Deck 1: The Dynamics of People and Organizations

Question 1

Organizations can be viewed and managed as whole systems that have interorganizational relationships.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Activities within organizations are governed by social as well as psychological laws.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The automatic acceptance of authority by employees has increased over the last few years.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Organizational behavior starts with a set of fundamental concepts revolving around the nature of people and organizations.

Question 5

The role of managers is to use organizational behavior to help achieve individual,organizational,and societal goals.

Question 6

Without ethical leadership,the new knowledge learned about people becomes a dangerous instrument for possible misuse.

Question 7

In the human resources approach,managers decide what should be done and then closely control employees to ensure task performance.

Question 8

Technology's greatest benefits are that it allows people to do more and better work,and it does not restrict people.

Question 9

When perceiving things,people use an organized framework that they have built out of a lifetime of experiences and accumulated values.

Question 10

According to the results-oriented approach,if fewer inputs are used to produce the same amount of outputs,productivity decreases.

Question 11

A manager who ignores the needs of people as consumers of organizational outputs while championing employee needs is misapplying the ideas of organizational behavior.

Question 12

Theories consist of processes to gather and interpret relevant evidence that will either support a behavioral theory or help change it.

Question 13

Many companies are urging their managers to deal with diversity by demonstrating openness,confidence,compassion,and vulnerability.

Question 14

Workforce diversity does not present any challenges for managers in an organization.

Question 15

According to the law of diminishing returns,organizational effectiveness can be achieved by maximizing just one human variable.

Question 16

The human relations approach to organizational behavior discourages the practice of making universal assumptions about people.

Question 17

Theories identify important variables and link them to form tentative propositions that can be tested through research.

Question 18

Individual differences require that a manager's approach to employees be individual,not statistical.

Question 19

Organizational behavior avoids matters relating to interpersonal relationships due to the complexities involved in understanding them.

Question 20

Organizations need to treat employees in an ethical manner in order to attract and retain valuable employees.

Question 21

The interaction of motivation and ability determines a person's _____ in any activity.

A) knowledge
B) skill
C) potential performance
D) all of the above

Question 22

When an organization's goals and actions are ethical,_____ objectives are more likely to be met.

A) individual
B) organizational
C) social
D) all of the above

Question 23

The _____ can help managers know under what conditions they should choose one behavioral approach over another.

A) human resources approach
B) contingency approach
C) results-oriented approach
D) systems approach

Question 24

Which of the following statements is true of the human resources approach to organizational behavior?

A) It assumes that different managerial behaviors are required by different environments for effectiveness.
B) It ensures that management is directive and controlling.
C) It requires managers to decide what should be done and then closely control employees to ensure task performance.
D) It tries to create a climate in which employees may contribute to the limits of their improved abilities.

Question 25

_____ is the process of gathering and interpreting relevant evidence that will either support a behavioral theory or help change it.

A) Selective perception
B) Documentation
C) Research
D) Testing

Question 26

_____ asks managers to set aside some of the things they think they know and become totally committed to a rigorous collection of facts and combine these with relevant research.

A) Evidence-based management
B) Selective perception
C) Law of individual differences
D) Cost-benefit analysis

Question 27

Organizations need people,and people need organizations.This relationship is formed and maintained on the basis of some _____ among the participants.

A) selective perceptions
B) individual differences
C) mutuality of interest
D) behavioral biases

Question 28

According to the _____,all parts of an organization interact in a complex relationship.

A) systems approach
B) results-oriented approach
C) human resources approach
D) contingency approach

Question 29

The two basic ways for management to motivate people include:

A) showing how certain actions will increase their need fulfillment.
B) threatening decreased need fulfillment if they follow an undesirable course of action.
C) ensuring needs are being fulfilled regardless of organizational constraints.
D) A and B only.

Question 30

Which of the following statements is true of the external environment?

A) It provides competition for resources and power.
B) It influences the attitudes of people.
C) It affects working conditions.
D) All of the above.

Question 31

Which of the following statements is NOT true about good theories?

A) They contribute to individuals' understanding of organizational behavior.
B) They seldom identify variables.
C) They provide guidelines for managerial action.
D) They address significant behavioral issues.

Question 32

Which of the following concepts regarding the nature of people deals with people's unique ways of seeing and interpreting things around them?

A) Acculturation
B) Motivated behavior
C) Desire for involvement
D) Perception

Question 33

_____ helps us better understand how the major ideas in organizational behavior evolved over time.

A) Selective perception
B) Research
C) Practice
D) None of the above

Question 34

The first objective of organizational behavior is to:

A) understand why people behave as they do.
B) predict future employee behavior.
C) describe, systematically, how people behave under a variety of conditions.
D) control, at least partially, and develop some human activity at work.

Question 35

The potential for human performance has to be combined with _____ and opportunity to get organizational results.

A) resources
B) behavior
C) ability
D) perception

Question 36

The _____ toward organizational behavior means that different situations require different behavioral practices for greatest effectiveness.

A) human resources approach
B) contingency approach
C) results-oriented approach
D) systems approach

Question 37

Knowledge × skill = _____.

A) ability
B) motivation
C) potential human performance
D) organizational results

Question 38

Theory and research form a natural foundation for _____,which is the conscious application of conceptual models and research results in order to improve individual and organizational performance at work.

A) speculation
B) morale
C) attitude
D) practice

Question 39

_____ means that people tend to pay attention to those features of their work environment that are consistent with or reinforce their own expectations.

A) Selective perception
B) Bandwagon effect
C) Subjective validation
D) Behavioral bias

Question 40

_____ defines the formal relationship and use of people in organizations.

A) Scheme
B) Structure
C) Hierarchy
D) Both A and C

Question 41

Which of the following statements is a fundamental element of the systems approach to organizational behavior?

A) Systems generally require inputs and produce outputs.
B) Systems produce both intended and unintended consequences.
C) The consequences of systems should be examined on both a short-term and long-term basis.
D) All of the above.

Question 42

Why is the human resources approach often called the supportive approach?

Question 43

_____ is the capacity of a system to endure across time and this presents a difficult challenge to organizations,which must balance environmental,social,and economic demands.

A) Flexibility
B) Sustainability
C) Contingency
D) Productivity

Question 44

Which of the following limitations of organizational behavior states that concern for employees can be so greatly overdone that the original purpose of bringing people together-productive organizational outputs for society-is lost?

A) Behavioral targeting
B) Behavioral bias
C) Law of diminishing returns
D) Law of individual differences

Question 45

Which of the following challenges confronting organizational behavior addresses the issues of shrinking demand,scarce resources,and more intense competition?

A) Varying environments
B) Managerial practice
C) Definitional confusion
D) Seeking quick fixes

Question 46

Define the three keys to success in the field of organizational behavior.

Question 47

What are the four goals of organizational behavior?

Question 48

Which of the following terms represents a continuing challenge to organizational behavior and talks about managers embracing the newest fad to address the symptoms while neglecting underlying problems,or fragmenting their efforts within the firm?

A) Varying environment
B) Managerial practice
C) Definitional confusion
D) Seeking quick fixes

Question 49

Describe why results orientation is a common thread woven through organization behavior.

Question 50

Why do people deserve to be treated differently from other factors of production,such as land,capital,and technology?

Question 51

Holistic organizational behavior interprets people-organizational relationships in terms of the _____.

A) whole person
B) whole group
C) whole social system
D) all of the above

Question 52

How do ethics help an organization in meeting its goals?

Question 53

Explain the economic law of diminishing returns.

Question 54

What are the principles of ethical leadership?

Question 55

When organizations _____,stress and conflict increase.

A) stagnate
B) decline
C) have their survival threatened
D) all of the above

Question 56

Explain the concept of perception.

Question 57

According to the results-oriented approach,what role does organizational behavior play in creating organizational results?

Question 58

Which of the following concepts implies that for any situation there is an optimum amount of a desirable practice,such as recognition or participation?

A) Focalism
B) Behavioral bias
C) The law of diminishing returns
D) The law of individual differences

Question 59

Which of the following is NOT a fundamental element of the systems approach to organizational behavior?

A) The parts of a system are independent of each other.
B) There are many subsystems contained within larger systems.
C) Systems may produce both positive and negative results.
D) The consequences of systems should be examined on both a short-term and long-term basis.

Question 60

A cost-benefit analysis:

A) determines whether potential actions will have a net positive or net negative effect.
B) forces managers to merely look at the immediate implications of their actions.
C) is done to arrive at a point where costs and revenues become equal.
D) is a statistical process that helps determine relationships among several variables.