Deck 8: Learning and Decision Making

Question 1

Tacit knowledge is the kind of information that can be easily communicated during training sessions or using written manuals.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Andrew is under a lot of time pressure to make a decision. As a result, he chooses the first acceptable solution without considering any more possibilities. Andrew has engaged in satisficing behavior.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Explicit knowledge is what employees can typically learn only through experience.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The rational decision-making model assumes that people are very rarely perfectly rational.

Question 5

The rational decision-making model offers a step-by-step approach to making decisions that maximize outcomes by examining all available alternatives.

Question 6

The entire process of reinforcement is a continuous cycle, and the repetition of behaviors is strengthened to the degree that reinforcement continues to occur.

Question 7

Variable interval scheduling is the simplest schedule of reinforcement and happens when a specific consequence follows each and every occurrence of a desired behavior.

Question 8

When employees observe the actions of others, learn from what they observe, and then repeat the observed behavior, they are engaging in cognitive modeling.

Question 9

Research shows that the difference between experts and novices is almost always a function of intelligence as opposed to the more popular view that learning makes the difference.

Question 10

Research has consistently shown that fixed reinforcement schedules lead to higher levels of performance than variable schedules.

Question 11

Because of their tacit knowledge, experts sometimes cannot put into words why they know that a problem exists, why a solution will work, or how they accomplished a task.

Question 12

Learning refers to the process of generating and choosing from a set of alternatives to solve a problem.

Question 13

For positive reinforcement to be successful, an employee needs to see a direct link between his or her behavior and the desired outcome.

Question 14

Edgar has a habit of telling jokes during meetings. Others laugh, but it really does slow down the meetings. Josh, Edgar's manager, has asked other meeting members to refrain from laughing when Edgar tells a joke in future meetings. Josh is hoping Edgar will stop wasting time with the jokes. Josh is using extinction to change Edgar's behavior.

Question 15

To be effective, positive reinforcement should necessarily be in the form of material rewards.

Question 16

Decision making reflects relatively permanent changes in an employee's knowledge and skills that result from experience.

Question 17

Those with a performance-prove orientation focus on demonstrating their competence so that others will not think poorly of them.

Question 18

Learning is important because it has a significant impact on decision making.

Question 19

Performance-oriented individuals enjoy working on new kinds of tasks, even if they fail during their early experiences.

Question 20

Research shows that desired behaviors tend to disappear much more quickly when reinforcement is discontinued under fixed plans.

Question 21

Information that is relatively easily communicated and a large part of what companies teach during training sessions is known as _____ knowledge.

A) inherent
B) inferred
C) implied
D) tacit
E) explicit

Question 22

Social identity theory holds that people identify themselves by the groups to which they belong and perceive and judge others by their group memberships.

Question 23

Framing is the tendency to judge things erroneously based on a reference that is near to them.

Question 24

The fundamental attribution error argues that people have a tendency to judge others' behaviors as due to internal factors.

Question 25

The self-serving bias occurs when we attribute our own failures to external factors and our own successes to internal factors.

Question 26

Which of these reflects relatively permanent changes in an employee's knowledge or skill that result from experience?

A) Perception
B) Learning
C) Intuition
D) Consensus
E) A heuristic

Question 27

Escalation of commitment refers to the decision to continue to follow a failing course of action.

Question 28

Perception is the process of selecting, organizing, storing, and retrieving information about the environment.

Question 29

Learning has a weak positive effect on commitment.

Question 30

Learning is moderately correlated with task performance.

Question 31

Truelearning only occurs when:

A) employees avoid mimicking the behaviors of experts.
B) experts also pretend to be novices.
C) changes in behavior become relatively permanent.
D) employees are assigned larger responsibilities.
E) learned behaviors are not repeated over time.

Question 32

Projection bias causes problems in decision making because it limits our ability to develop appropriate criteria for a decision and evaluate decisions carefully.

Question 33

Research shows that the differences between experts and novices are almost always a function of:

A) intelligence.
B) consensus.
C) heuristic.
D) personality.
E) learning.

Question 34

A stereotype occurs when assumptions are made about others on the basis of their membership in a social group.

Question 35

Communities of practice are groups of employees who work together and learn from one another by collaborating over an extended period of time.

Question 36

Transfer of training occurs when the knowledge, skills, and behaviors used on the job are maintained by the learner once training ends and generalized to the workplace once the learner returns to the job.

Question 37

Tiffany is now a division manager but was previously the sales manager for 10 years at Acme Sports Equipment. She tends to view all organizational problems based on the effect they will have on the sales department. Her decisions may be flawed due to selective attribution.

Question 38

To be rational decision makers, we should evaluate each alternative as soon as we think of it.

Question 39

The knowledge and skills that distinguish specialists from novices is referred to as:

A) motivation.
B) expertise.
C) heuristic.
D) inspiration.
E) rationale.

Question 40

_____ refers to the process of generating and choosing from a set of alternatives to solve a problem.

A) Decision making
B) Learning
C) Intuition
D) Reinforcement
E) Conditioning

Question 41

_____ occurs when an unwanted outcome is removed following a desired behavior.

A) Reverse discrimination
B) Retribution
C) Extinction
D) Punishment
E) Negative reinforcement

Question 42

The knowledge that employees can typically learn only through experience is called _____ knowledge.

A) consensus-based
B) tacit
C) explicit
D) direct
E) open

Question 43

In general, _____ and _____ should be the most common forms of reinforcement used by managers to create learning among their employees.

A) punishment; extinction
B) negative reinforcement; extinction
C) punishment; negative reinforcement
D) positive reinforcement; negative reinforcement
E) positive reinforcement; extinction

Question 44

Explicit knowledge _____.

A) is highly personal in nature
B) cannot be articulated to others
C) is job and situation-specific
D) contains conscious and accessible information
E) is based on employees' experience

Question 45

_____ knowledge is not easily communicated but could very well be the most important aspect of what we learn in organizations.

A) Book-based
B) Direct
C) Explicit
D) Tacit
E) Documented

Question 46

James is the new manager of operations at Springfield Motors. To his dismay, he finds the employees coming in late to work, taking long breaks, and behaving unprofessionally at their workstations. James decides to promote desirable work practices. He plans to introduce incentives for meeting the required targets but, at the same time, to withhold those incentives when employees' are late, take long breaks, or behave unprofessionally. Identify the contingencies that James is planning to implement.

A) Punishment and extinction
B) Positive reinforcement and punishment
C) Punishment and negative reinforcement
D) Positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement
E) Negative reinforcement and extinction

Question 47

With a _____ schedule, workers are rewarded after a certain amount of time, and the length of time between reinforcement periods stays the same.

A) fixed interval
B) variable ratio
C) continuous reinforcement
D) fixed ratio
E) variable interval

Question 48

Jackson High School introduced a scholarship of $1,000 for students who maintain 100 percent attendance. This is an example of using _____.

A) positive feedback
B) negative feedback
C) punishment
D) extinction
E) positive reinforcement

Question 49

Which of the following is a characteristic of tacit knowledge?

A) Transferability through written communication
B) Existence as general information
C) Ability to be learned through books
D) Highly personal nature
E) Existence as conscious and accessible information

Question 50

Vincent has worked at The Shadows restaurant for several years and in the restaurant industry for almost 30 years. He can't really explain it, but he "just knows" which applicants are the ones to hire. His intuition most likely comes from a high level of _____ that he has of the industry in general and this restaurant in particular.

A) tacit knowledge
B) extraneous knowledge
C) early training
D) continual reinforcement
E) genetic knowledge

Question 51

Nicole has spent weeks studying the manuals in order to take the Lieutenant's exam. She has gained a great deal of ______ knowledge but little, if any, ______ knowledge from her studies.

A) explicit, tacit
B) high level; low level
C) specific, general
D) internal, external
E) transitory, permanent

Question 52

Organizations use four specific consequences to modify employee behavior. They are known as:

A) attribution biases.
B) communities of practice.
C) contingencies of reinforcement.
D) climates of transfer.
E) heuristics.

Question 53

Which of the following is the simplest schedule of reinforcement?

A) Variable ratio
B) Variable interval
C) Fixed ratio
D) Continuous
E) Fixed interval

Question 54

Lucy just moved to New York on a job assignment. Lucy got herself a map of the city and various other guides on restaurants, fitness centers, libraries, and theaters. Lucy learns about New York by studying these materials. Lucy acquires _____ knowledge by learning this way.

A) consensus-based
B) tacit
C) explicit
D) intuition-based
E) inherent

Question 55

Which two contingencies of reinforcement are designed to decrease undesired behaviors?

A) Punishment and extinction
B) Positive reinforcement and punishment
C) Punishment and negative reinforcement
D) Positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement
E) Negative reinforcement and extinction

Question 56

_____ reinforcement happens when a specific consequence follows each and every occurrence of a desired behavior.

A) Fixed interval
B) Variable ratio
C) Fixed ratio
D) Variable interval
E) Continuous

Question 57

Which of these occurs when an unwanted outcome follows an unwanted behavior?

A) Reverse discrimination
B) Neutral reinforcement
C) Punishment
D) Extinction
E) Positive reinforcement

Question 58

A manager suspends one of his subordinates for showing up to work late. This is an example of:

A) negative feedback.
B) punishment.
C) negative reinforcement.
D) extinction.
E) neutral reinforcement.

Question 59

_____ occurs when there is the removal of positive consequences following an unwanted behavior.

A) Negative feedback
B) Negative reinforcement
C) Punishment
D) Extinction
E) Positive reinforcement

Question 60

Tacit knowledge _____.

A) is based on experience
B) involves conscious and accessible information
C) can be learned through books
D) exists as general information
E) is easily transferred through written communication
T

Question 61

Which schedule reinforces behaviors after a certain number of them have been exhibited?

A) Continuous
B) Variable interval
C) Variable ratio
D) Fixed ratio
E) Fixed interval

Question 62

When an individual has a _____, building competence is deemed more important than demonstrating competence.

A) productivity bias
B) learning orientation
C) projection bias
D) performance orientation
E) negative reinforcement

Question 63

People with _______ focus on demonstrating their capabilities so that others will think favorably of them.

A) Type A personality
B) a performance-prove orientation
C) a performance-avoid orientation
D) tacit knowledge
E) explicit knowledge

Question 64

_____ decisions are decisions that become somewhat automatic because people's knowledge allows them to recognize and identify a situation and the course of action that needs to be taken.

A) Programmed
B) Unstructured
C) Indirect
D) Spontaneous
E) Surface

Question 65

The workers at Snack Time are always on their feet and do not take extra long breaks because their supervisor, Mr. Dan, pays surprise visits to the production department. This practice helps the firm exceed performance targets. Mr. Dan practices which of the following reinforcement schedules?

A) Variable ratio schedule
B) Fixed interval schedule
C) Continuous schedule
D) Variable interval schedule
E) Fixed ratio schedule

Question 66

The first step in rational decision making is to:

A) generate the list of available alternatives.
B) identify the criteria that are important in making the decision.
C) evaluate the alternatives that are available.
D) choose a person who could evaluate the decision.
E) choose the solution that maximizes value.

Question 67

_____ schedules are designed to reinforce behaviors at random points in time.

A) Fixed ratio
B) Variable interval
C) Continuous
D) Variable ratio
E) Fixed interval

Question 68

Grace is in charge of staffing for the pediatric unit and must make sure there are always enough nurses on the unit. When Reg breaks his leg skiing and can't work for several weeks, Grace is able to competently and easily decide how to adjust the schedule because she has done this many times over many years. Schedule reshuffling is a(n) _____ for her.

A) programmed decision
B) nonprogrammed decision
C) escalation of commitment
D) projection
E) self-serving decision

Question 69

Mark is a new hire at Blue Bay Technologies in Florida. His work involves creating technology-enabled business solutions for clients from various states. Mark's work gets evaluated and rewarded at the end of each month. This is an example of _____ reinforcement.

A) fixed interval
B) variable ratio
C) continuous
D) fixed ratio
E) variable interval

Question 70

A slot machine is an example of a _____ reinforcement schedule.

A) continuous
B) fixed interval
C) fixed ratio
D) variable interval
E) variable ratio

Question 71

The last step of behavior modeling is:

A) reinforcement.
B) production process.
C) attention process.
D) retention process.
E) behavior assessment.

Question 72

_____ can be described as emotionally charged judgments that arise through quick, nonconscious, and holistic associations.

A) Performance orientations
B) Intuition
C) Faulty attributions
D) Calculations
E) Rational decisions

Question 73

When employees observe the actions of others, learn from what they observe, and then repeat what they have observed, they are engaging in:

A) structural modeling.
B) behavioral modeling.
C) static learning.
D) extrinsic learning.
E) hierarchical modeling.

Question 74

A salaried paycheck is an example of a _____ reinforcement schedule, whereas piece-rate pay is an example of a _____ reinforcement schedule.

A) continuous; fixed interval
B) fixed interval; fixed ratio
C) variable ratio; variable interval
D) variable interval; fixed ratio
E) fixed ratio; continuous

Question 75

Which of the following is the first step in the behavioral modeling process?

A) Reinforcement
B) Production processes
C) Attentional processes
D) Retention processes
E) Extinction

Question 76

ABC Corporation reviews its employees' salaries at the end of each fiscal year and gives raises as warranted. This is an example of _____ reinforcement.

A) variable ratio
B) fixed interval
C) continuous
D) fixed ratio
E) variable interval

Question 77

________ does not always result in positive outcomes for the organization because employees who witness other employees not being punished for leaving early, taking long lunch breaks, and taking supplies home may engage in the same counterproductive activities.

A) Behavioral modeling
B) Continuous reinforcement
C) Selective perception
D) Production processes
E) Goal orientation

Question 78

United Motors is facing shortage of funds and has decided to implement the piece-rate system of payment. This way, the workers who perform better will get higher wages, and it will not be a huge burden on the company's bank account. Which of the following methods of reinforcement schedules has United Motors implemented?

A) Continuous
B) Fixed interval
C) Variable ratio
D) Variable interval
E) Fixed ratio

Question 79

_____ theory argues that people in organizations have the ability to learn through the observation of others.

A) Social learning
B) Learning life cycle
C) Bounded rationality
D) Social identity
E) Attribution

Question 80

New, complex, and unrecognized situations call for:

A) structured decisions.
B) external decisions.
C) direct decisions.
D) nonprogrammed decisions.
E) irrational decisions.