Deck 1: The Nature of Leadership

Question 1

The numerous definitions of leadership ________.

A) are almost identical
B) overlap a great deal
C) have nothing in common
D) differ in many respects

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What level of leadership processes is emphasized in most theories of effective leadership?

A) intra-individual
B) dyadic
C) group
D) organizational

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which is the LEAST accurate statement about the outcomes of leadership actions?

A) Immediate and delayed outcomes are usually consistent with each other.
B) Immediate outcomes are easier to predict than end-result outcomes.
C) Immediate and delayed outcomes are usually interrelated in complex causal chains.
D) End-result outcomes are less useful as criteria of leadership effectiveness.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Most of the leadership theory and research has described ________ leadership.

A) direct
B) ethical
C) informal
D) toxic

Question 5

A theory that identifies the essential behaviors for any type of leader is best classified as ________.

A) descriptive and universal
B) prescriptive and universal
C) descriptive and situational
D) prescriptive and situational

Question 6

What aspect of leadership has been emphasized most often in leadership theories and research during the past half century?

A) leader traits and skills
B) leadership behavior
C) leader power and authority
D) the leadership situation

Question 7

Researchers who view leadership as a ________ are more likely to pay attention to the attributes that determine selection of designated leaders.

A) shared influence process
B) specialized role
C) group engagement activity
D) function that jeopardizes the effectiveness of the group

Question 8

On which assumption do most definitions of leadership agree?

A) Deliberate influence is exercised over other people.
B) Influence over others is to be avoided.
C) Influence should be exerted to punish, not to motivate.
D) People cannot be influenced to do something they do not wish to do.

Question 9

Most leadership theories emphasize ________.

A) leader characteristics
B) follower characteristics
C) both leader and follower characteristics
D) characteristics of the leadership situation

Question 10

A theory that describes how changes by top management in the structure and culture of an organization affect the behavior of employees is best described as a ________ theory.

A) prescriptive
B) hierarchical
C) multi-level
D) complexity

Question 11

Which statement about leaders and managers is MOST accurate according to Yukl?

A) Managers and leaders are different types of people.
B) Managing and leading are mutually exclusive and unrelated.
C) Managing is not important for effective leadership.
D) Leadership is important for the success of most managers.

Question 12

Definitions of leadership ________.

A) are usually derived by systematic observation of leaders
B) are only minor variations of the same general description
C) are important for designing and interpreting research
D) are pointless because there is no basis for their verification

Question 13

What is the best explanation for so many different definitions of leadership?

A) scholarly nitpicking about trivial issues
B) disagreement about what should be included in the definition
C) little opportunity for rigorous scientific analysis
D) leadership is a very old topic with centuries of definitions

Question 14

A leadership theory that describes relationships among leader traits, behavior, influence processes, outcomes, and situational variables is best classified as ________.

A) descriptive
B) integrative
C) comprehensive
D) universal

Question 15

What process is emphasized in the definition of leadership proposed by Yukl?

A) influencing followers to have complete trust in the leader
B) motivating followers to do more than they initially expected
C) empowering each follower to become self reliant
D) facilitating collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives

Question 16

The differences among the various definitions of leadership ________.

A) are nothing more than scholarly nit-picking
B) merely express the same criteria in different terminology
C) reflect deep disagreement about the identification of leaders and leadership processes
D) reject the assumption that it is a process in which intention influence is exerted over other people

Question 17

A theory that emphasizes leader traits and skills as determinants of leadership behavior is best categorized at what level?

A) individual
B) dyadic
C) group
D) organizational

Question 18

Leadership effectiveness is best assessed ________.

A) by evaluations from the leader's boss
B) by subordinate evaluations of the leader
C) by a variety of subjective and objective criteria
D) by objective indicators of group performance

Question 19

A theory that explains the most effective pattern of leadership behavior in a specified situation is best classified as ________.

A) descriptive
B) prescriptive
C) universal
D) comprehensive

Question 20

What is the most common element in definitions of leadership?

A) Leadership is an authority relationship.
B) Leadership is the ability to make good decisions.
C) Leadership is an attribution made by followers.
D) Leadership is an influence process.

Question 21

Which question is NOT related to follower attitudes and perceptions of the leader?

A) How well does the leader satisfy the needs and expectations of followers?
B) Do followers perceive the leader to have high integrity?
C) Has the leader increased the productivity of the followers?
D) Do followers trust the leader?

Question 22

Conceptions of leader effectiveness ________.

A) are based on the same criteria
B) differ from one writer to another
C) have nothing in common
D) do not reflect effectiveness in terms of the consequences of influence

Question 23

Which of the following is an example of indirect leadership?

A) emailing
B) texting
C) presenting a speech
D) cascading

Question 24

The conceptualization of leadership should include ________ processes.

A) neither rational nor emotional
B) both rational and emotional
C) rational but not emotional
D) emotional but not rational

Question 25

Market share is an example of a(n) ________ measure of performance.

A) ineffective
B) objective
C) subjective
D) relative

Question 26

Should the domain of leadership processes to study be limited by the leader's intended purpose?

A) No, because acts of leadership have multiple motives, and it is seldom possible to determine the extent to which they are selfless rather than selfish.
B) Yes, because leadership only occurs when people are influenced to do what is ethical and beneficial for the organization and themselves.
C) No, because the actions of a leader are never more detrimental than beneficial for followers.
D) Yes, because actions motivated solely by a leader's personal needs cannot result in unintended benefits for followers.

Question 27

________ leadership is the term used to describe how a chief executive can influence people at lower levels in the organization who do have immediate contact with the leader.

A) Direct
B) Indirect
C) Specialized role
D) Influence process

Question 28

In this text, the terms leader, ________ are used interchangeably to refer to people who occupy positions in which they are expected to perform the leadership role, but without any assumptions about their actual behavior or success.

A) manager, and boss
B) subordinate, and manager
C) subordinate, and direct report
D) staff, and boss

Question 29

In this text, leadership is treated as ________.

A) a specialized role but not a social influence process
B) a social influence process but not a specialized role
C) both a social influence process but not a specialized role
D) neither a specialized role nor a social influence process

Question 30

The ethical use of power ________.

A) should not limit the definition of leadership
B) must restrict the type of influence processes that researchers study
C) is not of concern to most leadership scholars
D) is not a legitimate concern

Question 31

Follower attitudes and perceptions of the leader are ________.

A) not a common indicator of effectiveness
B) usually measured with questionnaires or interviews
C) calculated using sales data
D) impossible to measure

Question 32

Which of the following would be MOST relevant to measuring the extent to which a person has had a successful career as a leader?

A) A leader enhances group cohesiveness.
B) A leader has a rapid ascent to positions of higher authority.
C) A leader decreases costs in relation to budgeted expenditures.
D) A leader improves the quality of work life for followers.

Question 33

Researchers who consider leadership to be an influence process that occurs within a societal system, diffused among the members, ________.

A) posit that leadership is best studied as a specialized role
B) suggest that leadership may only be exhibited informally
C) believe it is more useful to study leadership as a pattern of relationships
D) contend that leadership is important for the success of most managers

Question 34

Which is an example of a subjective measure of performance?

A) net profits
B) return on investment
C) rating obtained from the leader's superiors
D) costs in relation to budgeted expenditures

Question 35

In the text, the term ________ is used to describe a person who acknowledges the focal leader as the primary source of guidance about the work, regardless of how much formal authority the leader actually has over the person.

A) subordinate
B) partner
C) outsider
D) follower

Question 36

Which question concerns measuring leader effectiveness in terms of the leaders' contribution to the quality of group processes, as perceived by followers or outside observers?

A) Do followers like, respect, and admire the leader?
B) Have sales figures achieved by followers increased during the leader's tenure?
C) Are followers likely to resist or subvert the leader's requests?
D) Does the leader contribute to the efficiency of role specialization?

Question 37

Which statement is true in the context of the ongoing controversy about the distinction between management and leadership?

A) A person cannot be a leader without being a manager.
B) A person cannot have the job title "manager" without at least one subordinate to lead.
C) There is clear agreement on the area of overlap between management and leadership.
D) Leadership can be viewed as one of several managerial roles.

Question 38

Most behavioral scientists and practitioners ________.

A) dispute that leadership is a useful scientific construct
B) agree completely on the definition of leadership
C) have lost interest in the subject of leadership
D) believe that leadership is a real and important phenomenon

Question 39

Which is true of the body of thinking that views leadership as a specialized role?

A) It suggests that a person in the group cannot perform both leader and follower roles at the same time.
B) It distinguishes between leader and follower roles.
C) It does not consider the effects of the leader's behavior on other members of the group.
D) Less attention is paid to the typical behavior of designated leaders.

Question 40

Until the 1980s, few theories of leadership recognized the importance of ________ as a basis for influence.

A) reason
B) emotion
C) monetary gain
D) prestige

Question 41

The ________ approach began in the early 1950s after many researchers became discouraged with the ________ approach and began to pay closer attention to what managers actually do on the job.

A) behavior; trait
B) power-influence; situational
C) trait; behavior
D) situational; power-influence

Question 42

The ________ result of an influence attempt is whether followers are willing to do what the leader asks, but a(n) ________ effect is how well followers actually perform the assignment.

A) immediate; delayed
B) delayed; immediate
C) follower; leader
D) leader; follower

Question 43

________ is an example of the "characteristics of the situation" key variable.

A) Skills and expertise
B) National cultural values
C) Influence tactics
D) Task commitment and effort

Question 44

Most leadership theories emphasize ________ as the primary basis for explaining effective leadership.

A) one category more than the others
B) two categories, equally
C) two categories, with one featured more prominently,
D) all three categories

Question 45

Which is the most common method used to study leadership effectiveness?

A) descriptions of leader actions and decisions from observation and diaries, and critical incidents
B) examination of social networks within organizations
C) questionnaires filled out by subordinates and other people who interact with the leader
D) experiments in which researchers assess effects of different patterns of leader behavior on group processes and outcomes

Question 46

The ________ approach emphasizes attributes of leaders such as personality, motives, values, and skills.

A) behavior
B) trait
C) power-influence
D) situational

Question 47

The most common research method in the behavior approach has been a ________.

A) laboratory experiment
B) field experiment
C) critical incident
D) survey field study

Question 48

As compared to ________ theories of leadership, ________ theories usually provide a better explanation of financial performance by an organization.

A) dyadic or group-level; organization-level
B) organization-level or group-level; dyadic
C) dyadic or organization-level; group-level
D) organization-level or group-level; intra-individual

Question 49

In the power-influence approach, power is viewed as ________.

A) valuable only for the degree to which it influences subordinates
B) essential for influencing industry trends
C) important for influencing subordinates as well as peers, superiors, clients, and suppliers
D) secondary to other leader behaviors including tireless energy and penetrating intuition

Question 50

When the immediate and delayed effects on the same criterion are inconsistent, the immediate outcome ________.

A) will be positive while the delayed outcome will be even more positive
B) will be negative while the delayed outcome will be positive
C) is likely to be identical to the delayed outcome
D) may be very different from the delayed outcome

Question 51

Charismatic and transformational leadership ________.

A) emphasize leader and follower values as well as leader behavior
B) highlight the importance of contextual factors that influence leader behavior
C) explain leadership effectiveness in terms of the amount and type of power possessed by a leader
D) emphasize personality, motives, values, and skills

Question 52

Which of the following is NOT one of the five approaches into which the theories and empirical research reviewed in the text are classified?

A) trait approach
B) behavior approach
C) nature-nurture approach
D) power-influence approach

Question 53

Confidence and optimism is a characteristic of which key variable(s) in leadership theories?

A) characteristics of the leader
B) characteristics of the followers
C) characteristics of the situation
D) characteristics of both the leader and the followers

Question 54

At which level of conceptualization is the research question, "How leaders influence the shared mental models of team members?"

A) intra-individual
B) dyadic
C) group
D) organization

Question 55

________ can be content analyzed to identify behavior used by effective and ineffective leaders.

A) Biographies of famous leaders
B) Questionnaires filled out by leaders themselves
C) Videos that show different patterns of leadership behavior
D) Fictional accounts of group behavior

Question 56

Leadership can be described as a(n) ________ process involving leader interaction with one subordinate.

A) intra-individual
B) dyadic
C) group
D) organizational

Question 57

Which is a typical research question for the intra-individual level of conceptualization?

A) How do leaders make decisions about competitive strategy and external initiatives?
B) How is leadership shared in the group or team?
C) How does a leader influence subordinate motivation and task commitment?
D) How are leaders influenced by role expectations and constraint?

Question 58

The use of multiple methods for studying leadership ________.

A) is the norm among researchers today
B) tends to be more common than using one familiar, well-accepted method
C) minimizes the limitations of a single method
D) muddles the research results and is therefore ineffective

Question 59

Theories of ethical leadership, authentic leadership, servant leadership, and spiritual leadership all view leader ________ as the foundation for the leader's goals and behaviors and their impact on followers.

A) behaviors
B) traits
C) values
D) situations

Question 60

Which of the following is NOT one of the three types of variables that are relevant for understanding leadership effectiveness?

A) characteristics of leaders
B) characteristics of followers
C) characteristics of industries
D) characteristics of situations

Question 61

Dyadic processes involve the relationship between a leader and another individual who is usually a subordinate or another type of follower.

Question 62

The best approach for understanding leadership is to examine rational cognitive processes, because emotional processes are too unreliable to include.

Question 63

When a wide discrepancy exists between what leaders typically do and what they should do to be most effective, a prescriptive theory is ________.

A) inapplicable
B) less valuable than a descriptive theory
C) especially useful
D) not the optimal one

Question 64

Prescriptive theories ________.

A) identify necessary conditions for using a particular type of behavior effectively
B) explain leadership processes
C) describe the typical activities of leaders
D) explain why certain behaviors occur in particular situations

Question 65

Most leadership theories emphasize the characteristics and actions of the ________.

A) follower without much concern for leader characteristics
B) leader without much concern for follower characteristics
C) follower and the leader equally
D) follower, the leader, and the industry equally

Question 66

________ describes how followers view a leader's influence on events and outcomes.

A) Empowerment theory
B) Attribution theory
C) The leader substitute theory
D) The emotional contagion theory of charisma

Question 67

An integrative approach to studying leadership is an approach that involves more than one leadership construct.

Question 68

The behavior approach to studying leadership includes studies of what managers actually do on the job.

Question 69

Theories that focus almost exclusively on either the leader or the follower are ________ than theories that offer a more even-handed explanation.

A) less useful
B) more useful
C) more realistic
D) less inclusive

Question 70

The power-influence research examines influence processes between leaders and other people.

Question 71

A contingency theory describes some aspect of leadership that applies to some situations but not to others.

Question 72

Empowerment theory describes how followers view their ability to ________.

A) follow leadership requests and commands
B) influence other followers
C) influence important events
D) manage their own responsibilities

Question 73

A theory that explains how leader behavior varies from one situation to another would be described as ________ theory.

A) a prescriptive universal
B) a descriptive universal
C) a prescriptive contingency
D) a descriptive contingency

Question 74

Which statement regarding descriptive theories is NOT true?

A) They specify what leaders must do to become effective.
B) They describe the typical activities of leaders.
C) They explain why certain behaviors occur in particular situations.
D) They explain leadership processes.

Question 75

The study of influence tactics can be viewed as a bridge linking the power-influence approach and the behavior approach.

Question 76

Which statement about contingency theories is true?

A) They describe an aspect of leadership that applies to all types of situations.
B) They describe aspects of leadership that apply to some situations but not to others.
C) They can simultaneously be descriptive and prescriptive.
D) They can be descriptive but not prescriptive.

Question 77

Research indicates that leadership is best defined as a specialized role rather than as a social process or a pattern of relationships.

Question 78

A theory that explains what leaders must do to be effective is called a descriptive theory.

Question 79

The assumption underlying the trait approach to studying leadership is that some people are natural leaders who are endowed with certain traits not possessed by other people.

Question 80

Sharing of leadership functions among the members of a group are emphasized in which type of theories?

A) leader substitutes
B) empowerment
C) emotional contagion theories of charisma
D) self-managed groups