Question 1

The head of operations at NanoTech Systems announced that the company "empowers its employees to perform their jobs at peak performance." Discuss the operations manager's statement in the context of the meaning of empowerment.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The head of operations at NanoTech Systems...

Question 2

Self-leadership has become increasingly important in contemporary organizations.Identify and describe any three components of self-leadership.Then explain how each of those three self-leadership components potentially improves employee motivation and/or performance.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Self-leadership has become increasingly important in contemporary...

Question 3

NuGlass Ltd.manufactures glass for commercial products.The production process has several interdependent tasks and employees in those tasks need to coordinate their work for maximum efficiency and effectiveness.Management wants each employee to learn several jobs so that the production group can be more flexible.Describe one type of reward system that would best motivate employees to learn several jobs,and identify a potential disadvantage of this reward system.

Accepted Answer

The answer of NuGlass Ltd.manufactures glass for commercial products.The production...

Question 4

Compare and contrast gainsharing with employee share ownership plans.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Compare and contrast gainsharing with employee share...

Question 5

Studies indicate that constructive thought processes improve performance in all of the following sports except:
A)hockey
B)soccer
C)cycling
D)skating
E)it improves performance in all of thesE.

Accepted Answer

Constructive thought processes, such as visualization and positive thinking, are known to improve performance across various sports, including hockey, soccer, cycling, and skating.

Question 6

A rubber recycling plant employed 150 unskilled and relatively low-paid production employees.Although employees were unhappy about their pay levels as well as noise and heat in the plant,most had high seniority because there were many other employment opportunities in the community.To motivate the workforce,the new plant manager decided to enrich the production jobs by giving them a wider variety of tasks to perform and giving them more autonomy regarding when they performed those tasks.However,rather than increase job performance,the changes resulted in more complaints from employees,higher absenteeism due to stress and a slight increase in turnover.Based on your knowledge of job design,explain why these results may have occurred.

Accepted Answer

The answer of A rubber recycling plant employed 150 unskilled...

Question 7

Which of the following practices explicitly includes self-reinforcement?
A)Self-leadership
B)Empowerment
C)Job rotation
D)Job enrichment
E)None of the answers apply.

Accepted Answer

Self-leadership involves self-reinforcement as individuals set personal goals and reward themselves for achieving them.

Question 8

Mental imagery helps employees to:
A)forget about the task before they actually perform it.
B)anticipate obstacles to goal accomplishment and work out solutions to those obstacles.
C)keep track of their progress towards the goal and design artificial feedback where natural feedback does not occur.
D)make the job itself more motivating by altering the rewards received during job performance.
E)learn several skills and minimize the risk of repetitive strain injuries.

Accepted Answer

Mental imagery can help employees anticipate obstacles to goal accomplishment and work out solutions to those obstacles. It allows them to visualize themselves successfully completing tasks and identify any potential roadblocks, making it easier to work out strategies for overcoming them.

Question 9

Self-leadership provides a different way of thinking about motivating employees.Briefly explain how self-leadership differs from other applied motivation practices.Then,fully describe any three elements of the self-leadership model.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Self-leadership provides a different way of thinking...

Question 10

The chief executive of a mid-sized manufacturing company has hired you to design the work site and any other conditions necessary for employees to feel more empowered.Describe three important conditions you would ensure existed in this plant to improve empowerment among production employees.Your answer should also briefly define empowerment.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The chief executive of a mid-sized manufacturing...

Question 11

XYZ Ltd.has just introduced a performance-based reward system for all production employees.The plan pays employees a team-based bonus based on the reduction of labour costs per unit in the production department.Describe three strategies to ensure that this and other performance-based reward systems are effective.Your answer should also briefly state the type of reward system used by XYZ Ltd.

Accepted Answer

The answer of XYZ Ltd.has just introduced a performance-based reward...

Question 12

Before meeting a new client,a salesperson visualizes the experience of meeting the person and effectively answering some of the challenging questions the client might ask.This activity is an example of:
A)poor performance.
B)constructive thought patterns.
C)rewarding competencies.
D)job rotation.
E)empowerment.

Accepted Answer

The activity described is an example of constructive thought patterns. The salesperson is mentally preparing for the meeting and anticipating challenging questions in a positive and proactive way. This can help improve performance and increase the chances of a successful interaction with the client. The other options are not relevant to the scenario described.

Question 13

Busy Bee Ltd.has a large secretarial pool on the third floor of company headquarters where professional and lower-level managers have their reports and other documents word-processed.The tasks are received by the secretarial pool coordinator and assigned randomly (on an availability basis)to secretaries in the pool.The secretaries often do not know the managers or professionals for whom the word-processing assignment is being completed.They rarely find out about the quality of their work because revisions are often sent to other secretaries in the pool due to the rotating work assignment system.Some assignments involve simple word-processing while others require complex formatting using more sophisticated word-processing software.Some secretaries don't mind working in the pool,but most are there because it represents the entry-level secretarial position.They resent the lack of control over work assignments and look forward to being transferred to other secretarial jobs in the firm where there is more freedom to schedule their own work activities.Turnover in the pool is much higher than for other support staff at Busy Bee Ltd.Would job enlargement (combining tasks)be an effective job design strategy for employees in Busy Bee's secretarial pool?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Busy Bee Ltd.has a large secretarial pool...

Question 14

ABC Ltd.has a large secretarial pool on the third floor of company headquarters where professional and lower-level managers have their reports and other documents word-processed.The tasks are received by the secretarial pool coordinator and assigned randomly (on an availability basis)to secretaries in the pool.The secretaries often do not know the managers or professionals for whom the word-processing assignment is being completed.They rarely find out about the quality of their work because revisions are often sent to other secretaries in the pool due to the rotating work assignment system.Some assignments involve simple word-processing while others require complex formatting using more sophisticated word-processing software.Some secretaries don't mind working in the pool,but most are there because it represents the entry-level secretarial position.They resent the lack of control over work assignments and look forward to being transferred to other secretarial jobs in the firm where there is more freedom to schedule their own work activities.Turnover in the pool is much higher than for other support staff at ABC Ltd.What job design strategy would you recommend to improve employee effectiveness in ABC's secretarial pool?

Accepted Answer

The answer of ABC Ltd.has a large secretarial pool on...

Question 15

The extent of a person's self-leadership is dependent on _________ and ________ factors.
A)cultural;personal
B)situational;personal
C)financial;circumstantial
D)political;ethical
E)None of the answers apply.

Accepted Answer

Self-leadership is influenced by both situational (external) and personal (internal) factors. Situational factors include the environment, resources, and social context, while personal factors include attitudes, beliefs, values, and skills. Therefore, option B, which includes both situational and personal factors, is the best choice.

Question 16

Which of the following statements about mental imagery is FALSE?
A)Mental imagery is one of the critical psychological states in the job characteristics model.
B)Mental imagery involves mentally practicing the task.
C)Mental imagery usually occurs before self-reinforcement.
D)Mental imagery involves visualizing successful completion of the task.
E)Mental imagery is part of constructive thought patterns in self-leadership.

Accepted Answer

Mental imagery is not one of the critical psychological states in the job characteristics model. The five critical psychological states in the model are experienced meaningfulness of work, experienced responsibility for outcomes, knowledge of results, autonomy, and feedback.

Question 17

Briefly describe some of the important strategies for improving reward effectiveness.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Briefly describe some of the important strategies...

Question 18

According to your text,the likelihood of a person engaging in self-leadership depends on:
A)educational level
B)work environment
C)mental imagery
D)positive self-talk
E)financial incentives

Accepted Answer

The answer of According to your text,the likelihood of a...

Question 19

ClamCo,a large energy company,was once a bureaucratic organization that valued long service and promotions through a steep hierarchy.After several years of difficult change,it is now a much flatter organization that places more responsibility with self-directed work teams.Explain what changes ClamCo probably made (or should have made)to align its reward system with this new corporate philosophy.

Accepted Answer

The answer of ClamCo,a large energy company,was once a bureaucratic...

Question 20

Almost every organization rewards people to some extent for their job status.Discuss three potential problems with rewarding employees for their job status.Your answer should also briefly describe how organizations reward people for job status.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Almost every organization rewards people to some...

Quiz 6: Applied Performance Practices

The head of operations at NanoTech Systems announced that the company "empowers its employees to perform their jobs at peak performance." Discuss the operations manager's statement in the context of the meaning of empowerment.

Self-leadership has become increasingly important in contemporary organizations.Identify and describe any three components of self-leadership.Then explain how each of those three self-leadership components potentially improves employee motivation and/or performance.

Compare and contrast gainsharing with employee share ownership plans.

Studies indicate that constructive thought processes improve performance in all of the following sports except:

Which of the following practices explicitly includes self-reinforcement?

Mental imagery helps employees to:

Self-leadership provides a different way of thinking about motivating employees.Briefly explain how self-leadership differs from other applied motivation practices.Then,fully describe any three elements of the self-leadership model.

Before meeting a new client,a salesperson visualizes the experience of meeting the person and effectively answering some of the challenging questions the client might ask.This activity is an example of:

The extent of a person's self-leadership is dependent on _ and factors.

Which of the following statements about mental imagery is FALSE?

Briefly describe some of the important strategies for improving reward effectiveness.

According to your text,the likelihood of a person engaging in self-leadership depends on:

Almost every organization rewards people to some extent for their job status.Discuss three potential problems with rewarding employees for their job status.Your answer should also briefly describe how organizations reward people for job status.