Deck 7: Identity and Difference in Organizational Life

Question 1

Which of the following generations believes that they sacrificed and worked long and hard to achieve success, and they expect a similar attitude from new employees?

A) Generation Xers
B) Millenials
C) Baby boomers
D) Traditionalists

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT one of the ways in which Alvesson and Willmott claim that organizations "make" members' identities?

A) Defining a person directly
B) Defining a person by defining others
C) Offering specific morals and values
D) Distinguishing between pro-profit and nonprofit identities

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Strategists are most often characterized as

A) completely immersed in their organizational identity.
B) insecure.
C) willing to downplay their individuality.
D) utilitarian and goal-directed.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Everyday organizational life often produces which of the following two types of insecurity, as demonstrated by the self-doubter's experience?

A) Realistic and irrational
B) Symbolic and material
C) Practical and theoretical
D) Symbolic and theoretical

Question 5

Which of the following concepts refers to making a project out of one's self by developing a personal brand and other similar practices?

A) Authentic communication
B) Habits of character
C) The entrepreneurial self
D) Identity work

Question 6

The argument that individuals can be real and honest in the way that they live and work with others is also known as

A) identity.
B) feminism.
C) the "zone of indifference."
D) authenticity.

Question 7

Allen offers three strategies that enable individuals and groups to better communicate multiple identities. Which of the following is not one of those strategies?

A) Be proactive.
B) Fill your communication toolbox.
C) Be mindful.
D) Be supportive.

Question 8

Which of the following strategies did Microsoft recently implement to identify top, good, average, and poor performers, which led to employees competing with one another, rather than with the company's competition?

A) "Stack ranking"
B) Incentivizing
C) Identity regulation
D) Identity work

Question 9

In Martin and her colleagues' research on interethnic conversations, the feeling of being controlled, manipulated, and trapped as a result of others taking charge is referred to as

A) stereotyping.
B) acceptance.
C) disrespect.
D) powerlessness.

Question 10

The idea that the individual is an inhuman cog in a complex machine is most closely associated with which of the following approaches to management?

A) Classical
B) Human resources
C) Critical
D) Systems

Question 11

Which of the following theories was extended to include race and class in ways that reproduce inequitable divisions in everyday organizational life?

A) Tannen's model of report talk and rapport talk
B) Acker's model of the gendered organization
C) Alvesson and Willmott's model of performance
D) Allen's model of individuals and groups

Question 12

According to Joan Acker, which of the following types of worker does dominant organizational logic prefer?

A) A gender-neutral employee who understands what it means to balance work and home
B) A male worker whose life centers on his full-time job
C) A female worker who has chosen work over family commitments
D) A gender-neutral employee who is a good fit with the organization's culture

Question 13

Which of the following images of identity is particularly good at drawing upon a variety of resources in order to build a coherent and distinct identity?

A) Surfer
B) Storyteller
C) Strategist
D) Struggler

Question 14

Which of the following terms captures the significant labor that women perform in the private sphere for which they receive little compensation or gratitude?

A) The second shift
B) Double standards
C) Personal branding
D) Gendered labor

Question 15

Which of the following methods of identity regulation is illustrated by "successful" teachers who do not seek higher salaries because they're "in it for the kids"?

A) Defining a person by defining others
B) Offering specific morals and values
C) Providing a vocabulary of motives
D) Reinforcing hierarchical dynamics

Question 16

A cultural practice by which individuals create their sense of self by purchasing and using artifacts is known as

A) consumption.
B) personal branding.
C) resistance.
D) identity construction.

Question 17

Which of the following images of identity is most likely to rely on "cultural raw material," including language, symbols, and interactions with others, in order to craft a coherent sense of self?

A) Self-doubter
B) Storyteller
C) Surfer
D) Struggler

Question 18

Kenneth Gergen uses which of the following terms to characterize the notion that identities tend to be both fluid and multiple?

A) Authenticity
B) The "zone of indifference"
C) "Multiphrenia"
D) Organized identities

Question 19

Organizational members who adopt the surfer image tend to enact which of the following theories of organizational communication?

A) Postmodern
B) Critical
C) Systems
D) Scientific

Question 20

As part of his storyteller image, H. L. "Bud" Goodall wrote himself into being as a man who lived with a terminal illness by keeping a scholarly blog, where he chronicled his life in

A) the "zone of indifference."
B) the "terminal."
C) "cancerland."
D) "cyberville."

Question 21

John Gray's book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus attests to the fact that men and women communicate in similar ways.

Question 22

Women who work outside the home typically still do twice as much housework as their male partners.

Question 23

Development of personal brands has become so prevalent that even stay-at-home mothers are developing branding strategies by doing all of the following EXCEPT

A) creating reward structures for family members.
B) defining themselves as "family CEOs."
C) developing family "mission statements."
D) treating the family as an enterprise.

Question 24

Gender is a "difference that often makes a difference" in organized contexts.

Question 25

Stereotyping involves communication in which the communication partner racially categorizes rather than treating the other as an individual.

Question 26

Organizations attempt to control member identities by defining people according to their positions within the organization.

Question 27

Issues of identity are often value-free and have little to do with power and ideology. We simply are who we are.

Question 28

According to the text, the development of gender-equitable policies will only make gender differences in the workplace more problematic.

Question 29

Authentic communication is impossible in contemporary organizations.

Question 30

Organizational members often use identity markers, such as gender or race, to highlight differences between individuals.

Question 31

Identity work and identity regulation are essentially the same process.

Question 32

African American men and women faced communication issues routinely in their organizational interactions and adopted a variety of conversational strategies to make their workplace interactions more productive and satisfying.

Question 33

Men and women both experience the phenomenon of the second shift in fairly equal ways.

Question 34

Identity has less to do with language and action and more to do with simple genetics.

Question 35

Which of the following approaches to the study of identity and difference is grounded in feminist theorizing?

A) Identity and difference as features of the organization that influence members
B) Identity and difference as organizational practices and performances
C) Identity and difference as products of social and popular narratives
D) Identity and difference as essential or fixed aspects of the self

Question 36

The slogan "There is no I in team" most closely relates to the soldier image of identity.

Question 37

A recent study of female characters in the top grossing films of 2014 revealed chronic underrepresentation of women in leading roles, persistent gender stereotypes, and a lack of ethnic diversity.

Question 38

The organizational logic that highlights the unspoken but pervasive norm that also requires African Americans to prove to potential employers that they do not conform to racial stereotypes by adopting a "middle-class" persona is often referred to as

A) "essentialism."
B) "stack ranking."
C) authenticity.
D) "whiteness."

Question 39

Patricia Parker's research suggests that, in addition to being gendered, organizations are also

A) "raced" and "ethnicized."
B) "classed" and "ethnicized."
C) "raced" and "classed."
D) "raced" and "sexualized."

Question 40

A significant goal of many organizations is to regulate and control their members' identities. Which of the following examples of identity regulation describes how organizational communication creates and naturalizes taken-for-granted ways of doing and being?

A) Establishing and clarifying a distinct set of "rules of the game"
B) Promoting specific morals and values
C) Defining the environment
D) Providing a specific vocabulary of motives

Question 41

Chapter 7 focuses on four ways to approach the relationship between identity, difference, and organization. Outline these four approaches, and provide an example of each of them.

Question 42

Consider the concept of identity work and how it led to the seven images of identity. Select three of the seven images. Define the selected images and provide an example for each image. Conclude your essay by making a case for which image is most likely to fit the widest variety of contemporary organizations.

Question 43

Describe the concept of consumption, and explain its relevance to the study of identity and organizational communication. Be sure to include an example that illustrates your point.

Question 44

How does the work of H. L. "Bud" Goodall contribute to our understanding of organizational images of identity?

Question 45

Explain the "zone of indifference" and its relevance for the concept of authenticity in organizations.

Question 46

Using the concepts from Chapter 7 as support for your argument, take a position on the following statement: "Organizations should be gender-neutral spaces where the differences between men and women are not a part of the communication practices." Defend your position using detailed examples.

Question 47

How do social texts-such as films, books, television shows, news reports, magazines, etc.-influence how we align ourselves with our work? Provide an example to illustrate your answer.

Question 48

Explain the concept of identity, and give one example of how gendered identities are constructed.

Question 49

Describe the process of creating a personal brand. Provide an example of a personal brand that you would use to describe yourself.

Question 50

According to the text, identity regulation and identity work are two different processes. Describe what distinguishes them from one another.

Question 51

What are the benefits and drawbacks of adopting a soldier image of identity in relationship to one's organization?

Question 52

How can individuals practice authentic communication in organized contexts?

Question 53

What does it mean to have a fixed identity? What implications does this approach to identity and difference have for organizations?