Deck 3: The Organization and Corporate Culture

Question 1

The task environmental dimension includes all elements that occur naturally on earth, including plants, animals, rocks and natural resources such as air, water and climate.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The labour market is made up of people in the environment who can be hired to work for an organization.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Current employees, management and especially corporate culture are part of an organization's internal environment.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The outer layer, the general environment, is widely dispersed and affects organizations directly.

Question 5

The sociocultural dimension of the general environment includes societal norms and values.

Question 6

Organizations must manage environmental uncertainty to be effective.

Question 7

In China, business tends to be more personal.

Question 8

Customers and competitors are two important sectors of the economic dimension of a firm's general environment.

Question 9

Toyota's response to events like the global economic downturn and the deadly tsunami in Japan was to create a more efficiency driven culture with their focus turned to improve their internal environment instead of outward.

Question 10

McDonalds, Burger King and KFC are competitors since all three sell fast food to individuals.

Question 11

The general environment and the task environment are the two layers of an organization's external environment.

Question 12

One of the rules of doing business in China is remembering that relationships are short-term.

Question 13

The international dimension of the external environment represents events originating in foreign countries as well as opportunities for companies in other countries.

Question 14

The economic dimension of the general environment includes consumer purchasing power.

Question 15

The technological dimension of the external environment includes scientific and technological advancements in a specific industry as well as in society at large.

Question 16

If Johnson Lumber provides trees for Westvaco Paper Manufacturing, then Johnson Lumber is considered a supplier for Westvaco.

Question 17

Recently, there has been strong concern about climate change such as global warming caused by greenhouse gases, most notably carbon dioxide.

Question 18

Customers are the people and organizations in the environment who acquire goods or services from the organization.

Question 19

The raw materials that organizations use to produce its outputs are provided by customers.

Question 20

Labour market forces affecting organizations right now include the growing need for computer-literate knowledge workers and the necessity for continuous investment in human resources through recruitment, education and training.

Question 21

Physical symbols are associated with the surface level of organizational culture.

Question 22

In determining what cultural values are important for the organization, managers should consider the external environment as well as the company's strategy and goals.

Question 23

An achievement culture is found in an environment that is dynamic and requires high-risk decision-making.

Question 24

A political lobbyist for General Motors fills an essential boundary-spanning role.

Question 25

A joint venture involves a strategic alliance or program by two or more organizations.

Question 26

More organizations are requiring all employees to perform boundary-spanning because environmental shifts can happen quickly.

Question 27

Given the increasing environmental uncertainty, managers in partnering organizations are shifting from a partnership orientation to an adversarial orientation.

Question 28

An example of part of the legal-political dimension of the general environment is a government's report on the decline of unemployment rate.

Question 29

A ceremony is a planned activity at a special event that is conducted for the benefit of an audience.

Question 30

Culture can be defined as the ability to speak different languages.

Question 31

Due to the stable environment and lack of technological change, mergers and joint ventures rarely occur in the US.

Question 32

Competitive intelligence professionals are really just in-house snoops who obtain information about rival companies.

Question 33

A results-oriented culture that values competitiveness, aggressiveness, personal initiative and willingness to work long and hard to achieve results is called the achievement culture.

Question 34

In adaptive cultures, managers are concerned with customers and processes that bring about useful change.

Question 35

The set of key values, beliefs and norms, that are shared by members of an organization are combined to create the symbols of an organization.

Question 36

A narrative based on events within the organization that is frequently repeated is called an organizational story.

Question 37

The mythical sales representative at Robinson Jewellers who delivered a wedding ring directly to the church because the ring had been ordered late is an example of a hero.

Question 38

Economic problems in other parts of the world have a tremendous impact on international companies.

Question 39

A phrase or sentence that succinctly expresses a key corporate value is called a story.

Question 40

Cultural values in organizations are rarely observed.

Question 41

Quadrant A represents organizations that are focused primarily on bottom-line results and pay little attention to organizational values.

Question 42

Lying at the heart of Chinese culture, _____ can be a supportive, mutually beneficial connection between two people.

A) kaizen
B) ganqing
C) renqing
D) kansei
E) guanxi

Question 43

Anyone considering doing business in China should keep in mind all of the following rules except _____.

A) business is always personal
B) don't skip the small talk
C) remember that relationships are not short-term
D) be very efficient with use of their time
E) make contact frequently

Question 44

Which of these is NOT a part of an organization's general environment?

A) Technological
B) Economic
C) Competitors
D) Legal-political
E) Sociocultural

Question 45

All of these are a part of an organization's task environment except _____.

A) customers
B) labour markets
C) competitors
D) employers
E) suppliers

Question 46

In today's business environment, most companies operate in a stable and rigid environment.

Question 47

Corporate culture plays a key role in creating an organizational climate that enables learning and innovative responses to threats from the external environment, challenging new opportunities or organizational crises.

Question 48

The _____ of the external environment represents events originating in foreign countries as well as opportunities for Chinese SOEs in other countries.

A) customer relationships dimension
B) legal-political dimension
C) international dimension
D) sociocultural dimension
E) technological dimension

Question 49

When an organization pays little attention to cultural values and instead focuses on business results, success will be difficult to sustain in the long run.

Question 50

The environments in which businesses operate are increasingly _____, requiring managers to be ready to react and respond to even subtle environmental shifts.

A) static
B) universal
C) constant
D) dynamic
E) traditional

Question 51

The internal environment within which managers work includes all of the following except _____.

A) corporate culture
B) production technology
C) organization structure
D) physical facilities
E) labour market

Question 52

_____ includes all elements existing outside the boundary of the organization that have the potential to affect the organization.

A) Organizational environment
B) Internal environment
C) Task environment
D) General environment
E) Technological environment

Question 53

In a high performance culture, organizations put high emphasis on both culture and solid business performance as drivers of organizational success.

Question 54

Which of the following rules is about forging an emotional bond?

A) Don't omit small talk.
B) Business is always personal.
C) Remember that relationships are not short-term.
D) Make contact frequently.
E) Be efficient with use of time.

Question 55

The _____ represents people in the environment who can be hired to work for the organization.

A) competitors
B) labour market
C) suppliers
D) customers
E) government

Question 56

The cultural leader articulates a vision for the organizational culture that employees can believe in and that generates excitement.

Question 57

Companies in Quadrant D put high emphasis on both culture and solid business performance as drivers of organizational success.

Question 58

The consistency culture has an external focus and a consistency orientation for a dynamic environment.

Question 59

The _____ environment represents the outer layer of the environment and affects organizations _____.

A) task; indirectly
B) general; directly
C) internal; directly
D) internal; indirectly
E) general; indirectly

Question 60

Scientific and technological advancements in a specific industry as well as in society at large are included in which general environment dimension?

A) Sociocultural dimension
B) Legal-political dimension
C) Economic dimension
D) Technological dimension
E) Corporate culture dimension

Question 61

The _____ dimension of the general environment includes federal, state, and local government regulations.

A) technological
B) legal-political
C) economic
D) sociocultural
E) international

Question 62

Which of the following is NOT a part of adapting the organization to changes in the environment for coping with high environmental uncertainty?

A) Boundary-spanning roles
B) Harvesting
C) Mergers/joint ventures
D) Interorganizational partnerships
E) All of these are a part of organizational response in adapting the organization to changes in the environment.

Question 63

Based on the notion that organizations are dealing with a very turbulent and uncertain external environment, more organizations are requiring _____ to perform boundary-spanning activities.

A) top leaders
B) middle managers
C) line managers
D) all employees
E) suppliers

Question 64

The general environment dimension that includes consumer purchasing power, the unemployment rate and interest rates is called the:

A) Legal-political dimension
B) Sociocultural dimension
C) Technological dimension
D) Economic dimension
E) Task dimension

Question 65

Three large electronics companies have recently collaborated to develop an innovative new mobile phone. This is an example of which managerial trend?

A) Outsourcing
B) Interorganizational partnerships
C) Adversarial orientation
D) Mergers
E) Boundary spanning

Question 66

Which of the following roles are assumed by people and/or departments that link and coordinate the organization with key elements in the external environment?

A) Figurehead
B) Liaison
C) Boundary-spanning
D) Disturbance handler
E) Leader

Question 67

Which of the following dimensions of the general environment includes all elements that occur naturally on earth?

A) Sociocultural dimension
B) Technological dimension
C) Economic dimension
D) Natural dimension
E) Environmental dimension

Question 68

Which dimension of the general environment represents the demographic characteristics, norms, customs and values of the population within which the organization operates?

A) Legal-political dimension
B) Economic dimension
C) Technological dimension
D) Corporate culture dimension
E) Sociocultural dimension

Question 69

A government inspection has required your company to upgrade the safety equipment in the manufacturing process of an ice cream factory. What dimension of the external environment has influenced these upgrades?

A) Technological
B) Legal-political
C) Task
D) Sociocultural
E) Economic

Question 70

The level of corporate culture which cannot be seen but can be discerned from how people explain and justify what they do is:

A) invisible artifacts.
B) expressed values and beliefs.
C) slogans and ceremonies.
D) dress and office layout.
E) None of these.

Question 71

Companies can reduce boundaries and increase collaboration with other organizations by creating:

A) flexible structures.
B) more open innovation.
C) new company cultures.
D) new supplier connections.
E) None of these.

Question 72

In the current external business environment, which of the following is more true?

A) Corporate culture defines success
B) The business environment is static
C) Companies are more adversarial than ever before
D) High Tech IPOs are prevalent in many regions
E) Joint ventures are on the rise

Question 73

The level of corporate culture in which values are so deeply embedded that members are no longer consciously aware of them is:

A) invisible artifacts.
B) expressed values and beliefs.
C) an explicit code of conduct.
D) dress and office layout.
E) slogans and ceremonies.

Question 74

_____ means that managers do not have sufficient information about environmental factors to understand and predict environmental needs and changes.

A) Adaptation
B) Risk
C) Uncertainty
D) Knowledge
E) Education

Question 75

An organization's _____ is a part of its internal environment.

A) customers
B) salesforce
C) consumer price index
D) suppliers
E) competitors

Question 76

_____ is an approach to boundary spanning which results from using sophisticated software to search through large amounts of internal and external data to spot patterns, trends, and relationships that might be significant.

A) Merger intelligence
B) Business Analytics
C) Competitive intelligence
D) Partnership intelligence
E) Environment intelligence

Question 77

In response to pressure from environmental advocates, organizations have become increasingly sensitive to diminishing:

A) natural resources.
B) economic resources.
C) financial resources.
D) human resources.
E) technology resources.

Question 78

_____ environment consists of demographic factors, such as population density.

A) Technological
B) Sociocultural
C) Legal-political
D) Internal
E) Economic

Question 79

Culture can be defined as:

A) the set of key values, beliefs, understandings and norms shared by members of an organization.
B) the ability to speak different languages.
C) an object, act, or event that conveys meaning to others.
D) a narrative based on true events that is repeated frequently and shared by organizational employees.
E) None of these.

Question 80

When two or more organizations combine to become integrated, this is referred to as a:

A) joint venture.
B) flexible structure.
C) mechanistic structure.
D) merger.
E) inorganic venture.