Deck 14: Organizational Culture

Question 1

Many of the popular organizational culture models and measures oversimplify the variety of organizational cultures and correctly assume that it is relatively easy to fit organizations into these categories.

Answer 1

False
Explanation: Many of the popular organizational culture models and measures oversimplify the variety of organizational cultures and falsely presume that it is relatively easy to fit organizations into these categories.

Question 2

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

Answer 2

True
Explanation: Implicit mental models are a part of the shared assumptions which make the organizational culture.

Question 3

An organizations' culture is usually quite blurry,so much so that it cannot be estimated through employee surveys alone.

Answer 3

True
Explanation: An organization's culture is usually blurry so much so that it cannot be estimated through employee surveys alone.

Question 4

Organizational culture defines what is important and unimportant in the company and consequently directs everyone in the organization toward the "right way" of doing things.

Question 5

Organizational culture consists of espoused values,but not shared enacted values.

Question 6

Artifacts provide valuable evidence about a company's culture.

Question 7

Organizational culture consists of the values and assumptions shared within an organization which also dictates the correct way of thinking about and acting on problems and opportunities facing the organization.

Question 8

Organizational countercultures further strengthen the organization's dominant culture.

Question 9

Organizational stories are the programmed routines of daily organizational life that dramatize an organization's culture.

Question 10

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

Question 11

Most organizational culture models oversimplify the diversity of cultural values in organizations.

Question 12

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 13

Espoused values are usually socially undesirable.

Question 14

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

Question 15

Values represent an important invisible part of an organization's culture.

Question 16

In order to be effective,organizational stories must describe real people and recount true past events.

Question 17

Subcultures oppose the dominant culture by espousing parallel assumptions and values.

Question 18

Organizational countercultures can potentially help the organization maintain its ethical conduct.

Question 19

Organizational countercultures can potentially create conflict and dissension among employees.

Question 20

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

Question 21

The first step in a bicultural audit is to identify strategies and prepare action plans to bridge the two organizations' cultures.

Question 22

In corporate cults,the culture is so strong that it focuses employees on one mental model so much that they may fail to see issues from different perspectives.

Question 23

The attraction-selection-attrition (ASA) theory explains why companies are able to attract and select people who fit the culture,but later on have difficulty in creating a stronger culture.

Question 24

The main problem with the encounter stage of socialization is that outsiders rely on indirect information about what it is like to work in the organization.

Question 25

Realistic job previews improve organizational socialization by ensuring that applicants develop more accurate preemployment expectations.

Question 26

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

Question 27

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

Question 28

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

Question 29

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

Question 30

The strength of an organization's culture refers to how widely and deeply employees hold the company's dominant values and assumptions.

Question 31

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

Question 32

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

Question 33

Ceremonies are more formal artifacts than rituals.

Question 34

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

Question 35

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

Question 36

Organizational culture can sometimes be reshaped by applying transformational leadership and organizational change practices.

Question 37

Very strong cultures often become dysfunctional when they encourage dissenting subcultural values.

Question 38

Organizational socialization is the process by which individuals create social norms to interact within the organization.

Question 39

Reward systems have little or no effect on strengthening corporate culture.

Question 40

An organization's physical structures usually do not reflect or influence its cultural values.

Question 41

The themes 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) rituals prevalent in the organization.

Question 42

Which of the following are the observable indicators of organizational culture?

A) Assumptions
B) Artifacts
C) Values
D) Beliefs
E) Mental models

Question 43

Which of the following organizational culture dimension is characterized by risk taking,and low cautiousness?

A) Stability
B) Innovation
C) Outcome orientation
D) Aggressiveness
E) Respect for people

Question 44

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) an adaptive culture in the company.
C) a ritual that probably symbolizes the organization's dominant culture.
D) a form of deculturation that eventually undermines the organization's dominant culture.
E) that the company's espoused values differs from its enacted values.

Question 45

Ceremonies are:

A) programmed routines of daily organizational life that dramatize the organization's culture.
B) more formal artifacts than ceremonies.
C) verbal symbols of cultural values that reveal how employees talk to one another, describe customers, express anger, and greet stakeholders.
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 46

What is the significance of artifacts in organizational culture?

A) Artifacts are the same as organizational culture.
B) Artifacts are the residual 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 main 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 47

_____ are unconscious,taken-for-granted perceptions or ideal prototypes of behavior that are considered the correct way to think and act toward problems and opportunities.

A) Values
B) Organizational artifacts
C) Languages
D) Beliefs
E) Shared assumptions

Question 48

Which of these statements about organizational stories is true?

A) Organizational stories are after all stories; and most employees have a hard time believing in them.
B) Stories communicate organizational culture if they describe positive events, whereas they undermine organizational culture if they describe negative events.
C) Organizational stories are descriptive, but not prescriptive.
D) Stories are most effective at communicating corporate culture when they describe real events with real people.
E) Organizational stories advise people what not to do, but leave out the solutions and suggestions.

Question 49

Whenever a team in Ads Today,an advertising firm,wins 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) unethical.
B) a ceremony.
C) a mental model.
D) a symptom of a culture that is out of touch with its external environment.
E) irrelevant to the meaning or study of organizational culture.

Question 50

Coworkers are important organizational socialization agents.

Question 51

One of the functions of _____ is that it is a spawning ground for emerging values that keep the firm aligned with the needs of customers,suppliers,society,and other stakeholders.

A) a multicultural organization
B) a shared value
C) a subculture
D) an espoused value
E) urban culture

Question 52

The organizational culture dimension of attention to detail is characterized by _____.

A) tolerance
B) fairness
C) precision
D) collaboration
E) security

Question 53

Organizational stories are most effective at communicating organizational culture only when they:

A) make employees emotional.
B) are told by senior executives to the public.
C) describe real people and are assumed to be true.
D) are descriptive rather than prescriptive.
E) tend to pressurize individual performance.

Question 54

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) discourage conflict and dissension among employees.

Question 55

Language is:

A) programmed routines of daily organizational life that dramatize the organization's culture.
B) not good at highlighting the values of organizational subcultures.
C) verbal symbols of cultural values that reveal how employees describe customers, express anger, and greet stakeholders.
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 56

Which of the following organizational culture dimension is characterized by competitiveness and a low emphasis on social responsibility?

A) Stability
B) Innovation
C) Outcome orientation
D) Aggressiveness
E) Respect for people

Question 57

Which of these statements about shared assumptions is true?

A) They are not taken-for-granted perceptions, but rather conscious decisions.
B) They are so deeply embedded they probably cannot be discovered by surveying employees.
C) They are the same as espoused values.
D) They are revealed through corporate value statements.
E) They rise to the surface only when employees let them.

Question 58

Rituals are:

A) programmed routines of daily organizational life that dramatize the organization's culture.
B) more formal artifacts than ceremonies.
C) verbal symbols of cultural values that reveal how employees talk to one another, describe customers, express anger, and greet stakeholders.
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 59

Which of the following is an artifact?

A) Values
B) Language
C) Assumptions
D) Beliefs
E) Corporate cult

Question 60

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) determine what the organization's enacted values are.
D) read public relations statements produced by the organization.
E) ask customers to evaluate the company's effectiveness.

Question 61

Which of the following is a verbal symbol of cultural values?

A) Speech at ceremonies
B) Expression of anger
C) Shared assumptions
D) Beliefs
E) Rituals

Question 62

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 wellbeing.
B) Employees seek out opportunities rather than wait for them to arrive.
C) Employees tend to be more reactive.
D) Employees tend to take the view that any activity beyond their job description is not their job.
E) Employees are more individualistic and do not experiment with new ideas outside their work profiles.

Question 63

_____ occurs when employees at the acquired company willingly embrace the cultural values of the acquiring organization.

A) Deculturation
B) Assimilation
C) Separation
D) Integration
E) Negotiation

Question 64

Which strategy for merging two distinct cultures is most appropriate when the two merging companies are in unrelated industries or operate in different countries,because the most appropriate cultural values tend to differ by industry and national culture?

A) Deculturation
B) Assimilation
C) Separation
D) Integration
E) Negotiation

Question 65

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) have a very rigid corporate culture.

Question 66

Which of the following is true about mental models?

A) Mental models usually help to improve organizational effectiveness.
B) Mental models are one of the artifacts of organizational culture.
C) Mental models are mainly used to decipher an organization's culture.
D) Mental models blind employees to new opportunities and unique problems.
E) Mental models do not have any relationship with organizational culture.

Question 67

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 68

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

A) Deculturation
B) Assimilation
C) Separation
D) Integration
E) Negotiation

Question 69

One of the first steps to minimize a cultural clash in a merger is to:

A) significantly reduce the strength of the culture in both the 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) replace the employees with new ones.

Question 70

In which strategy does the acquiring company impose its culture and business practices on the acquired organization?

A) Deculturation
B) Assimilation
C) Separation
D) Integration
E) Bicultural audit

Question 71

When the acquired firm has a weak culture,it is best to use the _____ merger strategy.

A) disambiguation
B) separation
C) deculturation
D) assimilation
E) integration

Question 72

Organizations with an adaptive corporate culture:

A) are unlikely to survive in the long run.
B) have a strong sense of ownership.
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 73

Which of the following 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 the culture content fits the 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 74

Which of the following is true about using the strategy of integration for merging different corporate cultures?

A) It works best when people realize that their existing cultures are good enough, which motivates them to stick to their dominant values.
B) It is the fastest strategy for merging different corporate cultures.
C) It is potentially safe because neither party is preserving the existing culture.
D) It should be considered when the merging companies have strong cultures and distinct cultures.
E) It creates a new composite culture that preserves the best features of the previous cultures.

Question 75

An organization's culture begins with its _____.

A) clients
B) country-level managers
C) employees
D) founders
E) auditors

Question 76

Which of the following is true about organizational culture?

A) It is suggested that companies with strong cultures tend to be more successful, irrespective of any conditions.
B) Companies have strong cultures when the dominant values are held mainly by a few people at the top of the organization.
C) Most employees across all subunits understand the dominant values but choose to ignore them.
D) The life span of strong organizational cultures is almost always short.
E) The strength of an organization's culture refers to how widely and deeply employees hold the company's dominant values and assumptions.

Question 77

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.This implies that SuperTech 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 78

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 79

Which of the following 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) The various subcultures within the organization keep changing.

Question 80

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

A) when employees at the acquired company willingly embrace the cultural values of the acquiring organization.
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 the firms have weak cultures.
E) when the merging companies agree to remain distinct entities with minimal exchange of culture or organizational practices.