Deck 16: Organizational Culture

Question 1

Shared mental models are part of an organization's culture.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Rituals represent the organization's deliberate and usually dramatic displays of its dominant culture.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Subcultures are groups of employees whose values are opposed to the organization's dominant values.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The most accurate way to determine an organization's culture is by interviewing senior executives about their perceptions of that culture.

Question 5

Artifacts refer mainly to the paintings and other art objects that appear throughout the organization.

Question 6

Organizational stories support organizational culture by providing social prescriptions of the ways things should or should not be done around the organization.

Question 7

The organizational cultures of most companies can be identified as mercenaries,fortresses or communes.

Question 8

Organizational culture is not directly observable,but it may be loosely interpreted through visible artifacts.

Question 9

The organization's physical structure and use of space often communicates its dominant cultural values.

Question 10

Researchers have found that an organization's culture may be identified very easily and quickly by looking at one or two observable artifacts.

Question 11

A ritual would include how visitors are greeted as they enter the company's offices.

Question 12

Organizational countercultures potentially create conflict and dissension among employees.

Question 13

Organizational stories are most effective at communicating corporate culture when they describe real people and seem to represent true past events.

Question 14

Language reflects an organization's dominant values but not the values of its subcultures.

Question 15

Organizational culture is the basic pattern of shared assumptions,values and artifacts considered to be the correct way of thinking about and acting on problems and opportunities facing the organization.

Question 16

Researchers have estimated that most corporate cultures emphasize one of three universal values.

Question 17

Artifacts of organizational culture may include the building's design,the way people are greeted and the food served in the company's cafeteria.

Question 18

Organizational countercultures further strengthen the organization's dominant culture.

Question 19

Beliefs represent the deepest part of an organization's culture.

Question 20

Organizational countercultures help the organization to maintain its ethical conduct.

Question 21

Most organizational behavior writers suggest that organizations are more effective when they become corporate cults.

Question 22

Adaptive cultures focus employees on the changing needs of customers and other stakeholders and support initiative and leadership to keep pace with these changes.

Question 23

Clashing corporate cultures after a merger of two firms has very little effect on the success of the merger after one or two years.

Question 24

Organizational culture is a deeply embedded form of social control that influences the thoughts and actions of organizational members.

Question 25

A strong corporate culture bonds employees together and makes them feel part of the organization.

Question 26

Companies with strong corporate cultures invariably have much higher performance than companies with weak cultures.

Question 27

Two companies should not merge if a bicultural audit determines that they have substantially different cultures.

Question 28

An organization's culture can either support or undermine ethical conduct among employees.

Question 29

One problem with a strong corporate culture is that if focuses employees so much on one mental model that they may fail to see issues from different perspectives..

Question 30

Organizations with adaptive cultures are unable to maintain a stable value system and,consequently,tend to perform poorly in the long run.

Question 31

Office space and paintings hung on walls can be artifacts that symbolize the organization's culture.

Question 32

An adaptive organizational culture is one where employees pay attention to organizational goals,not the processes to achieve those goals.

Question 33

The stronger the corporate culture,the more difficult it is for employees to bond together.

Question 34

A strong organizational culture exists when most employees understand and accept the dominant values.

Question 35

A strong organizational culture improves the firm's effectiveness only if the cultural values are aligned with the external environment.

Question 36

One of the first steps in a bicultural audit is to identify the other organization's corporate culture through artifacts.

Question 37

The assimilation strategy of merging corporate cultures should be applied when the acquired firm has a weak culture and is willing to embrace the acquiring company's culture.

Question 38

A strong corporate culture exists when employees are forced to abide by a particular set of organizational values whether or not they believe in those values.

Question 39

Compared to other strategies for merging two organizations,assimilation is most likely to result in a culture clash.

Question 40

One problem with a strong organizational culture is that it increases conflict among employees within the company and makes it more difficult for them to understand each other.

Question 41

Deculturation is the best strategy for combining corporate cultures in most mergers.

Question 42

Ideally,newcomers should adopt a level of creative individualism in which they accept the essential elements of the organization's culture,yet maintain a healthy individualism that challenges some elements of organizational life.

Question 43

Organizational socialization is a process of both learning and adjustment.

Question 44

The separation strategy is most appropriate when the merging companies are unrelated industries.

Question 45

Organizational culture is strengthened through transformational leaders who 'walk the talk'.

Question 46

Realistic job previews improve organizational socialization by ensuring that applicants develop more accurate pre-employment expectations.

Question 47

Most studies have found that reward systems have little or no effect on strengthening corporate culture.

Question 48

During the role management stage of organizational socialization,employees are newcomers who test their pre-employment expectations with the perceived realities.

Question 49

Postdecisional justification causes employees to doubt the job offer they accepted soon after the decision is made.

Question 50

The three stages of organizational socialization are psychological contract,confirmation,and role management.

Question 51

Organizational socialization begins on the first day of employment and continues throughout one's career within the company.

Question 52

Reality shock occurs when you perceive a discrepancy between your pre-employment expectations and on-the-job reality.

Question 53

Nearly all of the socialization adjustment process occurs during and after the first day of work.

Question 54

Companies strengthen corporate culture by selecting applicants whose values are compatible with the company's dominant values.

Question 55

Organizational socialization is the process of meeting other employees and spending more time with them throughout the work day.

Question 56

Reality shock improves the organizational socialization process by forcing newcomers to pay more attention to work activities.

Question 57

New employees learn corporate culture through the process of organizational socialization.

Question 58

Some distortion in the psychological contract occurs during pre-employment socialization because job applicants are reluctant to ask questions that may convey a negative impression of them to employers.

Question 59

The integration strategy for combining corporate cultures usually creates conflict as employees from the acquired firm resist the cultural intrusions.

Question 60

Reality shock occurs on or before the first day of work.

Question 61

Co-workers are important organizational socialization agents.

Question 62

Organizational culture is best described as the basic pattern of shared:

A) assumptions, beliefs and behaviors that subconsciously guide employee thoughts and actions.
B) behaviors that employees enact to demonstrate their support for corporate goals.
C) decisions routinely occurring throughout the organization that support corporate strategies.
D) assumptions, beliefs and values that subconsciously guide employee thoughts and actions.
E) rituals and ceremonies that employees enact to consummate their relationship with the organization.

Question 63

The observable symbols and signs of an organization's culture:

A) are called artifacts.
B) are found only in companies with very strong cultures.
C) are used to communicate culture only when more direct means are unavailable.
D) are very easy to interpret.
E) are all of these.

Question 64

Which of the following is potentially an artifact of organizational culture?

A) Artwork on office walls
B) The way visitors to the organization are greeted
C) The names employees give to conference rooms
D) All of these are potentially artifacts.
E) Artwork, greeting visitors, and conference room names are rarely, if ever, considered artifacts.

Question 65

The assumptions,beliefs,and values that subconsciously guide employee thoughts and actions are called:

A) organizational culture.
B) organizational structure.
C) organizational socialization.
D) organizational politics.
E) transformational leadership.

Question 66

An organization's dominant culture is:

A) the values dictated by an organization's new owners.
B) the assumptions, values and beliefs shared most widely by the organization's members.
C) the values held by the most vocal countercultural group in the organization.
D) the assumptions, values and beliefs that the company's top executives are trying to spread throughout the organization.
E) the values that senior executives want people outside the organization to believe are followed within the company.

Question 67

The content of an organization's culture:

A) is usually apparent as soon as a visitor walks in the front door.
B) can be placed into one of five main types, such as a 'mercenaries or 'communes.
C) represents the relative ordering of rewards and status symbols found throughout the organization.
D) is all of these things.
E) is none of these things.

Question 68

Which part of organizational culture is closest to the 'surface' (i.e.observable indicators)?

A) Assumptions
B) Artifacts
C) Values
D) Beliefs
E) Stories

Question 69

The assumptions,values,and beliefs shared most widely by employees represent:

A) the organization's dominant culture.
B) the organization's deculturation process.
C) the organization's counterculture.
D) artifacts held mainly by senior executives in the organization.
E) organizational rituals.

Question 70

The hidden elements of an organization's culture include:

A) physical structures.
B) language used in the organization.
C) employee beliefs and values.
D) All of these are hidden elements of an organization's culture.
E) None of these is a hidden element of an organization's culture.

Question 71

The observable symbols and signs of an organization's values,beliefs and assumptions are called:

A) organizational culture
B) mental models
C) artifacts
D) values
E) socialization

Question 72

Organizational culture includes:

A) three universal values.
B) artifacts, values, and beliefs.
C) values, assumptions, and audits.
D) behaviors, beliefs, and budgets.
E) None of these statements is accurate.

Question 73

Which of these statements about organizational subcultures is FALSE?

A) Some subcultures support the organization's dominant culture.
B) Subcultures spawn emerging values that the company may eventually adopt.
C) Organizations should subdue subcultures that oppose the firm's dominant values.
D) Subcultures potentially maintain the organization's standards of performance and ethical behavior.
E) Some subcultures directly oppose the organization's core values.

Question 74

Which of the following is a spawning ground for emerging corporate culture values?

A) Subcultures
B) Bicultural audits
C) Artifacts
D) The actions of the company's founder
E) None of these

Question 75

What is the significance of artifacts in organizational culture?

A) Artifacts are the same as organizational culture.
B) Artifacts are the leftover parts of the organization that cannot fit into its culture.
C) Artifacts represent the directly observable symbols and signs of an organization's culture.
D) Artifacts are the observable indicators that the organization does not have a culture.
E) Artifacts mainly reflect the subcultures that conflict with an organization's dominant culture.

Question 76

Organizations that tolerate or encourage subcultures with dissenting values:

A) usually go quickly out of business.
B) usually build stronger cultures to counteract those dissenting values.
C) may eventually use those dissenting values to build a new set of dominant values in the future.
D) do not have any corporate culture.
E) None of these statements is accurate.

Question 77

The deepest element of organizational culture is:

A) values.
B) artifacts.
C) language.
D) beliefs.
E) assumptions.

Question 78

Tsunami Ltd.hired a consultant to assess the corporate culture of Wise Widgets,which Tsunami wanted to acquire.Executives at Wise Widgets were eager to be acquired by Tsunami,so were willing to have its senior executives interviewed by the consultant regarding the company's culture.The consultant also relied heavily on news releases and other public relations statements produced by executives at Wise Widgets to decipher the company's culture.In this situation,the consultant probably is measuring Wise Widgets's:

A) counterculture.
B) socialization process.
C) dominant culture.
D) assumptions.
E) The consultant is measuring none of these.

Question 79

One advantage of countercultures is that they:

A) rarely exist in real organizations.
B) maintain surveillance over and critique of the company's dominant culture.
C) prevent organizations from developing a corporate culture.
D) ensure that corporate mergers occur without any culture clashes.
E) countercultures never make organizations more effective.

Question 80

The best way to measure an organization's culture is to:

A) interview executives.
B) look for evidence of its publicly-stated values.
C) conduct a careful analysis of many organizational artifacts.
D) read public relations statements produced by the organization.
E) ask customers to evaluate the company's effectiveness.