Deck 14: Organizational Culture

Question 1

An organizational counterculture is a type of subculture.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Popular organizational culture models falsely presume that organizations can be identified within discrete categories.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Artifacts of organizational culture may include the building's design,the way people are greeted and the food served in the company's cafeteria.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The most accurate way to determine an organization's culture is by interviewing senior executives about their perceptions of that culture.

Question 5

The organizational cultures of most companies can be identified as mercenaries,fortresses or communes.

Question 6

An organizations' culture is usually quite fuzzy and difficult to define using simple models and surveys.

Question 7

Most organizational culture models oversimplify the diversity of cultural values in organizations.

Question 8

Researchers have estimated that most corporate cultures emphasize one of three universal values.

Question 9

Organizational countercultures can potentially help the organization maintain its ethical conduct.

Question 10

Values represent an important invisible part of an organization's culture.

Question 11

Organizational countercultures further strengthen the organization's dominant culture.

Question 12

Values represent the deepest part of an organization's culture.

Question 13

Organizational countercultures can potentially create conflict and dissension among employees.

Question 14

Shared mental models are part of an organization's culture.

Question 15

Organizational culture consists of shared enacted values,but not espoused values.

Question 16

Organizational culture consists of the values and assumptions shared within an organization which also dictates the correct way of thinking about and acting on problems and opportunities facing the organization.

Question 17

Espoused values are values proclamations.

Question 18

Artifacts refer mainly to the paintings and other tangible objects that appear throughout the organization.

Question 19

Subcultures are groups of employees whose values are opposed to the organization's dominant values.

Question 20

Organizational culture defines what is important and unimportant in the company and,consequently,directs everyone in the organization toward the "right way" of doing things.

Question 21

Ceremonies are more formal artifacts than rituals.

Question 22

Organizational stories support organizational culture by providing social prescriptions of the ways things should or should not be done around the organization.

Question 23

Organizational culture is not directly observable,but it may be loosely interpreted through visible artifacts.

Question 24

Companies with strong corporate cultures invariably have much higher performance than companies with weak cultures.

Question 25

Organizational culture is a deeply embedded form of social control that influences the thoughts and actions of organizational members.

Question 26

A strong organizational culture exists when most employees understand and accept the dominant values.

Question 27

The organization's physical structure and use of space often communicate its dominant cultural values.

Question 28

A strong organizational culture improves the firm's effectiveness only if the cultural values are aligned with its external environment.

Question 29

Language reflects an organization's dominant values but not the values of its subcultures.

Question 30

A strong corporate culture bonds employees together and makes them feel part of the organization.

Question 31

One problem with a strong organizational culture is that it increases conflict among employees within the company and makes it more difficult for them to understand each other.

Question 32

Office space and paintings hung on walls can be artifacts that symbolize the organization's culture.

Question 33

Rituals represent the organization's deliberate and usually dramatic displays of its dominant culture.

Question 34

The stronger the corporate culture,the more difficult it is for employees to bond together.

Question 35

In corporate cults,the culture is so strong that it focuses employees so much on one mental model that they may fail to see issues from different perspectives.

Question 36

In order to be effective,organizational stories must describe real people and recount true past events.

Question 37

Researchers have found that an organization's culture may be identified very easily and quickly by looking at one or two observable artifacts.

Question 38

A ritual would include how visitors are greeted as they enter the company's offices.

Question 39

A strong corporate culture exists when employees are forced to abide by a particular set of organizational values whether or not they believe in those values.

Question 40

Organizational stories are most effective at communicating corporate culture when they describe real people and seem to represent true past events.

Question 41

Organizational socialization is a process of both learning and adjustment.

Question 42

Moving a company's location from one town to another can potentially alter the organization's culture.

Question 43

The attraction-selection-attrition (ASA)theory may explain why people who don't fit the culture are often weeded out.

Question 44

Organizational culture is strengthened through transformational leaders who "walk the talk".

Question 45

Employees are more likely to quit if values incongruence is sufficiently low.

Question 46

An adaptive organizational culture is one where employees pay attention to organizational goals,not the processes to achieve those goals.

Question 47

Adaptive cultures focus employees on the changing needs of customers and other stakeholders and support initiative and leadership to keep pace with these changes.

Question 48

Organizational culture can sometimes be reshaped by applying transformational leadership and organizational change practices.

Question 49

According to the attraction-selection-attrition (ASA)theory,alignment with the company's culture is often a factor when deciding which applicant to hire.

Question 50

An organization's culture can either support or undermine ethical conduct among employees.

Question 51

Organizational culture experts generally agree that organizational culture cannot be "managed."

Question 52

Organizations with adaptive cultures are unable to maintain a stable value system and,consequently,tend to perform poorly in the long run.

Question 53

The attraction-selection-attrition (ASA)theory explains why companies are able to attract,and select people who fit the culture,but later on have difficulty forcing them out.

Question 54

Most studies have found that reward systems have little or no effect on strengthening corporate culture.

Question 55

Organizations with very strong cultures may become dysfunctional because they suppress dissenting subcultural values.

Question 56

Organizational socialization is the process of meeting other employees and spending more time with them throughout the work day.

Question 57

Companies strengthen corporate culture by selecting applicants whose values are compatible with the company's dominant values.

Question 58

New employees learn corporate culture through the process of organizational socialization.

Question 59

Most organizational behavior writers suggest that organizations are more effective when they become corporate cults.

Question 60

Corporate cults are preferred,because they help suppress subcultures within organizations.

Question 61

Compared to other strategies for merging two organizations,assimilation is most likely to result in a culture clash.

Question 62

One of the first steps in a bicultural audit is to identify the other organization's corporate culture through artifacts.

Question 63

Organizational socialization begins on the first day of employment and continues throughout one's career within the company.

Question 64

The assimilation strategy of merging corporate cultures should be applied when the acquired firm has a weak culture and is willing to embrace the acquiring company's culture.

Question 65

Nearly all of the socialization adjustment process occurs during and after the first day of work.

Question 66

The deepest element of organizational culture is:

A) values.
B) artifacts.
C) language.
D) beliefs.
E) assumptions.

Question 67

Organizational culture is best described as the basic pattern of shared:

A) assumptions, beliefs and behaviors that subconsciously guide employee thoughts and actions.
B) behaviours that employees enact to demonstrate their support for corporate goals.
C) decisions routinely occurring throughout the organization that support corporate strategies.
D) values and assumptions that directs everyone in the organization toward the "right way" of doing things.
E) rituals and ceremonies that employees enact to consummate their relationship with the organization.

Question 68

Reality shock improves the organizational socialization process by forcing newcomers to pay more attention to the realities of the workplace.

Question 69

Reality shock occurs on or before the first day of work then quickly subsides.

Question 70

Clashing corporate cultures after a merger of two firms has very little effect on the success of the merger after one or two years.

Question 71

Two companies should not merge if a bicultural audit determines that they have substantially different cultures.

Question 72

The integration strategy for combining corporate cultures usually creates conflict as employees from the acquired firm resist the cultural intrusions.

Question 73

Deculturation is the best strategy for combining corporate cultures in most mergers.

Question 74

Organizational socialization does not occur until a person becomes a member of the organization.

Question 75

During the role management stage of organizational socialization,employees are newcomers who test their pre-employment expectations with the perceived realities.

Question 76

The three stages of organizational socialization are psychological contract,confirmation,and role management.

Question 77

Organizational culture includes:

A) three universal values.
B) artifacts, values, and beliefs.
C) values, assumptions, and audits.
D) behaviours, beliefs, and budgets.
E) None of these statements is accurate.

Question 78

Reality shock occurs when you perceive a discrepancy between your pre-employment expectations and on-the-job reality.

Question 79

The assumptions,and values that direct everyone in the organization toward the "right way" of doing things are called

A) organizational culture.
B) organizational structure.
C) organizational socialization.
D) organizational politics.
E) transformational leadership.

Question 80

The separation strategy is most appropriate when the merging companies are unrelated industries.