Deck 14: Organizational Culture

Question 1

When estimating the content of an organization's culture,we should pay attention to:

A) the values employees actually apply.
B) the beliefs that customers have about the company's products.
C) the amount of reality shock newcomers experience when joining the company.
D) the values executives say employees should apply.
E) We should never pay attention to values or beliefs when estimating organizational culture.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The assumptions and values 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.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

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.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The assumptions and values that direct everyone in the organization toward the "right way" of doing things are called

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

Question 5

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 the 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':

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

Question 6

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 7

How do espoused values relate to the concept of organizational culture?

A) Espoused values represent the shared assumptions within an organization's culture.
B) Espoused values are what leaders and employees rely on to guide their decisions and behaviours.
C) Espoused values are mainly used to decipher an organization's culture.
D) Espoused values are the values that corporate leaders want others to believe guide the organization's decisions and actions.
E) Espoused values are articulated mental models.

Question 8

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

A) assumptions, beliefs and behaviours that subconsciously guide employee thoughts and actions.
B) behaviours that employees enact to demonstrate their support for corporate goals.
C) decisions routinely occurring throughout the organization that support corporate strategies.
D) values and assumptions that directs everyone in the organization toward the "right way" of doing things.
E) rituals and ceremonies that employees enact to consummate their relationship with the organization.

Question 9

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 10

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

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

Question 11

The hidden elements of an organization's culture include:

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

Question 12

Which of these statements about shared assumptions is FALSE?

A) Shared assumptions are unconscious taken-for granted perceptions or beliefs.
B) Shared assumptions are so deeply embedded they probably cannot be discovered by surveying employees.
C) Shared assumptions include shared enacted values.
D) Shared assumptions are revealed through corporate value statements.
E) All of the above are correct.

Question 13

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 14

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

A) Assumptions
B) Artifacts
C) Beliefs
D) Shared values
E) Stories

Question 15

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 16

The deepest element of organizational culture is:

A) shared values.
B) artifacts.
C) language.
D) symbols.
E) shared assumptions.

Question 17

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 behaviour.
E) Some subcultures directly oppose the organization's core values.

Question 18

Organizational culture includes:

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

Question 19

The best way to determine an organization's shared assumptions is to:

A) interview executives.
B) look for evidence of its corporate value statements.
C) observe employees, analyze their decisions, and debrief them on their actions.
D) read public relations statements produced by the organization.
E) ask customers to evaluate the company's effectiveness.

Question 20

One advantage of countercultures is that they:

A) rarely exist in real organizations.
B) maintain the organization's standards of performance and ethical behaviour.
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 21

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

A) interview executives.
B) look for evidence of its corporate value statements.
C) sample information from a variety of organizational artifacts.
D) read and analyze the various mission statements produced by the organization.
E) ask customers to evaluate the company's effectiveness.

Question 22

The building in which employees work:

A) often reflects the organization's culture.
B) can potentially influence the organization's culture.
C) is a possible artifact of organizational culture.
D) reflects and influences an organization's culture.
E) has little or no effect on an organization's culture.

Question 23

Which of these statements about organizational stories is FALSE?

A) Organizational stories are most effective at communicating organizational culture when employees believe the stories are true.
B) Stories communicate organizational culture if they describe positive events, whereas they undermine organizational culture if they describe negative events.
C) Organizational stories provide human realism to individual performance standards.
D) Stories are most effective at communicating organizational culture when they describe real events with real people.
E) Organizational stories communicate culture because they provide role models to demonstrate that organizational objectives are attainable.

Question 24

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 25

Companies with strong organizational cultures are more effective than companies with weak cultures:

A) because such organizations do not have subcultures.
B) if the cultural values emphasize customer service rather than cost efficiency.
C) if their cultural values are compatible with the organization's external environment.
D) if there is high turnover among production employees.
E) never; companies with weak cultures are almost always more effective than those with strong cultures.

Question 26

Rituals are:

A) programmed routines of daily organizational life that dramatize the organization's culture.
B) deliberate attempts to communicate the corporate culture to new employees.
C) events that suggest the organization's culture is about to change.
D) physical structures that convey the dominant values of an organization's culture.
E) games that people play to defy the dominant culture and, instead, support countercultural beliefs and values.

Question 27

At meetings of a major consumer products firm,employees habitually stand up when the most senior executive at the meeting enters the room.This practice represents:

A) evidence that the meeting has employees who hold countercultural values.
B) evidence that the company has an adaptive culture.
C) a ritual that probably symbolizes the organization's dominant culture.
D) a form of blind subservience to senior management.
E) evidence that the company's espoused values differ from its enacted values.

Question 28

Which of the following is an artifact rather than a cultural content?

A) Values
B) Language
C) Assumptions
D) Beliefs
E) Both language and assumptions are artifacts.

Question 29

Which of the following would NOT be considered an artifact of an organization's culture?

A) The shape, size and location of corporate headquarters.
B) How visitors are greeted when they first enter a company building.
C) The stories told by employees to newcomers about the founder's experiences when he or she started the company.
D) The unique metaphors and special vocabularies that employees use to share meaning.
E) All of these would be considered artifacts of an organization's culture.

Question 30

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 31

A strong corporate culture potentially increases organizational performance by:

A) helping employees across all subunits understand and embrace the dominant values.
B) ensuring that employees mindlessly perform their work in an obedient manner.
C) ensuring that no one holds countercultural values.
D) ensuring that employees do not adopt new and unapproved values.
E) doing all of these things.

Question 32

Whenever an advertising firm lands a new contract,the successful team rings a loud bell and breaks out a bottle of champagne.In organizational culture,this practice would be considered:

A) a ritual.
B) a ceremony.
C) an idiosyncrasy.
D) a manifestation of a culture that likes to party but needs an excuse to do so.
E) a motivational tactic that masquerades as an espoused value.

Question 33

An organization's culture is deemed to be strong if:

A) it is intense but short-lived.
B) it is deeply held by most employees across the organization.
C) its values that are believed only by top management.
D) it is held by only a few key people but are well known to most people in the organization.
E) it consist of many values rather than only a few values.

Question 34

Organizational culture serves what purpose in organizations?

A) It is a deeply embedded form of social control.
B) It bonds employees together and makes them feel part of the organizational experience.
C) It helps employees to understand organizational events.
D) It does all of these things.
E) It does none of these things.

Question 35

Organizational stories are most effective at communicating organizational culture:

A) never; organizational stories always overinflate the organization's true culture.
B) only when they are told by senior executives to the public.
C) when they describe real people, are assumed to be true, and are known by employees throughout the organizations.
D) when they are true and descriptive rather than prescriptive.
E) when they are known by all stakeholders.

Question 36

According to your text,why do corporate cults undermine organizational effectiveness?

A) They lock decision makers into mental models that prevent them from seeing new opportunities and unique problems.
B) They manipulate organizational members.
C) They create organizations where unethical behaviour is tolerated.
D) They prevent subcultures from existing within the organization.
E) All of these occur.

Question 37

What tends to happen when an organization's culture is misaligned with its external environment?

A) The corporate culture gets stronger.
B) The organization's subcultures weaken.
C) The organization has more difficulty anticipating and responding to stakeholder needs.
D) The organization is unable to develop subcultures.
E) All of these occur.

Question 38

Organizational culture does which of the following?

A) It is a powerful form of social control that influences employee decisions and behaviour.
B) It is the social glue that bonds employees together and makes them feel part of the organization.
C) It assists the sense-making process
D) It does all of these things.
E) It has no effect on employees.

Question 39

To develop the most accurate estimate of an organization's culture,we should:

A) survey employees.
B) observe workplace behaviour.
C) investigate physical elements in the workplace.
D) do all of these.
E) survey employees and observe behaviour, but NOT investigate physical elements in the workplace.

Question 40

Which of these statements about the strength of organizational culture and organizational performance is TRUE?

A) Organizations with stronger cultures tend to perform better than those with weak cultures when that organization's culture content is aligned with its external environment.
B) There is no relationship between an organization's cultural strength and its performance.
C) Organizations with stronger cultures tend to perform better only when they acquire other organizations with distinct cultures.
D) Organizations with stronger cultures almost always perform poorly compared to those with weak cultures.
E) Organizations with stronger cultures perform poorly if they have subcultures.

Question 41

Moving the company or business unit into a new office that reflects a different culture is an application of which strategy to change and strengthen organizational culture?

A) Aligning artifacts.
B) Tranformational culture.
C) geographical transformation.
D) Situational transformation.
E) Transforming artifacts.

Question 42

The main purpose of a bicultural audit is to:

A) determine whether your company's organizational culture is sufficiently strong.
B) estimate the number of dominant and subcultural values that exist in an organization.
C) find out whether people from different countries have the same corporate cultures.
D) identify and diagnose differences in the corporate cultures of merging organizations.
E) teach new employees the organization's dominant cultural values.

Question 43

When merging two organizations,a separation strategy is most commonly applied when:

A) both companies have relatively weak cultures that are generally ineffective.
B) one company has an effective culture and employees at the other company would embrace that culture if applied to them.
C) the two organizations operate in distinct industries.
D) the acquired firm's culture doesn't work, whereas the culture of the acquiring firm does work.
E) a bicultural audit reveals that both companies have very similar cultures.

Question 44

According to the attraction-selection-attrition (ASA)theory,job applicants:

A) are attracted to coworkers with similar values and assumptions.
B) avoid employment in companies whose values seem incompatible with their own values.
C) do not typically pay much heed to organizational values when applying for work.
D) avoid other applicants if they are competing for the same jobs.
E) are attracted to companies that are likely to provide them with the greatest rewards.

Question 45

Which strategy for merging two distinct cultures is recommended when the two companies have relatively weak cultures with overlapping values?

A) Deculturation
B) Assimilation
C) Separation
D) Integration
E) None of these strategies is recommended in this situation.

Question 46

A deculturation strategy of merging two corporate cultures should be applied:

A) never, because deculturation destroys both cultures.
B) when both firms operate successfully in different industries.
C) when employees in the acquired firm want to hold on to their firm's culture even though it does not fit the external environment.
D) when both firms have weak cultures.
E) whenever one firm has more power over another firm in a merger.

Question 47

Which of the following is a characteristic of an adaptive corporate culture?

A) Employees hold a common mental model that the organization's success depends on their personal well-being.
B) Employees engage in continuous improvement of internal processes to serve external stakeholders.
C) Employees wait for opportunities to arrive.
D) Employees tend to take the view that any activity beyond their job description is not their job.
E) All of these are characteristic of adaptive cultures.

Question 48

Organizations with an adaptive corporate culture:

A) are unlikely to survive in the long run.
B) has a strong learning orientation.
C) tend to be less ethical than organizations with non-adaptive cultures.
D) have no artifacts to keep their culture in place.
E) are focused inward to employee needs.

Question 49

Which strategy for merging two distinct cultures is recommended when the two companies are in unrelated industries and have cultures that seem to work well for them?

A) Deculturation
B) Assimilation
C) Separation
D) Integration
E) None of these strategies is recommended in this situation.

Question 50

One of the first steps one should take before a merger in order to minimize cultural clashes is to:

A) significantly reduce the strength of the culture in both organizations.
B) conduct a bicultural audit.
C) significantly increase the strength of the culture in both organizations.
D) replace the chief executives in both organizations before merger negotiations begin.
E) conduct a bicultural audit AND significantly reduce the strength of the culture in both organizations.

Question 51

Most employees at United FiberTech support the idea that the company's success depends on their willingness to continually change and improve customer service.United FiberTech probably has:

A) an adaptive culture.
B) many countercultures.
C) more subcultures than employees.
D) a market-driven culture.
E) no corporate culture.

Question 52

The process of strengthening organizational culture,by attracting and hiring people who already embrace the cultural values,and weeding out those who don't fit the cultures is explained by:

A) corporate cult theory.
B) attracting-selecting-weeding-out theory.
C) corporate gardener metaphor theory.
D) attraction-selection-repulsion theory.
E) None of the above is correct.

Question 53

If an organization has an adaptive culture,it likely has:

A) employees with a strong sense of ownership over the company's success.
B) a culture that emphasizes dozens of values at the same time.
C) an external focus on the needs of customers and other stakeholders.
D) all of these are characteristics of adaptive cultures.
E) employees with a strong sense of ownership AND an external focus on stakeholder needs.

Question 54

How do founders and corporate leaders affect corporate culture?

A) Transformational leaders develop or change the organization's culture.
B) Founders and corporate leaders develop the systems and structures that support their personal values.
C) Founders and corporate leaders are often visionaries who provide powerful role models for others to follow.
D) Founders and corporate leaders strengthen or change corporate culture by applying change practices.
E) All of these statements are correct.

Question 55

As an organization's culture becomes very strong,it:

A) becomes more misaligned with its external environment.
B) becomes more effective in the marketplace.
C) makes employees less committed to the organization.
D) causes various subcultures in the organization to also become stronger.
E) tends to suppress dissenting subcultural values.

Question 56

In what way do founders influence their organization's culture?

A) They are often visionaries who provide a powerful role model for others to follow.
B) They are instrumental in starting up the organization.
C) They typically avoid direct contact with lower-level employees.
D) They tend to be entrepreneurial rather than transformational.
E) They have little if any influence.

Question 57

Employees at SuperTech Services seek out opportunities rather than wait for them to arrive.They also have a strong sense of responsibility for the organization's performance.SuperTech likely has:

A) a weak organizational culture.
B) a strong counterculture.
C) relatively few artifacts representing the organization's culture.
D) a culture that is misaligned with its external environment.
E) an adaptive culture.

Question 58

In a merger,the process of diagnosing cultural relations between the companies and determining the extent to which cultural clashes will likely occur is called:

A) organizational socialization.
B) a multicultural audit.
C) knowledge management.
D) a bicultural audit.
E) organizational diagnosis.

Question 59

What is the relationship between organizational culture and business ethics?

A) Companies with a strong organizational culture are more likely to have employees with higher ethical standards of behaviour.
B) When companies have a weak organizational culture, employees are more likely to rely on their ethical values to make decisions.
C) An organization's culture may strengthen ethical values.
D) Organizational culture can be a source of ethical problems.
E) An organization's culture may strengthen ethical values AND can be a source of ethical problems.

Question 60

Which strategy for merging two distinct cultures tends to create high levels of confusion,conflict,resentment and stress?

A) Deculturation
B) Assimilation
C) Separation
D) Integration
E) None of these strategies has this effect.

Question 61

Organizational socialization is best described as a process of:

A) cooperation and stability.
B) power and restructuring.
C) negotiation and concession-making.
D) learning and adaptation.
E) None of these describes the process of organizational socialization.

Question 62

At what stage of socialization do people FIRST learn about the organization and job?

A) Role management
B) Encounter
C) Pre-employment
D) Reality shock
E) Disillusionment

Question 63

Employees are willing to tolerate obligations that are not necessarily balance in the short-run when their psychological contract is:

A) short term
B) relational
C) transactional
D) transformational
E) collective

Question 64

When should organizations leverage the benefits of reality shock?

A) When they want employees to develop better expectations of future work experiences.
B) When they want to ensure that employees develop a stronger loyalty to the organization.
C) When they want to help newcomers develop a stronger bond with coworkers and the organization.
D) Under all of these conditions.
E) Never; companies should minimize reality shock.

Question 65

Resolving conflicts between work and nonwork activities mainly occurs during what stage of socialization?

A) Role management
B) Encounter
C) Pre-employment
D) Reality shock
E) Disillusionment

Question 66

Which of these statements about psychological contracts is FALSE?

A) Relational contracts are more open-ended and indefinite than transactional contracts.
B) Job security is one of the most important features of psychological contracts among younger employees.
C) The psychological contracts that Canadian employees have today are very similar to those formed 30 years ago.
D) The psychological contracts continues to develop and evolve after job applicants become employees.
E) Permanent employees are more likely to believe they have a relational contract.

Question 67

In the context of organizational socialization,the adjustment process is better for:

A) those who rebel against and reject the company's dominant values.
B) employees who experience significant levels of reality shock.
C) newcomers with diverse work experience.
D) people who are able to avoid the encounter stage of socialization.
E) individuals who retain their personal identity.

Question 68

The process of organizational socialization begins:

A) as soon as the person is hired by the organization.
B) within the employee's first week on the job.
C) long before the first day of work for the organization.
D) when the employee finally reconciles pre-employment expectations with organizational reality.
E) when the employee receives his or her first performance appraisal.

Question 69

Which of the following statement is consistent with the attraction-selection-attrition (ASA)theory?

A) Job applicants who later become organizational members tend to be attracted to co-workers who share their values and assumptions.
B) Organizations have a natural tendency to attract, select and retain people with values that are consistent with the organization's own culture.
C) Attraction, selection and attrition are part of the natural life-cycle of organizational members.
D) Employees get attached to organizations that meet their reward expectations.
E) Attraction followed by selection inevitably lead to attrition in the future.

Question 70

Reality shock is:

A) based on expectancy theory.
B) an element in the model of individual behaviour.
C) common in lateral career development.
D) a unique feature of an adaptive culture.
E) a perceived discrepancy between employee expectations and reality.

Question 71

Reality shock among new employees typically occurs when:

A) newcomers experience information overload as they enter the workplace.
B) employers are unable or unwilling to live up to their promises.
C) newcomers develop exaggerated expectations about the job.
D) All of these typically lead to reality shock.
E) They realize they will have to work in organizations until they retire.

Question 72

The main purpose of realistic job previews is to:

A) increase the number of people applying for the job.
B) help supervisors empathize with their subordinates.
C) increase turnover of poor performers.
D) help current employees psychologically prepare for retirement.
E) help job applicants form accurate expectations of the organization and job.

Question 73

The pre-employment stage of organizational socialization would be more effective if:

A) employers avoided forming a psychological contract.
B) employers and job applicants gave and received accurate information about each other.
C) employers and applicants experienced reality shock when meeting each other for the first time.
D) job applicants distorted their resumé in order to be offered employment.
E) all of these conditions existed.

Question 74

Employees are organizationally socialized:

A) beginning with the role management stage of organizational socialization.
B) long before their first day of work.
C) beginning with the company's orientation program on the first day of work.
D) only when they enter management positions.
E) beginning with the encounter stages of organizational socialization.

Question 75

The three stages of organizational socialization,in order,are:

A) prehire, pre-employment, post-hire.
B) newcomer, insider, outsider.
C) student, employee, retiree.
D) pre-employment, encounter, role management.
E) anticipation, encounter, disillusionment.

Question 76

Which of the following happens during the pre-employment stage of organizational socialization?

A) Conflicts are resolved between work and nonwork activities.
B) Employees form expectations (psychological contract) about working at that organization.
C) Reality shock is experienced.
D) All of these occur.
E) None of these occur.

Question 77

Employees usually learn which of the following through the process of organizational socialization?

A) Company's history.
B) corporate culture.
C) Knowing who holds power in the work unit and organization.
D) Technical jargon.
E) All of the above.

Question 78

Employees with a transactional psychological contract:

A) do not expect immediate correction to any short-term imbalances.
B) are more likely to engage in organizational citizenship behaviours.
C) have a long-term attachment with a broad array of subjective expectations.
D) have all of the above.
E) have none of the above.

Question 79

A realistic job preview:

A) builds a loyal work force by demonstrating respect for the psychological contract and concern for employee welfare.
B) creates more reality shock when employees move to the encounter stage of socialization.
C) helps employees to avoid forming a psychological contract.
D) has all of these effects.
E) builds a loyal work force AND helps employees to avoid forming a psychological contract, but does not create more reality shock.

Question 80

Which of the following represents a type of vaccination by preparing job applicants for the more challenging and troublesome aspects of work life?

A) Encounter stage of socialization
B) Realistic job previews
C) Anticipatory reality shock
D) Cultural acclimatization
E) Ritualistic job reviews