Deck 12: Organization Culture and Change

Question 1

The observable culture is visible and readily apparent at the surface of every organization.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The organizational culture is what you see and hear when walking around an organization as a visitor, a customer, or an employee.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Corporate culture and organizational culture refer to two entirely different phenomena.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Enterprising cultures emphasize collaboration and trust according to LeadershipIQ's description of common organizational cultures.

Question 5

Socialization is the process through which new members learn the culture of an organization.

Question 6

Organizational culture is usually described from the perspective of two levels-the external level and the internal level.

Question 7

Elements of the observable culture include stories, heroes, rites and rituals, and symbols.

Question 8

Oral histories and tales about dramatic sagas and incidents in the life of the organization reflect the symbols element of observable culture.

Question 9

Elements of the observable culture include strategy, performance, structure, and worker involvement.

Question 10

As part of the observable culture of an organization, norms are the ceremonies and meetings that celebrate important occasions and performance accomplishments.

Question 11

The best organizations with strong cultures will likely have a performance orientation, encourage teamwork, encourage risk taking, encourage innovation, and make the well-being of people a top management priority.

Question 12

Organizational culture can have a big impact on performance through its influence on employees and customers.

Question 13

A strong corporate culture helps an organization ensure market domination and strong profits.

Question 14

Collaboration is the process of helping new members learn the cultures and values of the organization.

Question 15

Organizational culture is the system of shared beliefs and values that develops within an organization and guides the behaviour of its members.

Question 16

The observable culture and the core culture represent two levels of organizational culture.

Question 17

According to LeadershipIQ, a team culture is the most spontaneous type of organizational culture.

Question 18

Organizational performance and effectiveness are not related to organizational culture.

Question 19

The culture of an organization has the potential to shape attitudes and reinforce common beliefs but does not direct behaviour nor establish performance expectations and the motivation to fulfill them.

Question 20

Heroes are the people who are singled out for special attention in an organization's observable culture.

Question 21

Since people come from different ethnic and social backgrounds, there is no relationship between diversity and organizational culture.

Question 22

Race and gender are the only diversity dimensions that are relevant to the workplace.

Question 23

In a truly multicultural organization, the organizational culture communicates and supports core values that respect and empower the full diversity of its members.

Question 24

The special use of language and other nonverbal expressions to communicate important aspects of corporate life are the stories of observable organizational culture.

Question 25

The foundation for ethnocentrism is respect for the full value of human beings.

Question 26

The organization's core values are underlying assumptions and beliefs that influence the behaviour of organization members and actually contribute to elements of the observable culture.

Question 27

Value-based management will succeed when the core values support key performance objectives and provide clear, consistent ethical anchors, even though the values are not clearly understood nor accepted by everyone.

Question 28

In strong cultures, the core values are constantly changing in order to adapt to changes within the organization and in the external environment.

Question 29

The core values are an observable part of the corporate culture that focus on customer service, innovation, and organizational structure.

Question 30

Core values are beliefs and values shared by organization members.

Question 31

Diversity describes differences among people at work.

Question 32

All managers and team leaders working at any level of the organization are responsible for value-based management.

Question 33

Since the corporate culture is shaped by top management, managers and team leaders have little responsibility for using value-based management.

Question 34

Value-based management refers to managers who actively help develop, communicate, and enact shared values within an organization.

Question 35

Highly successful companies typically focus on the core values performance excellence, innovation, social responsibility, integrity, worker involvement, customer service, and teamwork.

Question 36

Leaders at every level need to promote core values and take responsibility for supporting individual and group performance objectives.

Question 37

According to R. Roosevelt Thomas, increased diversity reduces both organizational complexity and uncertainty.

Question 38

Core values commonly express the norms of an organization and focus on a set of beliefs concerning appropriate forms of conduct.

Question 39

The advantages of diversity are gained only when diversity is leveraged through training and supportive human resource practices.

Question 40

Workplace spirituality refers to inclusiveness, pluralism, and respect for diversity in the workplace.

Question 41

Occupational subcultures refer to people who develop strong identities with their work groups and specific areas of task responsibilities.

Question 42

Multiculturalism refers to inclusivity, pluralism, and the respect for diversity in the workplace.

Question 43

The glass ceiling leads to the leaking pipeline problem.

Question 44

Socialism is the belief that one's membership group or subculture is superior to all others.

Question 45

Sexual harassment and pay discrimination are two of the possible challenges that are often faced by the majority group in an organization.

Question 46

A multicultural organization is characterized by pluralism, structural integration, informal network integration, absence of prejudice and discrimination, and minimum intergroup conflict.

Question 47

Generational subcultures reflect gaps that exist between people who grew up and are growing up during different periods of history, and whose values have thus evolved under different influences.

Question 48

Minority members face special economic and work challenges, and these challenges are not always highly visible because more workforce diversity is likely to exist at the top of most organizations than at lower and middle levels.

Question 49

The glass ceiling refers to a hidden barrier in some organizations that limits the advancement of women and minorities.

Question 50

Ethnocentrism can creep into organizations and adversely affect the way people relate to one another.

Question 51

In the context of leaking pipeline problem, decisions of high-performing women to drop out of upward-tracking career paths are not always based on outright gender prejudice.

Question 52

In the context of organizational culture, inclusivity refers to the degree to which the organization is open to anyone who can perform a job, regardless of his or her race, sexual preference, gender, or other diversity attribute.

Question 53

Occupational and functional subcultures are formed among people who work together and have roots in the same cultural community, country, or region of the world.

Question 54

Functional subcultures are composed of "salaried professionals" such as lawyers, scientists, engineers, and accountants.

Question 55

Multicultural organizations are based on pluralism and operate with inclusivity and respect for diversity, thereby valuing the talents, ideas, and creative potential of all organization members.

Question 56

According to R. Roosevelt Thomas, increased diversity does not automatically create competitive advantage or result in higher levels of performance.

Question 57

The leaking pipeline problem gives an advantage to advancement by women and minorities in organizations.

Question 58

Ethnic subcultures or national subcultures are formed among persons who share the same skills and work responsibilities.

Question 59

Gender subcultures reflect differences in the values and beliefs of women and men.

Question 60

The daily work challenges that can be faced by minority subcultures in organizations include misunderstandings, lack of sensitivity, sexual harassment, pay discrimination, and job discrimination.

Question 61

Change leaders are threatened by change; status quo managers are confident of their ability.

Question 62

Change leaders wait for things to happen; status quo managers make things happen.

Question 63

Bottom-up change initiatives are necessary to build institutional capability for sustainable change and organizational learning.

Question 64

Valuing diversity is a leadership approach in which leaders commit to changing the organizational culture to empower and include all people.

Question 65

Top-down change occurs when senior managers initiate changes with the goal of having a comprehensive impact on the organization and its performance capabilities.

Question 66

Bottom-up change occurs when the initiatives for change come from any and all parts of the organization, not just top management.

Question 67

The basic building block of a diversity mature organization is the absence of a glass ceiling.

Question 68

Bottom-up change tries to tap into ideas and initiative at lower organizational levels and lets them percolate upward.

Question 69

Existence of biculturalism in an organization implies fear of discrimination among organizational subcultures.

Question 70

Change leaders are willing to take risks; status quo managers are bothered by uncertainty.

Question 71

Philomena's organization employs many older, disabled, and minority group workers. Philomena wants to create a workplace environment that enables all employees to reach their full potential. Philomena is committed to managing diversity.

Question 72

Top-down change can be implemented effectively through the use of force because it is likely to produce substantial commitment to change.

Question 73

Affirmative action is a leadership approach to diversity in which the leaders commit the organization to hiring and advancing minorities and women.

Question 74

A change leader is a change agent who takes leadership responsibility for changing the existing pattern of behaviour of another person or social system.

Question 75

Biculturalism occurs when members of minority cultures display majority culture characteristics that seem to be necessary for success in the workplace.

Question 76

A status quo leader is a change leader who is forward-looking, proactive, supportive of new ideas, and open to criticism.

Question 77

In the context of change leadership, innovation is embraced by status quo managers.

Question 78

High involvement management is the process of building an organizational culture that allows all members, minorities and women included, to reach their full potential.

Question 79

Managing diversity is an approach wherein leadership commits the organization to education and training programs designed to help people better understand and respect individual differences.

Question 80

Valuing diversity, managing diversity, and affirmative action are three leadership approaches to diversity. Of these three approaches, affirmative action is the one that offers the most value with respect to establishing competitive advantage.