Deck 9: Engagement, Empowerment, and Motivation

Question 1

Engagement is manifest in Deming's concept of "self-control."

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Empowerment allows organizations to flatten their organizational structure because fewer managers are needed to "direct and control" employees.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Empowerment resembles Juran's concept of "pride and joy" in work.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Empowerment can contribute to organizational performance only if employees have access to the necessary information about the business and its performance, such as their personnel files and resources such as the quality improvement budget.

Question 5

One of the reasons why empowerment fails is the abundance of feedback provided by management.

Question 6

One area of caution when designing effective employee recognition and rewards is to avoid involving everyone.

Question 7

One of the suggestions to make an effective employee recognition and reward system is to publicize extensively.

Question 8

Douglas McGregor developed the well-known "Theory X" approach to managing employees, which is based on the assumption that people wish to do a good job and emphasizes that people in organizations should make decisions for themselves.

Question 9

According to the job characteristics theory, performance excellence focus will increase the motivating potential of jobs through increases in the core task characteristics.

Question 10

Growth-need strength is rooted in people's personalities and is unlikely to be affected by TQ.

Question 11

Middle managers whose subordinates are being empowered may feel that their own needs for affiliation are less fulfilled in a performance excellence environment.

Question 12

It is generally accepted that people whose goals are set by others are likely to be more motivated by them than are people who set their own goals.

Question 13

In a quality-focused environment, the difficulty of goals would be enhanced by performance excellence approaches.

Question 14

Three critical questions that senior managers need to ask themselves in the empowerment process are all of the following except:

A) How can I make fewer decisions, thereby letting others become more involved in managing the business?
B) How can I teach others how to make solid decisions once they're given the chance?
C) How can I recruit others to be more aware of changes that need to be made in order to keep our company competitive?
D) How can I ensure a system of application and permission for suggestions?

Question 15

A good compensation system has all of the following objectives except:

A) diminish intrinsic motivation.
B) to attract, retain, and not demotivate employees.
C) reducing unexplainable variation in pay.
D) encouraging internal cooperation rather than competition.

Question 16

Which of the following is a progressive measure used by organizations to determine their compensation systems?

A) Revenue growth
B) Cost management
C) Cycle time reduction
D) Profitability

Question 17

Which of the following is not a key practice that leads to effective employee recognition and rewards?

A) Tying rewards to quality based on measurable objectives
B) Maintaining confidentiality
C) Making recognition fun
D) Giving both individual and team awards

Question 18

The job characteristics theory states that people will be more motivated to work and more satisfied with their jobs to the extent that their jobs possess certain core characteristics which include all of the following except:

A) skill variety.
B) task identity.
C) growth potential.
D) task significance

Question 19

Three factors have been identified that will influence the way people react to jobs that have high levels of the task characteristics. Which of the following is not one of them?

A) Knowledge and skill
B) Growth need strength
C) Satisfaction with contextual factors
D) Organizational commitment

Question 20

Which of the following core job characteristics does not lead to the 'experienced meaningfulness of the work'?

A) Skill variety
B) Autonomy
C) Task identity
D) Task significance

Question 21

Which of the following outcomes does 'feedback from job' lead to?

A) High internal work motivation
B) High "growth" satisfaction
C) High work effectiveness
D) High general job satisfaction

Question 22

The acquired needs theory perspective on employee motivation states that people are motivated by:

A) work that fulfills their needs.
B) environmental factors in the organization.
C) new challenges that exercise their skills.
D) incremental financial incentives.

Question 23

Acquired needs theory has been studied with specific reference to all of the following needs except:

A) the need for achievement.
B) the need for affiliation.
C) the need for security.
D) the need for power.

Question 24

According to the goal-setting theory, goals will be motivating to people when they are all of the following except:

A) specific.
B) team-based.
C) difficult.
D) people accept them as their own.