MNGT 300 Final exam 3
Your supervisor has restructured the jobs within your division and some of your colleagues are not pleased. Don is concerned that he will not be able to perform the new tasks. Since he is paid by the amount he produces, his pay might be reduced. Tony is afraid that his job may be in jeopardy and he may be laid off. Doug dislikes uncertainty and has developed a negative attitude. The source of Tony's resistance is ________. A) habit B) economic C) security D) structural inertia E) none of the above
A) habit
Risa has to work long hours and sometimes weekends, losing out on family time. Risa doesn't find her long hours overly stressful, but rather she sees it as her contribution to maintaining her family's equilibrium and well being, and bettering her children's future. In which country is Risa most likely employed? A) Venezuela B) United States C) Canada D) United Kingdom E) Netherlands
Answer: A Explanation: A study of 5,270 managers from 20 countries found individuals from individualistic countries such as the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom experienced higher levels of stress due to work interfering with family than did individuals from collectivist countries in Asia and Latin America. The authors proposed that this may occur because in collectivist cultures working extra hours is seen as a sacrifice to help the family, whereas in individualistic cultures work is seen as a means to personal achievement that takes away from the family.
Elaine is very good at what she does, but she is constantly stressed by internal deadlines to co-workers, obligatory meetings, and time lost in unrelated idle cubicle chatter. Today, after a meeting with her supervisor, she has been given more responsibility for her work, is able to set her own deadlines, decline attendance to various department meetings, and telecommute two days a week. Elaine's boss is using which of the following organizational strategies to reduce her stress? A) job redesign B) organizational communication C) employee involvement D) organizational development E) wellness
Answer: A Explanation: Elaine's boss is redesigning her job. Redesigning jobs to give employees more responsibility, more meaningful work, more autonomy, and increased feedback can reduce stress because these factors give employees greater control over work activities and lessen dependence on others.
) Which of the following is not an organizational factor related to stress? A) economic conditions B) task demands C) role demands D) interpersonal demands E) none of the above
Answer: A Explanation: There is no shortage of factors within an organization that can cause stress. Pressures to avoid errors or complete tasks in a limited time, work overload, a demanding and insensitive boss, and unpleasant co-workers are a few examples. These factors are categorized around task, role, and interpersonal demands.
Since the restructuring, your division has had trouble filling the open positions with appropriate candidates. The selection processes used by human resources have not yet adjusted to the new criteria required for the restructured job positions. This problem is an example of which kind of resistance to change? A) structural inertia B) limited focus of change C) group inertia D) threat to expertise E) threat to established power relationships
Answer: A Explanation: This is an example of structural inertia. Organizations have built-in mechanisms, such as their selection processes and formalized regulations, to produce stability. When an organization is confronted with change, this structural inertia acts as a counterbalance to sustain stability.
Which of the following is not an effective individual approach to handling stress? A) using time-management techniques B) increasing training and skills C) increasing levels of physical exercise D) paticipating in relaxation training E) spending time with friends
Answer: B Explanation: An employee can take personal responsibility for reducing stress levels. Individual strategies that have proven effective include time-management techniques, increased physical exercise, relaxation training, and expanded social support networks. Increasing training and skills is an organizational approach to handling stress.
) Jerry is feeling very stressed because his boss expects a project to be delivered to the client with a very unreasonable deadline. Jerry has to work nights and weekends to make the deadline. Jerry is feeling ________ stress. A) environmental B) organizational C) economic D) marital E) opportunity
Answer: B Explanation: Organizational stress factors include pressures to avoid errors or complete tasks in a limited time, work overload, a demanding and insensitive boss, and unpleasant co-workers.
Raymond is dealing with impending layoffs at work. Yesterday at the pharmacy he measured his blood pressure and it was high. He also notices that when he thinks about the future his heart rate accelerates. Raymond is demonstrating ________ symptoms of his stress. A) psychological B) physiological C) behavioral D) personal E) reactive
Answer: B Explanation: Specialists in the health and medical sciences have determined that stress can cause physiological symptoms such as changes in metabolism, increase heart and breathing rates and blood pressure, bring on headaches, and induce heart attacks.
Your supervisor has restructured the jobs within your division and some of your colleagues are not pleased. Don is concerned that he will not be able to perform the new tasks. Since he is paid by the amount he produces, his pay might be reduced. Tony is afraid that his job may be in jeopardy and he may be laid off. Doug dislikes uncertainty and has developed a negative attitude. The source of Don's resistance is ________. A) habit B) economic C) security D) structural inertia E) none of the above
Answer: B Explanation: The source is economic factors. Changes in job tasks or established work routines can arouse economic fears if people are concerned that they won't be able to perform the new tasks or routines to their previous standards, especially when pay is closely tied to productivity.
Excessive smoking, substance abuse, accident proneness, and appetite disorders are all examples of ________ symptoms of stress. A) personal B) psychological C) behavioral D) physiological E) pathological
Answer: C Explanation: Behavior-related stress symptoms include changes in productivity, absence, and turnover, as well as changes in eating habits, increased smoking or consumption of alcohol, rapid speech, fidgeting, and sleep disorders.
Paul is miserable and stressed with the new corporate reorganization. He now reports to a foreign office that has usurped many of his responsibilities, including the contract labor for his projects, therefore he's working with less qualified and new contractors with whom he doesn't have a relationship. However, the managers of the other departments find themselves in the same boat and everyday they are able to laugh over lunch about their new managerial impotence. ________ is helping Paul handle his stress. A) Perception B) Job experience C) Social support D) Personality E) Marital status
Answer: C Explanation: Social support, collegial relationships with co-workers or supervisors, can buffer the impact of stress. It acts as a palliative, mitigating the negative effects of even high-strain jobs. Paul is using this social support to be able to laugh at his new situation.
The ________ theory indicates that some stress stimulates the body into action, and people are able to perform well. However, too much stress causes a person to perform poorly. A) self-efficacy B) reverse-inverted C) inverted-U D) double-loop E) single-loop
Answer: C Explanation: The logic underlying the inverted U is that low to moderate levels of stress stimulate the body and increase its ability to react. Individuals then often perform their tasks better, more intensely, or more rapidly. But too much stress places unattainable demands on a person, which result in lower performance.
The source of Doug's resistance is ________. A) habit B) economic C) selective information processing D) fear of the unknown E) none of the above
Answer: D Explanation: Doug's source is fear of the unknown. Change substitutes ambiguity and uncertainty for the known.
Hubert is unclear about his duties on the new project and feels stressed with the role ambiguity. He has decided to simply put off the project and dedicate himself to other tasks. Which of the following best describes the effect of Hubert's stress? A) Anxiety is a physiological symptom of stress. B) Low self-esteem is a psychological symptom of stress. C) Fidgeting is a behavioral symptom of stress. D) Procrastination is a psychological symptom of stress. E) Increased heart rate is a physiological symptom of stress.
Answer: D Explanation: Hubert is procrastinating. Stress shows itself in various psychological states such as tension, anxiety, irritability, boredom, and procrastination. Jobs that make multiple and conflicting demands or that lack clarity about the incumbent's duties, authority, and responsibilities increase both stress and dissatisfaction.
Jill is overwhelmed with the new tasks that she has been assigned since the department merger. Every day she arrives at work and makes a list of the new tasks, writes a number next to each one according to the urgency of completion, and schedules a time to complete each one. Although she's still stressed, Jill is able to get most of the work done and feels better at the end of the day. Jill is using ________ to reduce her stress. A) selection and placement B) goal setting techniques C) relaxation techniques D) time-management techniques E) job redesigning techniques
Answer: D Explanation: Jill is using basic time-management principles to better cope with tensions created by job demands. A few of the best-known time-management principles are (1) making daily lists of activities to be accomplished, (2) prioritizing activities by importance and urgency, (3) scheduling activities according to the priorities set, and (4) knowing your daily cycle and handling the most demanding parts of your job when you are most alert and productive.
Which of the following is not an individual variable that influences a person's ability to handle stress? A) perception B) job experience C) social support D) personality E) marital status
Answer: E Explanation: Individual difference variables moderate the relationship between potential stressors and experienced stress. Four variables, perception, job experience, social support, and personality, are relevant.
) Family issues, economic problems, and personality characteristics are examples of the ________ factor of potential stress. A) social B) environmental C) personnel D) psychological E) personal
Answer: E Explanation: One category that creates stress are factors in the employee's personal life: family issues, personal economic problems, and inherent personality characteristics. Marital difficulties, the breaking of a close relationship, and discipline troubles with children create stresses employees often can't leave at the front door when they arrive at work.
Organizationally supported programs that focus on the employee's total physical and mental condition are called ________ programs. A) job redesign B) relaxation C) employee involvement D) organizational development E) wellness
Answer: E Explanation: Organizationally supported wellness programs provide workshops to help people quit smoking, control alcohol use, lose weight, eat better, and develop a regular exercise program; they focus on the employee's total physical and mental condition.
Appreciative inquiry refers to a change process based on systematic collection of data and then selection of a change action based on what the analyzed data indicates.
Answer: FALSE Explanation: Action research is a change process based on the systematic collection of data and selection of a change action based on what the analyzed data indicate. Its value is in providing a scientific methodology for managing planned change.
) Appreciative inquiry is a collection of change techniques or interventions built on humanistic-democratic values.
Answer: FALSE Explanation: Appreciative inquiry (AI) instead accentuates the positive. Rather than looking for problems to fix, it seeks to identify the unique qualities and special strengths of an organization, which members can build on to improve performance. AI focuses on an organization's successes rather than its problems.
Double-loop learning is an error correction process that relies on past routines and present policies.
Answer: FALSE Explanation: Double-loop learning organizations correct errors by modifying objectives, policies, and standard routines. Double-loop learning challenges deeply rooted assumptions and norms. It provides opportunities for radically different solutions to problems and dramatic jumps in improvement.
Experience on the job tends to be positively related to work stress.
Answer: FALSE Explanation: Experience on the job tends to be negatively related to work stress. Voluntary turnover is more probable among people who experience more stress. Therefore, people who remain with an organization longer are those with more stress-resistant traits or those more resistant to the stress characteristics of their organization.
You should expect that long-time career executives will be proponents of change.
Answer: FALSE Explanation: Managers who have spent their entire careers with a single organization and achieved a senior position in the hierarchy are often major impediments to change. It is a very real threat to their status and position.
The objectives of survey feedback are to provide subjects with increased awareness of their own behavior and how others see them.
Answer: FALSE Explanation: One tool for assessing attitudes held by organizational members, identifying discrepancies among member perceptions and solving these differences, is the survey feedback approach.
) Organizational behavior (OB) is not a readily definable concept, but a convenient term used to encompass a variety of activities for managing change.
Answer: FALSE Explanation: Organizational development (OD) is a collection of change methods that try to improve organizational effectiveness and employee well-being. OD methods value human and organizational growth, collaborative and participative processes, and a spirit of inquiry.
) An idea champion in Germany will be more effective by ignoring budgets and procedures.
Answer: FALSE Explanation: People in collectivist cultures prefer appeals for cross-functional support for innovation efforts; people in high--power distance cultures prefer champions to work closely with those in authority to approve innovative activities before work is begun; and the higher the uncertainty avoidance of a society, the more champions should work within the organization's rules and procedures to develop the innovation. So, for instance, although idea champions in Russia might succeed by ignoring budgetary limitations and working around confining procedures, champions in Austria, Denmark, Germany, or other cultures high in uncertainty avoidance will be more effective by closely following budgets and procedures.
Research demonstrates that any effort to resist change is dysfunctional in terms of organizational effectiveness.
Answer: FALSE Explanation: Resistance to change can be positive if it leads to open discussion and debate. These responses are usually preferable to apathy or silence and can indicate that members of the organization are engaged in the process, providing change agents an opportunity to explain the change effort.
Sensitivity training emphasizes changing behavior through structured group interaction.
Answer: FALSE Explanation: Sensitivity training refers to an early method of changing behavior through unstructured group interaction.
Retention forces are those that hinder movement from the existing equilibrium.
Answer: FALSE Explanation: The restraining forces, which hinder movement away from equilibrium, can be decreased in Lewin's three-step model for implementation of successful change.
Cooptation is a form of both manipulation and participation.
Answer: TRUE Explanation: Cooptation combines manipulation and participation. It seeks to "buy off" the leaders of a resistance group by giving them a key role, seeking their advice not to find a better solution but to get their endorsement.
If an individual believes his/her income will be affected negatively by a particular change, resistance will increase.
Answer: TRUE Explanation: Economic factors are sources of resistance to change. Changes in job tasks or established work routines can arouse economic fears if people are concerned that they won't be able to perform the new tasks or routines to their previous standards, especially when pay is closely tied to productivity.
Idea champions display characteristics associated with transformational leadership.
Answer: TRUE Explanation: Idea champions actively and enthusiastically promote it, build support, overcome resistance, and ensure it's implemented. Champions have common personality characteristics: extremely high self-confidence, persistence, energy, and a tendency to take risks. They also display characteristics associated with transformational leadership—they inspire and energize others with their vision of an innovation's potential and their strong personal conviction about their mission.
Innovation is nurtured where there are slack resources.
Answer: TRUE Explanation: Innovation is nurtured when there are slack resources. Having an abundance of resources allows an organization to afford to purchase innovations, bear the cost of instituting them, and absorb failures.
Intergroup development seeks to change attitudes, stereotypes, and perceptions that groups have of each other.
Answer: TRUE Explanation: Intergroup development seeks to change groups' attitudes, stereotypes, and perceptions about each other. Here training sessions closely resemble diversity training, except rather than focusing on demographic differences, they focus on differences among occupations, departments, or divisions within an organization.
The organizational factors that cause stress include: task demands, role demands, and interpersonal demands.
Answer: TRUE Explanation: Pressures to avoid errors or complete tasks in a limited time, work overload, a demanding and insensitive boss, and unpleasant co-workers are a few examples of organizational factors that cause stress, which can be categorized around three factors: task, role, and interpersonal demands.
A person's basic disposition is a major private factor that influences stress.
Answer: TRUE Explanation: Some people thrive on stressful situations, while others are overwhelmed by them. Individual difference variables moderate the relationship between potential stressors and experienced stress. At least four variables, perception, job experience, social support, and personality, are relevant.
Process consultants work with the clients in jointly diagnosing what processes need improvement.
Answer: TRUE Explanation: The purpose of process consultation (PC) is for an outside consultant to assist a client, usually a manager, "to perceive, understand, and act upon process events" with which the manager must deal.
