Deck 15: Influence, Empowerment, and Politics

Question 1

Expert and referent power appear to get the best combination of results and favorable reactions from lower-level employees.

Answer 1

True
Explanation: Employees perceived rational persuasion to be associated with the three bases of power they viewed positively: legitimate, expert, and referent. In summary, expert and referent power appear to get the best combination of results and favorable reactions from lower-level employees.

Question 2

In the context of possible influence outcomes, compliance means a failed influence attempt.

Answer 2

False
Explanation: According to researchers, there are three possible influence outcomes: commitment, compliance, and resistance. Resistance means a failed influence attempt.

Question 3

Reward, coercive, and legitimate power tend to have a strong negative impact on job performance and job satisfaction.

Answer 3

False
Explanation: A reanalysis of 18 field studies that measured French and Raven's five bases of power uncovered "severe methodological shortcomings." After correcting for these problems, the researchers identified the following relationships between power bases and work outcomes such as job performance, job satisfaction, and turnover: (1) Expert and referent power had a generally positive impact. (2) Reward and legitimate power had a slightly positive impact. (3) Coercive power had a slightly negative impact.

Question 4

Interpersonal influence is not culture bound.

Question 5

Socialized power is directed at helping others.

Question 6

The rational persuasion tactic involves trying to convince someone with reason, logic, or facts.

Question 7

According to French and Raven, there are five bases of power.

Question 8

Socialized power is exhibited when managers act like "the rules" others are expected to follow don't apply to them.

Question 9

Rational power has been found to be a highly acceptable managerial influence tactic.

Question 10

Ingratiation is deemed to be a moderately effective tactic relied on by managers.

Question 11

According to French and Raven's typology, valued knowledge or information gives an individual referent power over those who need such knowledge or information.

Question 12

The inspirational appeal influence tactic involves trying to build enthusiasm by appealing to others' emotions, ideals, or values.

Question 13

Exchange, coalition, and pressure tactics are examples of hard tactics.

Question 14

The ingratiating influence tactic involves trying to getting others to participate in planning, making decisions, and changes.

Question 15

According to French and Raven's typology, threats of punishment and actual punishments give an individual reward power.

Question 16

According to a reanalysis of French and Raven's five bases of power, expert and referent power generally had a positive impact on job performance and job satisfaction.

Question 17

Power is generally a negative force in organizations.

Question 18

Legitimate power may express itself in either a positive or negative manner in managing people.

Question 19

Mutuality of interest involves win-win situations in which one's self-interest is served by cooperating actively and creatively with potential adversaries.

Question 20

Social power is defined as the ability to marshal the human, informational, and material resources to get something done.

Question 21

Organizational politics involves intentional acts of influence to enhance or protect the self- interests of individuals or groups.

Question 22

Empowerment is recognizing and releasing into the organization the power that people already have in their wealth of useful knowledge, experience, and internal motivation.

Question 23

In an organizational context, a network is an informal group bound together by the active pursuit of a single issue.

Question 24

Reward, coercive, and negative legitimate power tend to produce commitment.

Question 25

Power sharing occurs when followers are granted authority to make decisions.

Question 26

Participative management refers to the process of involving employees in various forms of decision making.

Question 27

Responsible managers strive for socialized power while amassing personalized power.

Question 28

Unclear objectives and vague performance measures rarely trigger uncertainty.

Question 29

Low self-monitoring employees are likely to be more inclined to engage in impression management than would high self-monitors.

Question 30

Scapegoating is a proactive political tactic.

Question 31

Managers should see empowerment as a matter of degree not as an either-or proposition.

Question 32

Managers are more likely to delegate if the lower-level employee has no supervisory experience.

Question 33

Empowerment is both easy to understand and implement.

Question 34

Authoritarian power has a high degree of empowerment and is exhibited when a manager consults his followers when making decisions.

Question 35

Impression management is the process by which people attempt to control or manipulate the reactions of others to images of themselves or their ideas.

Question 36

Delegation is the process of granting decision-making authority to people at lower levels.

Question 37

Personal initiative is a behavior syndrome resulting in an individual's taking an active and self-starting approach to work and going beyond what is formally required in a given job.

Question 38

Networks are temporary groupings of people who actively pursue a single-issue.

Question 39

Favorable upward impression management tactics can be job-focused, supervisor-focused, and self-focused.

Question 40

Reactive political tactics promote an individual's self-interest.

Question 41

The _____ influence tactic involves referring to friendship and loyalty when making a request.

A)pressure
B)personal appeal
C)exchange
D)rational persuasion
E)ingratiation

Question 42

Alexis, a customer service supervisor at United Airlines, typically seeks the full participation of her team members when planning, making important decisions, and implementing changes. Which one of the nine generic influence tactics is she using?

A)Ingratiation
B)Personal appeals
C)Rational persuasion
D)Coalition tactics
E)Consultation

Question 43

Asking nonfinancial people to interpret periodic financial and accounting statements for all employees worsens organizational politics.

Question 44

Employees seeking to avoid additional work, stress, burnout, or an unwanted transfer or promotion intentionally try to look bad at work.

Question 45

Ethan tried to convince his subordinates to accept a new policy by showing them that the policy is consistent with the organizational rules and policies. He also showed them that the people above him had already supported and sanctioned the policy. What influence tactic was Ethan using?

A)Legitimating tactics
B)Exchange
C)Personal appeal
D)Ingratiation
E)Consultation

Question 46

White women typically have a greater understanding of organizational politics than do white men.

Question 47

Which of the following influence tactics gets others to participate in planning, making decisions, and changes?

A)Rational persuasion
B)Coalition
C)Inspirational appeal
D)Ingratiating
E)Consultation

Question 48

The _____ influence tactic involves demanding compliance or using intimidation or threats.

A)ingratiation
B)consultation
C)inspirational appeal
D)rational persuasion
E)pressure

Question 49

Which of the following is considered to be a soft influence tactic?

A)Exchange
B)Personal appeal
C)Legitimating tactics
D)Pressure
E)Coalition

Question 50

Employees who are highly political run the risk of being called self-serving and losing their credibility.

Question 51

_____ involves win-win situations in which one's self-interest is served by cooperating actively and creatively with potential adversaries.

A)Mutuality of interest
B)Authoritarian management
C)Personalized power
D)Compliance
E)Delegation

Question 52

You are late in the preparation of the computer graphics for your final report and presentation. You run into a friend who is great at computer graphics as he heads out of the office at the end of the day and say, "I need your help for my project. If you could come back for two or three hours tonight and help me with these graphics, I will complete those spreadsheets you have been complaining about." Which influence tactic are you using with your friend?

A)Rational persuasion
B)Legitimating tactic
C)Personal appeal
D)Exchange
E)Consultation

Question 53

To keep organizational politics within reasonable bounds a manager should recognize and reward employees who get real results by using political games.

Question 54

Employees who are strictly nonpolitical run the risk of experiencing slow promotions and feeling left out.

Question 55

Which of the following influence tactics is used to get others to support your effort to persuade someone?

A)Ingratiation
B)Consultation
C)Coalition tactics
D)Exchange
E)Pressure

Question 56

Adam tried to convince Ben that the sea is a saline solution by saying that sea water is salty. Which of the following influence tactics is Adam adopting?

A)Personal appeal
B)Rational persuasion
C)Inspirational appeal
D)Consultation
E)Ingratiation

Question 57

The _____ influence tactic tries to build enthusiasm by appealing to others' emotions, ideals, or values.

A)rational persuasion
B)coalition
C)inspirational appeal
D)ingratiating
E)consultation

Question 58

Organizational politics can be eliminated.

Question 59

The _____ influence tactic involves making express or implied promises and trading favors.

A)exchange
B)pressure
C)personal appeals
D)consultation
E)ingratiation

Question 60

Carl needs a day off from his work. But he is apprehensive that David, his manager will not grant the leave. Carl knows that David wants to shed a few kilos and has been hitting the gym for the past month. Before asking for the leave, Carl compliments David on his build and physique. It comes as no surprise to Carl that David grants him the leave! What kind of an influence tactic did Carl use?

A)Rational persuasion
B)Coalition tactic
C)Inspirational appeal
D)Ingratiation
E)Consultation

Question 61

"He will do it because I am the CEO and I say so!" This statement reflects a reliance on _____ power.

A)reward
B)socialized
C)negative legitimate
D)referent
E)expert

Question 62

Hugh tried his best to convince Irene about a new business proposal, but Irene presented some good counter arguments and stalled the proposal. This is an example of:

A)compliance.
B)adherence.
C)allegiance.
D)resistance.
E)commitment.

Question 63

Individuals who obtain compliance primarily because of their formal authority to make decisions have _____ power.

A)legitimate
B)expert
C)referent
D)reward
E)coercive

Question 64

_____ is a hard influence tactic.

A)Exchange
B)Rational persuasion
C)Inspirational appeal
D)Consultation
E)Ingratiation

Question 65

John leads a team of 10 sales persons. He informs the team members that the first member to achieve the year's target will be sent on an all expenses paid holiday to the Grand Canyon National Park. John is demonstrating _____ power.

A)referent
B)legitimate
C)reward
D)coercive
E)expert

Question 66

The best possible influence outcome is _____ because the target person's intrinsic motivation energizes good performance.

A)commitment
B)defiance
C)compliance
D)resistance
E)hindrance

Question 67

Which of the following is true about influence tactics?

A)Dominating behavior is an effective influence tactic for women but not for men.
B)Consultation increased helping behavior only if the quality of relationship was good.
C)Influence tactics that are viewed as unfair were associated with greater compliance among employees.
D)Commitment is more likely when people rely on consultation, strong rational persuasion, and inspirational appeals.
E)Commitment is more likely when people rely on pressure and coalition tactics.

Question 68

"Power in itself means nothing. I think power is the opportunity to really have an impact on your community." This statement reflects a preference for _____ power.

A)socialized
B)coercive
C)personalized
D)reward
E)expert

Question 69

"My goal is to be a powerful advocate on the part of my constituents." This statement reflects a preference for _____ power.

A)socialized
B)coercive
C)personalized
D)reward
E)expert

Question 70

Verbal or written recognition and other forms of positive reinforcement help the managers display _____ power.

A)referent
B)coercive
C)legitimate
D)reward
E)expert

Question 71

_____ is the ability to marshal the human, informational, and material resources to get something done.

A)Social power
B)Impression management
C)Line management
D)Centralization
E)Decentralization

Question 72

Which of the following powers focuses constructively on job performance?

A)Coercive power
B)Positive legitimate power
C)Individual charismatic power
D)Expert power
E)Referent power

Question 73

A sales manager who threatens to fire any salesperson who uses a company car for personal purposes is relying on _____ power.

A)referent
B)expert
C)legitimate
D)coercive
E)reward

Question 74

When Pedro's answers on a Thematic Apperception Test clearly illustrated his desire to use power to further his own interests, as opposed to helping others, he demonstrated _____ power.

A)positive legitimate
B)personalized
C)referent
D)expert
E)socialized

Question 75

Fiona used an influence tactic on Gerald and got him to enthusiastically agree to her proposal. Gerald demonstrated initiative and persistence while completing the assignment This is an example of:

A)resistance.
B)defiance.
C)hindrance.
D)compliance.
E)commitment.

Question 76

Legitimate power is anchored to one's:

A)valued knowledge.
B)charisma.
C)stance in giving rewards.
D)stance in giving punishments.
E)formal position.

Question 77

If the second party grudgingly agrees to the first party's proposal and needs a lot of prodding to satisfy the minimum requirements, the second party is said to be exhibiting:

A)hindrance.
B)defiance.
C)commitment.
D)resistance.
E)compliance.

Question 78

Personalized power is exhibited when managers focus more on:

A)helping the society.
B)satisfying their own needs.
C)the needs of their underlings.
D)adhering to the rules that others are expected to follow.
E)helping others.

Question 79

Which of the following is true about influence tactics?

A)Commitment is more likely if one uses pressure tactics.
B)Commitment is more likely if one uses coalition tactics.
C)Ingratiating tactics can slightly improve one's performance appraisal evaluations.
D)Commitment is more likely when the two parties have an adversarial relationship.
E)Managers are very effective at influencing their subordinates.

Question 80

According to French and Raven, _____ power exists when an individual obtains compliance through threatened or actual punishment.

A)reward
B)referent
C)expert
D)legitimate
E)coercive