Deck 1: Making Ob Work for Me

Question 1

Among the four skills most desired by employers are active listening and critical thinking.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Employees' knowledge and technical skills are enough to solve business problems.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The greatest benefit of a college education is developing problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Hard skills include our expertise in human interactions.

Question 5

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

Question 6

The "knowing-doing gap" identifies the gap between what people know and what they actually do.

Question 7

Organizations invest in employees' human capital by building their skills, motivating them, and providing opportunities for them.

Question 8

A contingency approach is about knowing which OB tools to use and under what circumstances.

Question 9

To be effective in organizations, a person should do what is appropriate given the situation.

Question 10

As a person rises to higher levels of an organization, technical skills become more important and personal skills become less important.

Question 11

Organizations who invest in employees' human capital tend to have higher turnover but improved financial outcomes.

Question 12

Part of being effective is understanding your own preferences and habits and questioning them.

Question 13

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

Question 14

According to a Fortune survey, business leaders generally find new employees to be well-prepared for success in business.

Question 15

Human capital is the productive potential of an individual's knowledge, skills, and experiences.

Question 16

Hard skills are not important in organizations.

Question 17

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

Question 18

Organizational behavior describes an interdisciplinary field dedicated to understanding and managing people at work.

Question 19

A contingency approach calls for using OB concepts and tools as the "one best way" to manage.

Question 20

It is likely that you will experience 10 or fewer jobs in your career.

Question 21

Ethics is concerned with right versus wrong, good versus bad, and the many shades of gray in between.

Question 22

Revealing information to management or to the authorities about unethical behavior in an organization is called ethical problem solving.

Question 23

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

Question 24

Research has shown that when newly hired workers develop social capital with their team members, they tended to be more satisfied with their jobs but were slower to learn their responsibilities.

Question 25

One way an employer can build social capital is to provide mentoring.

Question 26

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

Question 27

One way an employer can build social capital is job rotation.

Question 28

Unethical behavior is always caused by people who are evil.

Question 29

Problem solving is the systematic process of closing gaps between actual and desired situations.

Question 30

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

Question 31

Your potential for social capital lies in your relationships with other people.

Question 32

Social capital includes an employee's confidence and self-esteem.

Question 33

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."

Question 34

Social capital is the productive potential of an individual's knowledge, skills, and experiences.

Question 35

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

Question 36

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

Question 37

Our tendency to overlook the unethical behavior of another when it's in our interest to remain ignorant is called "the slippery slope."

Question 38

The first step in problem solving is to identify the concepts or theories that should be used to solve the problem.

Question 39

All unethical acts are illegal.

Question 40

One essential factor in being effective in organizations is self-awareness.

Question 41

The greatest benefit of your education is developing:

A) Technical expertise
B) Self-awareness
C) Problem-solving skills
D) An ethical perspective
E) Business knowledge

Question 42

Which of the following statements is false?

A) The contingency approach is just common sense
B) Common sense excels in well-known scenarios with predictable outcomes
C) Common sense requires less effort than finding the real problem
D) Common sense can be overly subjective
E) Common sense is weak in unexpected situations

Question 43

The idea that a manager should use OB concepts and tools that are situationally appropriate is known as:

A) The contingency approach
B) Systems theory
C) Environmental theory
D) Ethics
E) Human capital theory

Question 44

Which of the following is not one of the top four skills desired by employers?

A) Teamwork
B) Critical thinking
C) Problem solving
D) Judgment and decision making
E) Active listening

Question 45

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

Question 46

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

Question 47

The productive potential of an individual's knowledge, skills, and experiences is known as:

A) Human capital
B) Social capital
C) Ethical capital
D) Credibility
E) Soft skills

Question 48

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

Question 49

How many of the top four skills desired by managers for the top 10 jobs in 2013 are "hard skills"?

A) None
B) One
C) Two
D) Three
E) All

Question 50

Which of the following fields is not a field from which OB draws?

A) Political Science
B) Accounting
C) Statistics
D) Economics
E) Vocational Counseling

Question 51

Research has shown that on average, the younger segment of the baby-boomer generation is likely to have held about _______ jobs in their lifetime.

A) 1
B) 2
C) 5
D) 10
E) 25

Question 52

Which of the following is not a soft skill?

A) Active listening
B) Financial analysis
C) Problem solving
D) Decision making
E) Critical thinking

Question 53

OB includes all but one of the following. Which one?

A) Managing yourself
B) Managing peers
C) Managing bosses
D) Managing subordinates
E) All of the above are included in OB

Question 54

Environments are dynamic-they change-but people are static.

Question 55

OB looks at the world at three levels: individual, group, and organizational.

Question 56

Soft skills are:

A) Less valuable than hard skills
B) Needed to interact with, influence, and perform with others
C) Not relevant to jobs above first-level supervision
D) Not portable, that is, they can't be carried from one job to the next
E) Useful only in the middle and late stages of a career

Question 57

The contingency approach suggests that:

A) There is one best way to manage
B) OB theories apply to all situations
C) A manager needs to learn a set of hard-and-fast rules
D) The best answer depends on the situation
E) Management practices from the past can be applied to today's situations

Question 58

Regarding the relative importance of personal and technical skills:

A) They remain equal and this does not change throughout careers
B) Technical skills are more important regardless of job level
C) Personal skills are more important regardless of job level
D) Technical skills become more important as job level increases
E) Personal skills become more important as job level increases

Question 59

In being hired for a job, the most important factor is likely to be _____, but to be promoted, a person needs _______.

A) Hard skills; soft skills
B) Soft skills; hard skills
C) Hard skills; technical skills
D) Soft skills; team skills
E) Team skills; technical skills

Question 60

The interdisciplinary field dedicated to understanding and managing people at work is called:

A) Management theory
B) Management dynamics
C) Organizational behavior
D) Organizational dynamics
E) Organizational theory

Question 61

In an ethical dilemma,

A) There are two choices, neither of which resolves the situation in an ethically acceptable manner.
B) There are two choices, either of which resolves the situation in an ethically acceptable manner.
C) There are two choices, one of which resolves the situation in an ethically acceptable manner.
D) There is only one choice.
E) There are no choices.

Question 62

In social capital, the focus shifts from the _________ to the ____________.

A) Individual; organization
B) Individual; environment
C) Individual; social unit
D) Organization; individual
E) Social units; individual

Question 63

When we overlook an unethical behavior of another when it's in our interest to remain ignorant, this is called:

A) Ill-conceived goals
B) Motivated blindness
C) Indirect blindness
D) The slippery slope
E) Overvaluing outcomes

Question 64

Ethics is primarily concerned with:

A) Right and wrong
B) Legal and illegal
C) Moral and immoral
D) Religious and nonreligious
E) Public and nonpublic

Question 65

Pascal is a customer service representative who handles phone inquiries. He has a goal of handling 12 calls per hour. When he gets a customer with a complex situation, he tends to become short with that person to keep the call short. This is an example of:

A) Ill-conceived goals
B) Motivated blindness
C) Indirect blindness
D) The slippery slope
E) Overvaluing outcomes

Question 66

A person can build his/her social capital by:

A) Being trained in new skills
B) Getting a mentor
C) Shadowing a higher-level manager
D) Learning a new language
E) Identifying new career opportunities outside the organization

Question 67

Which of the following is not a form of human capital?

A) Initiative
B) Reputation
C) Adaptability
D) Trust
E) Experience

Question 68

Auditors at XYZ Company accept a client firm's questionable financial statements when the infractions have occurred over time. This is an example of:

A) Ill-conceived goals
B) Motivated blindness
C) Indirect blindness
D) The slippery slope
E) Overvaluing outcomes

Question 69

Which of the following is a form of social capital?

A) Status
B) Reputation
C) Knowledge, skills, and abilities
D) Experience
E) Vision

Question 70

When we set goals and incentives to promote a desired behavior, but they encourage a negative one, the cause of the resulting unethical behavior is called:

A) Ill-conceived goals
B) Motivated blindness
C) Indirect blindness
D) The slippery slope
E) Overvaluing outcomes

Question 71

Knowing who you are and what you want is known as:

A) Self-esteem
B) Self-efficacy
C) Self-awareness
D) Self-disclosure
E) Self-assessment

Question 72

Social capital is:

A) The productive potential of an individual's knowledge, skills and experiences
B) Concerned with a person's reputation
C) The productive potential resulting from social responsibility
D) Composed of education and experience
E) The productive potential resulting from relationships, goodwill, trust, and cooperative effort

Question 73

Harriet saw Josephine cheating on a test in their OB class. However, she did not report this because Josephine is on her team in the class and she feared that Josephine might be kicked out of the class and that this would hurt her team's chances of doing well on their project. Harriet is experiencing:

A) Ill-conceived goals
B) Motivated blindness
C) Indirect blindness
D) The slippery slope
E) Overvaluing outcomes

Question 74

A person who reports unethical behavior in his/her organization to management and/or the authorities is called a:

A) Ethicist
B) Whistleblower
C) Traitor
D) Mole
E) Deviant

Question 75

Research shows that, in general:

A) Social capital decreases organizational performance
B) Social capital can improve operations
C) Social capital decreases work group integration
D) Social capital increases group conflict
E) Social capital can decrease job satisfaction

Question 76

Which of the following statements is true?

A) Human capital is more important than social capital
B) Social capital is more important than human capital
C) Human and social capital are both extremely important
D) Neither human nor social capital are very important
E) Research has not studied this topic, so no one knows how important either form of capital is

Question 77

A person can build his/her human capital by:

A) Attending conferences
B) Joining professional organizations
C) Assessing his/her strengths and weaknesses
D) Joining the company softball team
E) Engaging in a mentoring relationship

Question 78

Sustainable businesses tend to be run by CEOs who are:

A) Intelligent
B) Controlling
C) Target-driven
D) People-centered
E) Egotistical

Question 79

When we are less able to see other's unethical behavior because it has developed gradually, this is called:

A) Ill-conceived goals
B) Motivated blindness
C) Indirect blindness
D) The slippery slope
E) Overvaluing outcomes

Question 80

When we hold others less accountable for unethical behavior when it's carried out through third parties, this is called:

A) Ill-conceived goals
B) Motivated blindness
C) Indirect blindness
D) The slippery slope
E) Overvaluing outcomes