Deck 1: The Nature and Importance of Leadership

Question 1

Middle manager Sara is engaged in the team builder role when she

A)negotiates for a larger budget for her team.
B)represents her group at a company meeting.
C)holds a meeting to talk about team accomplishments.
D)helps the group solve a technical problem.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

A company president attends a groundbreaking ceremony for a new children's hospital located near company headquarters.The president's role is best classified as that of

A)figurehead.
B)coach.
C)team leader.
D)spokesperson.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which one of the following is the least important factor in building a partnership between the leader and group members?

A)Many people working on the same purpose
B)The right for people to express a contrary opinion
C)The leader having most of the accountability
D)Absolute honesty among people

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Intrinsically satisfying work can be a leadership substitute because such work

A)is so self-motivating that the worker requires very little leadership.
B)usually involves computer technology.
C)is usually performed when the leader is away.
D)lies outside the jurisdiction of leaders.

Question 5

Leadership can be practiced

A)only in the executive suite.
B)at any level in the organization.
C)only by people whose job title includes "manager."
D)only when employees are performing below standard.

Question 6

Rather than leadership being something you do to people, it is considered something you do

A)against them.
B)with them.
C)after them.
D)before them.

Question 7

An advantage of being a leader noted in the leadership text is

A)being able to avoid the long hours typically worked by team members.
B)loads of overtime pay.
C)the opportunity to sidestep organizational politics.
D)a chance to help others grow and develop.

Question 8

Substitutes for leadership refers to

A)financial incentives that encourage people to work independently.
B)group members who are in charge when the leader is absent.
C)factors in the work setting that make leadership superfluous.
D)extra compensation given to employees who are asked to supervise their own work.

Question 9

A defining aspect of leadership is that it includes the ability to

A)communicate with people.
B)delegate responsibility to others.
C)maintain equilibrium in the organization.
D)inspire people's confidence and gain their support.

Question 10

A recommended approach for understanding the impact of leadership on performance is to ask

A)"Under what conditions do leaders make a difference?"
B)"How well liked is the leader?"
C)"What is the history of the firm?"
D)"What company policies regulate leadership?"

Question 11

A study of both transactional and transformational leadership on the financial performance of companies found that charismatic leadership

A)has almost no relationship to performance.
B)improved the performance most when conditions were stable.
C)improved the performance when employees were desperate.
D)had the biggest impact when the environment is uncertain.

Question 12

A potential disadvantage of being a leader is

A)losing contact with paperwork and email.
B)isolation from problems involving people.
C)having fewer people to confide in about work-related issues.
D)being out of the loop in terms of company policies.

Question 13

According to the leadership studies of Jim Collins, the most important factor in organizational performance is the

A)personality of the organization.
B)personality of the leader.
C)product mix offered to the public.
D)efficiency of operations.

Question 14

According to an analysis of a group of studies, in terms of having an impact on company performance the leader was about as important as the

A)building in which the company headquarters is located.
B)packaging chosen for the products.
C)industry in which the company operated.
D)price of the stock.

Question 15

An aspect of the coach and motivator role of the leader is to

A)deal with outside groups.
B)display loyalty to superiors.
C)informally recognize team member achievements.
D)bargain with superiors for funds, facilities, and equipment.

Question 16

One of the definitions of leadership offered in the text deals with figuring out what is right rather than

A)having other people tell you what is right.
B)explaining what is right.
C)doing what is right.
D)duplicating what is right.

Question 17

A point made by complexity theory is that leaders and managers

A)create unnecessary complexity in their organizations.
B)can predict accurately which strategies or product mixes will survive.
C)can usually stay one step ahead of environmental forces.
D)can do little to alter the course of the complex organizational system.

Question 18

The leader irrelevance theory suggests that factors outside the leader's control

A)work at cross purposes against the leader.
B)have a larger impact on business outcomes than does the leader.
C)are more relevant to group members than is the leader.
D)point leaders in an unethical direction.

Question 19

Marketing vice president Derek is engaged in the strategic planner role when he

A)takes a key customer to lunch.
B)coaches an account executive on how to close a major sale.
C)makes plan for enlarging the office.
D)looks for ideas in the outside world that could help the company.

Question 20

According to attribution theory, many people perceive leaders to be

A)victims of environmental forces.
B)responsible for the fate of their organizations.
C)controlled by the desires of group members.
D)passive figures in controlling the organization.

Question 21

One definition of leadership is "the willingness to take the blame."

Question 22

The various components of the framework for understanding leadership

A)cancel each other out as the leader applies the model.
B)are added together to estimate their total force.
C)operate quite independently of each other.
D)have a reciprocal influence on each other.

Question 23

Unless a manager gets people to move beyond mechanical compliance with directions and orders, leadership has not taken place.

Question 24

Under a system of leadership such as a partnership, each person takes personal accountability for the success or failure of the organizational unit.

Question 25

The modern organization is characterized by

A)a reversal of roles between leaders and followers.
B)an overthrow of authority by leaders.
C)competition between leaders and followers.
D)collaboration between leaders and followers.

Question 26

The terms isolates, activists, and diehards, relate to the idea that followers differ in terms of level of

A)intelligence and emotional maturity.
B)engagement with the leader and the group.
C)relevant job experience.
D)job relevant skills.

Question 27

According to Kotter, the leadership theorist, leadership is more scientific than management.

Question 28

A study about the impact of leadership found that when the environment is uncertain, the importance of charisma decreases.

Question 29

An effective way for a leader to collaborate with group members is to

A)make sure the group members get their yearly salary increases.
B)make all the major decisions himself or herself.
C)solicit input from the right group members.
D)make the hierarchy as steep as possible.

Question 30

The central theme of the nine dilemmas faced by leaders is

A)controlling costs versus spending money.
B)granting people the authority to act independently yet getting them aligned.
C)built-in conflicts between labor and management.
D)motivating versus satisfying employees.

Question 31

Leadership effectiveness, as defined in the framework for understanding leadership, refers to the leader

A)being impressive enough to get promoted.
B)attaining desirable outcomes such as productivity and satisfaction.
C)creating an attractive vision.
D)turning over decision-making responsibility to group members.

Question 32

One meaning of the formula L = f ( l,gm,s) is that leadership is partially a function of

A)gross marketing share.
B)group members.
C)gross national product.
D)satisfactions of the leader's boss.

Question 33

Which one of the following is the least essential characteristic of an effective follower?

A)Reliance on being managed or led by another person
B)Commitment to something beyond oneself
C)Competence building
D)Independent, critical thinking

Question 34

A synthesis of many studies indicated that changes in leadership are usually associated with conditions of stability within the organization.

Question 35

Effective leaders have to be good managers or be supported by effective managers.

Question 36

Leadership takes into account factors related to the leader, the persons being led, and

A)personality traits of leaders.
B)various forces in the environment.
C)personal characteristics of group members.
D)forces beyond the control of the leader.

Question 37

The concept of leadership as a partnership concerns legal aspects of relationships.

Question 38

An analysis of the franchise industry found that the success of the franchise was much more dependent on offering the lowest prices than upon leadership.

Question 39

A frequent antidote to major organizational problems is to retain the leader but fire and replace most of the other managers.

Question 40

A component of the general learning model applied to skill development in leadership is

A)memorizing lists of great business leaders.
B)making cross-comparisons of leadership theories.
C)reading vision statements in annual reports.
D)conceptual information supported by examples of leaders in action.

Question 41

Alexis is engaged in the team builder role when she performs individual contributor tasks on a regular basis.

Question 42

A major role for followers is to collaborate with leaders in achieving organizational goals.

Question 43

According to the substitutes for leadership viewpoint, certain factors in the work environment make the leader's role almost superfluous.

Question 44

According to former United States Army General Colin Powell, "Command is lonely."

Question 45

The most engaged followers are classified as diehards.

Question 46

A recommended approach to leadership effectiveness is to combine several approaches to meet the demands of a given situation.

Question 47

The formula L = f (l, gm, s) implies that being made of the right stuff is the most important factor influencing leadership effectiveness.

Question 48

Being a leader often gives a person a chance to help people directly.

Question 49

According to complexity theory, leaders are complex individuals who often destroy organizations because of their personal conflicts.

Question 50

A component of the general learning model applied to leadership skills is to obtain feedback on skill utilization from others.

Question 51

Part of the coach and motivator role is to provide team members with feedback concerning ineffective performance.

Question 52

A cited advantage of being a leader is that a person is better able to avoid being involved in organizational politics.

Question 53

The leadership process is a function of the leader, the group members, and other situational variables.

Question 54

The four sets of variables in the framework for understanding leadership effectiveness work independently of one another.

Question 55

A leadership specialist who studied how firms go from good to great concluded that leaders are slaves of organizational forces.

Question 56

A survey cited in the leadership text indicated that when executives seek candidates for management jobs, they look first for good analytical skills, followed by industry-specific experience, then leadership skills.

Question 57

The follower characteristic of competence refers to building skills that will make a person more marketable to other firms.

Question 58

A major part of the strategic planning role of leaders is to help the firm deal effectively with its internal environment.

Question 59

The least engaged followers are those classified as participants.

Question 60

An implication of attribution theory is that many people believe executive leaders have the power to determine the fate of their organizations.