsibility to a subordinate to complete tasks for which the manager is normally responsible.

Delegation of authority

_____ can be best defined as a method of subdividing work and workers into separate organizational units that are responsible for completing particular tasks.

Departmentalization

_____ is intentional discrimination that occurs when people are purposefully not given the same hiring, promotion, or membership opportunities because of their race, sex, age, ethnic group, national origin, or religious beliefs.

Disparate treatment

Which of the following statements regarding cohesiveness is true?

Engaging in non-work activities as a team can help build cohesion.

_____ is defined as a compensation system in which companies share the financial value of performance gains, such as increased productivity, cost savings, or improved quality, with their workers.

Gainsharing

Which of the following is NOT an example of a pay-variability decision used to motivate employee performance?

Hierarchical pay

_____ can be best defined as the process of finding, developing, and keeping the right people to form a qualified work force.

Human resource management

Which of the following scenarios is an example of matrix departmentalization?

InsureClef Inc., an insurance company, has departments that focus on major commercials and small businesses and also has departments that focus on the different products that the company offers across its clientele.

_____ is the number, kind, and variety of tasks that individual workers perform in their jobs.

Job design

A(n) _____ can be best defined as an activity that contributes directly to creating or selling a company's products.

Line Function

Which of the following is the key difference between line authority and staff authority?

Line authority is the right to command immediate subordinates, whereas staff authority is the right to advise but not command others who are not subordinates.

Which of the following factors is considered while conducting an objective performance measure?

Output of an employee

Which of the following statements about performance appraisals is true?

Performance appraisals are used for making administrative decisions.

_____ are often used to develop new products, significantly improve existing products, roll out new information systems, or build new factories or offices within a specific time, following which the team members either move on to the next project or return to their functional units.

Project teams

_____ can be best defined as fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical measures of performance such as cost, quality, service, and speed.

Reengineering

_____ is the process of gathering information about job applicants to decide who should be offered a job.

Selection

Which of the following types of teams has the authority to change their composition as well as all of their tasks and work methods?

Self-designing teams

Which of the following statements about team compensation is generally true?

Skill-based pay is more effective for self-directing teams performing complex tasks.

_____ is one of the disadvantages associated with the use of work teams.

Social loafing

_____ can be best defined as solving problems by consistently applying the same rules, procedures, and processes.

Standardization

_____ can be best defined as the ability to change organizational structures, policies, and practices if doing so helps teams meet their stretch goals.

Structural accommodation

The finance team of a start-up company has a majority of white employees. It, however, plans to hire more people from various other ethnic backgrounds in the near future. The organization is trying to increase its _____.

Team diversity

Which of the following typically happens during the storming stage of team development?

Team members begin to work together, and different personalities and work styles clash.

Which of the following statements about federal employment laws is true?

The intent of these laws is to make factors such as gender, race, or age irrelevant in employment decisions.

Which of the following approaches to job redesign entails more than simply providing variety in job tasks?

The job characteristics model