Deck 3: Organizational Culture, Socialization, and Mentoring

Question 1

Basic assumptions are a component of organizational culture that is the easiest to change.

Answer 1

False
Explanation: Basic assumptions constitute organizational values that have become so taken for granted over time that they become assumptions that guide organizational behavior. They thus are highly resistant to change.

Question 2

Organizational culture rarely impacts organizational structure.

Answer 2

False
Explanation: Organizational culture influences the type of organizational structure adopted by a company and a host of practices, policies, and procedures implemented in pursuit of organizational goals. These organizational characteristics then affect a variety of group and social processes.

Question 3

An organization's culture serves four functions: to promote each employee's individual identity, foster individual commitment, provide role models, and help members make sense of their career path.

Answer 3

False
Explanation: An organization's culture fulfills four functions: organizational identity, collective commitment, social system stability, and sense-making device.

Question 4

The competing values framework provides a practical way for mangers to understand, measure, and change organizational culture.

Question 5

Adherence to the status quo implicitly promotes a clan style culture.

Question 6

Observable artifacts such as special parking places, decorations, or ceremonies are physical manifestations of an organization's culture.

Question 7

Acronyms, manner of dress, awards, myths and stories told about the organization, published lists of values, and observable rituals are all examples of espoused values of an organization.

Question 8

Employees are more likely to behave ethically when management behaves in a way that sets a good ethical example and keep its promises and commitments.

Question 9

A market culture has an external focus and values control.

Question 10

An adhocracy culture strives to instill cohesion through consensus and job satisfaction and commitment through employee involvement.

Question 11

An increase in the gap between espoused and enacted values positively influences employee attitudes and organizational performance.

Question 12

Organizational culture provides gives members an organizational identity.

Question 13

A hierarchy culture has an external focus and values flexibility.

Question 14

Organizational culture influences collective attitudes and behavior.

Question 15

An adhocracy culture has an internal focus and values stability.

Question 16

Organizational culture is based on "taken-for-granted implicit assumptions."

Question 17

Enacted values represent the values and norms that are internalized by employees.

Question 18

A clan culture has an external focus and values stability and control rather than flexibility.

Question 19

One of the functions of organizational culture is to facilitate collective commitment.

Question 20

High social system stability within an organization indicates the presence of conflict and poor change management.

Question 21

An organization's financial performance is not strongly related to organizational culture.

Question 22

A structured approach is counterproductive when implementing culture change.

Question 23

New employees typically complete the three-phase socialization sequence within a week of starting the job.

Question 24

Organizational socialization is the process by which a person learns the values, norms, and required behaviors that permit her to participate as a member of the organization.

Question 25

Mergers frequently fail due to incompatible cultures.

Question 26

Slogans, language, and sayings are ways that organizational members teach each other about the organization's preferred values, beliefs, expectations, and behaviors.

Question 27

Jim is segregated from regular organization members during the first 3 weeks of his tenure at a new company. Jim is experiencing informal socialization.

Question 28

The first phase of the organizational socialization process is anticipatory socialization.

Question 29

Organizational socialization is a key mechanism used by organizations to embed their organizational cultures.

Question 30

Coaching and protection are career functions of the mentoring process.

Question 31

Unrealistic job expectations are formed during the anticipatory socialization phase.

Question 32

Giving status symbols, such as titles, and promotion criteria are mechanisms used for implementing a change in the organizational culture.

Question 33

Mary and Carl were both hired at the same time by Liam and Company. During their first month they, along with a group of 14 other new hires, went through their socialization process as a unit. Their socialization process is necessarily disjunctive in nature.

Question 34

A clan culture represents a different set of values than does a market culture.

Question 35

Organizations can reduce turnover by using realistic job previews.

Question 36

The process of culture change essentially begins with targeting one of the three layers of organizational culture.

Question 37

Providing new hires with the organization's vision involves giving them a realistic idea of what lies ahead by presenting both positive and negative aspects of the job.

Question 38

According to research findings, employees prefer to work in organizations that value flexibility over stability and control and those that are more concerned with satisfying employees' needs than customer or shareholder desires.

Question 39

The second phase of the organizational socialization process is change and acquiescence.

Question 40

Role modeling, counseling, and friendship are not part of the mentoring process.

Question 41

_____ is (are) the set of shared, taken-for-granted implicit assumptions that a group holds that determines how it perceives, thinks about, and reacts to its environment.

A)Normative beliefs
B)Vision
C)Organizational culture
D)Values
E)Realistic job previews

Question 42

Dilton's Movers is a company that ships goods and cargo to all locations in the United States. The employees understand that the company's primary vision of timeliness, efficiency and low-cost services is important to maintain the competitive edge over other movers in the business. They constantly work to ensure that all deliveries reach their destinations on schedule, and the company, in turn, rewards the employees with performance-based awards and profit sharing. Which function of organizational culture is exemplified here?

A)Give members an organizational identity
B)Facilitate collective commitment
C)Promote social system stability
D)Shape behavior by helping members make sense of their surroundings
E)Increase the likelihood of shared feelings and emotions

Question 43

_____ cultures value flexibility and have an internal focus.

A)Clan
B)Adhocracy
C)Hierarchy
D)Market
E)Communal

Question 44

Job satisfaction is typically highest in _____ cultures.

A)market
B)clan
C)hierarchy
D)power
E)adhocracy

Question 45

Which of the following cultures has the strongest correlation with subjective innovation?

A)Adhocracy culture
B)Hierarchy culture
C)Market culture
D)Role culture
E)Clan culture

Question 46

_____ values are values and norms that are exhibited in employees' behavior.

A)Equitable
B)Collegial
C)Enacted
D)Egalitarian
E)Espoused

Question 47

_____ cultures value stability and have an external focus.

A)Clan
B)Adhocracy
C)Hierarchy
D)Market
E)Communal

Question 48

_____ values represent the explicitly stated values and norms that are preferred by an organization.

A)Equitable
B)Collegial
C)Enacted
D)Egalitarian
E)Espoused

Question 49

Which of the following is true about organizational values?

A)Organizations subscribe to only one set of values.
B)The basic underlying assumptions of organizational culture are relatively easy to change.
C)Organizational change is more likely to succeed if there is a great deal of inconsistency between individual values and organizational values.
D)Organizations are less likely to accomplish corporate goals when employees perceive an inconsistency between the espoused values of the organization and their own personal characteristics.
E)Enacted values drive organizational culture and espoused values are irrelevant.

Question 50

Which of the following organizational cultures values stability, and focuses on achieving effectiveness with measures of timeliness, efficiency, and safety?

A)Market culture
B)Entrepreneurial culture
C)Clan culture
D)Adhocracy culture
E)Hierarchy culture

Question 51

A(n) _____ culture leads to the development of reliable internal processes, extensive measurement, and the implementation of a variety of control.

A)hierarchy
B)adhocracy
C)power
D)clan
E)market

Question 52

_____ cultures value flexibility and have an external focus.

A)Clan
B)Adhocracy
C)Hierarchy
D)Market
E)Communal

Question 53

Nostra, Inc. is a company that develops video games. The company's primary vision is innovation and quick adaptation to the changing environment of the gaming industry. The CEO of the company values creativity and frequently urges her employees to think outside-the-box in order come up with the next big idea. Which of the following best describes Nostra's organizational culture?

A)Adhocracy
B)Clan
C)Role
D)Market
E)Hierarchy

Question 54

Mentoring has negligible influence on the protégé/protégée's future career.

Question 55

Southstar, Inc. manufactures high-quality widgets. The widgets have to be built exactly according to the specifications provided. This requires the use of controlled processes and precise measurements. The company also needs to maintain high efficiency in its production process in order to meet the market demand. For this company, stability is more important than flexibility. Which of the organizational cultures is best suited for Southstar?

A)Adhocracy culture
B)Clan culture
C)Modern culture
D)Hierarchy culture
E)Market culture

Question 56

Organizational commitment has the strongest positive correlation with _____ cultures.

A)market
B)clan
C)hierarchy
D)adhocracy
E)power

Question 57

_____ cultures value stability and have an internal focus.

A)Clan
B)Adhocracy
C)Hierarchy
D)Market
E)Communal

Question 58

_____ are enduring beliefs in a mode of conduct or end-state that transcend situations and are ordered by relative importance.

A)Values
B)Ethics
C)Attitudes
D)Morals
E)Norms

Question 59

The diversity of developmental relationships reflects the variety of people within the network an individual uses for developmental assistance.

Question 60

Mentoring enhances the effectiveness of organizational communication.

Question 61

Al starts work at a law firm. For the first three weeks that he's there he is in constant contact with other new hires, all of whom wear lanyards distinguishing them from more tenured employees. Al and the other newcomers are put through a training session that introduces them to the values and policies of the firm, and clarifies the specific tasks that they would be performing. Al's socialization is, necessarily, _____ in nature.

A)informal
B)random
C)collective
D)divestiture
E)serial

Question 62

Which of the following statements about organizational culture is true?

A)An organization's culture is not determined by fate.
B)A change-resistant culture does not have an effect on organizational change.
C)Changing an organization's culture is a simple and easy process.
D)A company's organizational culture is formed and shaped by the combination and integration of the top managers.
E)Mergers of two organizations with incompatible cultures frequently lead to successful results.

Question 63

Which of the following statements is true about practical applications of socialization research?

A)A sink-or-swim response to organizational socialization has been found to be most helpful for new employees.
B)The stage model of organizational socialization has been found to consistently be the most effective model and it has garnered wide support.
C)A contingency approach is not appropriate for the organizational socialization process.
D)Diverse employees experience socialization activities in the same manner.
E)Effective onboarding programs result in increased retention, productivity, and rates of task completion for new hires.

Question 64

_____ socialization is the practice of segregating a newcomer from regular organization members during a defined socialization period versus not clearly distinguishing a newcomer from more experienced members.

A)Serial
B)Formal
C)Sequential
D)Random
E)Informal

Question 65

Which of the following is the first phase of the organizational socialization process?

A)Change and acquisition
B)Encounter
C)Integration
D)Onboarding
E)Anticipatory socialization

Question 66

Realistic job previews _____.

A)build self-esteem
B)alter unrealistic expectations
C)present a negative view of the organization
D)improve job performance
E)raise recruiting costs

Question 67

Peter is a resident surgeon at his local hospital. Before he could start his residency, he had to complete four years of medical school, and then two years of internship. Identify the socialization process that Peter had to undergo.

A)Random socialization
B)Collective socialization
C)Sequential socialization
D)Informal socialization
E)Fixed socialization

Question 68

A vision represents:

A)a long-term goal that describes "what" an organization wants to become.
B)outlines an organization's long-term goals and the actions necessary to achieve these goals.
C)the set of shared, taken-for-granted implicit assumptions that a group holds and that determines how it perceives, thinks about, and reacts to its various environments.
D)a plan that has the organization's template for hiring procedures.
E)the history of an organization.

Question 69

Which of the following statements about organizational culture is true?

A)Employees are more satisfied and committed to organizations with market cultures.
B)Innovation and quality can be increased by building characteristics associated with hierarchical cultures.
C)Organizational culture is clearly related to measures of organizational effectiveness.
D)An organization's culture strongly influences its financial performance.
E)Organizations with clan culture experience the greatest objective growth.

Question 70

In the _____ phase of the socialization process, people gather information from many sources before they join the organization.

A)change and acquisition
B)anticipatory socialization
C)adaptive
D)modification
E)encounter

Question 71

In the _____ phase of the socialization process, the employee masters important tasks and roles, and adjusts to work values and norms.

A)change and acquisition
B)anticipatory socialization
C)adaptive
D)modification
E)encounter

Question 72

A _____ socialization process is one in which the newcomer is socialized by an experienced member.

A)fixed
B)variable
C)random
D)disjunctive
E)serial

Question 73

Amy has recently joined a new research institute. She had initially thought that her job would entail a lot of field work, which would allow her to gain some practical experience, but her manager just gives her a lot of paperwork instead. She is also learning to adjust to the strict dress code that the company enforces on all of its employees. Amy is in the _____ stage of the socialization process.

A)change and acquisition
B)anticipatory socialization
C)adaptive
D)modification
E)encounter

Question 74

Organizational _____ is defined as "the process by which a person learns the values, norms, and required behaviors which permit him to participate as a member of the organization."

A)designing
B)acquisition
C)socialization
D)change
E)development

Question 75

A(n) _____ is a long-term outlook outlining action needed to achieve desired results.

A)vision
B)strategic plan
C)operational tool
D)organizational philosophy
E)value statement

Question 76

Which of the following perceptual and social processes occurs during the change and acquisition phase of organizational socialization?

A)Anticipating realities about the organization and the new job
B)Internalizing group norms and values
C)Anticipating organization's needs for one's skills and abilities
D)Managing lifestyle-versus-work conflicts
E)Seeking role definition and clarity

Question 77

Jimmy starts work at an accounting firm. On the first day of work, his boss takes him aside and tells him about the specifics of his job at the firm. Over the next few months, Jimmy's boss gives him further advice, instructions, and personal training on unique tasks. Which if the following describes Jimmy's socialization process at the accounting firm?

A)Informal
B)Sequential
C)Individual
D)Divestiture
E)Collective

Question 78

Bill wants to work for The Special Chocolate Factory. He applies for a job and at the same time tries to find out as much as he can about the company on the Internet. He also asks his friend Charles, who already works there, about the work environment and employee benefits that the company offers. Which phase of organizational socialization is Bill currently in?

A)Encounter
B)Anticipatory socialization
C)Integration
D)Arrival
E)Change and acquisition

Question 79

In the _____ phase of the socialization process, the employee tries to reconcile unmet expectations and make sense of the new work environment.

A)change and acquisition
B)anticipatory socialization
C)adaptive
D)modification
E)encounter

Question 80

Realistic job previews serve to _____.

A)decrease turnover
B)decrease performance
C)increase absenteeism
D)decrease job satisfaction
E)decrease organizational commitment