Question 1

The chance of ethical crises occurring is enhanced if
A)the leader defines the corporate culture.
B)the organization has a weak ethical culture.
C)the shareholders have no confidence in the CEO.
D)employees follow the direction of the leader.

Accepted Answer

Without a strong ethical culture, the chance of ethical crises occurring is enhanced.

Question 2

Which of the following is not a characteristic of a successful learning organization?
A)It creates a proactive, creative approach to the unknown.
B)It actively solicits the involvement of employees at all levels.
C)It regularly engages in activities to reinforce the status quo.
D)It enables everyone to use their intelligence and apply their imagination.

Accepted Answer

A learning organization is one that creates a proactive, creative approach to the unknown, characterized by: (1) inspiring and motivating people with a mission and purpose, (2) developing leaders, (3) empowering employees at all levels, (4) accumulating and sharing internal knowledge, (5) gathering and integrating external information, and (6) challenging the status quo and enabling creativity.

Question 3

When important decisions need to be made at WBG Construction, CEO Greg Burrill asks all employees with relevant knowledge or a stake in the outcome for their thoughts. This collaborative approach recently led to a decision that not only sold a house but also inspired a new floor plan that appealed to a whole new segment of buyers. This is an example of
A)hierarchical control.
B)knowledge management.
C)enabling heroes and drones.
D)employee empowerment.

Accepted Answer

This is an example of empowering employees, enabling them to feel that their ideas and initiatives will be valued and will enhance firm performance.

Question 4

Which of the following statements about ethics is false?
A)Ethics may be defined as a system of right and wrong.
B)Ethics assists individuals in deciding when an act is moral or immoral.
C)Ethics is not concerned with whether or not an act is socially desirable.
D)Business ethics is the application of ethical standards to commercial enterprises.

Accepted Answer

Ethics may be defined as a system of right and wrong. Ethics assists individuals in deciding when an act is moral or immoral, socially desirable or not. Business ethics is the application of ethical standards to commercial enterprise.

Question 5

In order to create an environment where employees can achieve their potential as they move the organization towards its goals, the manager role needs to be that of
A)resource allocator.
B)resource controller.
C)a flexible resource.
D)an advocator of the status quo.

Accepted Answer

Instead of viewing themselves as resource controllers and power brokers, leaders must envision themselves as flexible resources willing to assume numerous roles as coaches, information providers, teachers, decision makers, facilitators, supporters, or listeners, depending on the needs of their employees.

Question 6

As a manager, when faced with ethical crises you should
A)focus on issues most relevant to stockholders.
B)wait for the other party to make the first move.
C)take the initiative to address the problem.
D)cover up as much as possible.

Accepted Answer

Ethical leaders must take personal, ethical responsibility for their actions and decision making. Leaders who exhibit high ethical standards become role models for others and raise overall organization level of ethical behavior.

Question 7

According to the CEO of Hanover Insurance, learning organizations require that everyone feels and supports a compelling purpose. What is the most difficult aspect of creating this learning organization?
A)Communicating an image of the future that draws people in and speaks to them
B)Putting systems in place for training
C)Find the resources for the necessary educational training
D)Getting the shareholders to agree with the CEO

Accepted Answer

Such a perspective is consistent with an intensive study by Kouzes and Posner, authors of The Leadership Challenge. They analyzed data from nearly 1 million respondents who were leaders at various levels in many organizations throughout the world. A major finding was that what leaders struggle with most is communicating an image of the future that draws others in; that is, it speaks to what others see and feel.

Question 8

A strong ethical orientation can have __________ on employee commitment and motivation to excel.
A)mitigating results
B)a positive effect
C)a negative impact
D)an expensive outcome

Accepted Answer

The advantages of a strong ethical orientation can have a positive effect on employee commitment and motivation to excel. This is particularly important in today's knowledge-intensive organizations, where human capital is critical in creating value and competitive advantages.

Question 9

An ethically sound organization, drawing on the concepts of stakeholder management, can also strengthen its bonds among its ____________, ____________, and ___________.
A)policies; procedures; values
B)values; organizational design; employees
C)suppliers; customers; governmental agencies
D)current employees; potential employees; future employees

Accepted Answer

Positive, constructive relationships among individuals (i.e., social capital) are vital in leveraging human capital and other resources in an organization. Drawing on the concept of stakeholder management, an ethically sound organization can also strengthen its bonds among its suppliers, customers, and governmental agencies.

Question 10

In organizations, ethical behavior must start with _______ before _________ can be expected to perform accordingly.
A)the employees; the shareholders
B)the shareholders; the leader
C)the leader; the employees
D)the leader; the shareholders

Accepted Answer

Ethical behavior must start with the leader before the employees can be expected to perform accordingly.

Question 11

Companies that cultivate cultures of experimentation and curiosity make sure that ______________ is not, in essence, to be avoided at all costs.
A)experimentation
B)failure
C)authority
D)risk taking

Accepted Answer

Companies that cultivate cultures of experimentation and curiosity make sure that failure is not, in essence, an obscene word. They encourage mistakes as a key part of their competitive advantage.

Question 12

Inspiring and motivating people with a mission or purpose is a ______________ for developing an organization that can learn and adapt.
A)necessary and sufficient condition
B)necessary but not sufficient condition
C)goal but not a necessary condition
D)goal and a required precondition

Accepted Answer

Inspiring and motivating people with a mission or purpose is a necessary but not sufficient condition for developing an organization that can learn and adapt to a rapidly changing, complex, and interconnected environment.

Question 13

Effective learning organizations must redistribute _______, _________, and _________ in order to assure that there is a common body of knowledge.
A)rewards; training; handbooks
B)training; knowledge; pay raises
C)knowledge; financial rewards; intangible rewards
D)information; knowledge; rewards

Accepted Answer

Effective organizations must redistribute information, knowledge (skills to act on the information), and rewards. A company might give frontline employees the power to act as customer advocates, doing whatever is necessary to satisfy customers. The company needs to disseminate information by sharing customer expectations and feedback as well as financial information. The employees must know about the goals of the business as well as how key value-creating activities in the organization are related to each other. Finally, organizations should allocate rewards on how effectively employees use information, knowledge, and power to improve customer service quality and the overall performance of the company.

Question 14

Research suggests that not all leadership development programs are equally effective. Which of the following is not a common trait shared in all successful development programs?
A)The programs are designed to fit the company overall strategy.
B)The programs combine real-world experiences with classroom activities.
C)The programs identify organizational biases and ways to overcome them.
D)Managers and trainers only assess the impact of the training immediately upon completion.

Accepted Answer

Research suggests that successful development programs share four common traits. First, the programs are designed to fit the firm's overall strategy. Second, effective leadership development programs combine real-world experiences with classroom learning to build the desired skills. Third, leader development programs need to have hard conversations to identify and overcome organizational biases that keep the firm from learning and being more flexible. Fourth, top managers and trainers need to assess the impact of the training by following up with participants several months after the training to assess how effectively they have implemented the training, overcome the barriers to marking it work, and learned from the process.

Question 15

Which of the following positive relationships is not supported with consistent results?
A)between ethical performance and measures of financial performance
B)between ethical performance and strong organizational culture
C)between ethical performance and increased employee efforts
D)between ethical performance and enhanced social responsibility

Accepted Answer

Research has found somewhat inconsistent results concerning the overall relationship between ethical performance and measures of financial performance. However, positive relationships have generally been found between ethical performance and strong organizational culture, increased employee efforts, lower turnover, higher organizational commitment, and enhanced social responsibility.

Question 16

Unethical business practices typically involve the _______ cooperation of others and reflect the values, attitudes, and behavior patterns that define the operating culture of the organization.
A)select
B)complete
C)explicit
D)tacit

Accepted Answer

Unethical business practices typically involve the tacit, if not explicit, cooperation of others and reflect the values, attitudes, and behavior patterns that define an organization's operating culture.

Question 17

Empowering individuals by soliciting their input helps an organization to enjoy better employee
A)retention.
B)performance.
C)morale.
D)communication.

Accepted Answer

Empowering individuals by soliciting their input helps an organization to enjoy better employee morale. It also helps create a culture in which middle- and lower-level employees feel that their ideas and initiatives will be valued and enhance firm performance, as explained in Strategy Spotlight 11.5.

Question 18

Which of the following is not a guideline an organization can use to promote the challenging of the status quo?
A)establishing a culture of dissent
B)forcefully creating a sense of urgency
C)fostering a culture that encourages risk taking
D)creating a results-based reward system

Accepted Answer

Perhaps the best way to challenge the status quo is for the leader to forcefully create a sense of urgency. Establishing a culture of dissent can be another effective means of questioning the status quo and serving as a spur toward creativity. Closely related to the culture of dissent is the fostering of a culture that encourages risk taking.

Question 19

Less than 18 percent of voluntary customer contributions in a recent year went to renewable energy development in the Duke Power of Indiana program called GoGreen Power. This is an example of
A)a benefit of an ethical organization.
B)eco-friendly program development.
C)greenwashing.
D)a successful ethical marketing campaign.

Accepted Answer

Some utilities have simply gotten off to a slow start or found it difficult to profitably offer alternative power. Others, however, are suspected of committing a new type of fraud called greenwashing. This refers to companies that make unsubstantiated claims about how environmentally friendly their products or services really are. In the case of many power companies, their claims of green power are empty promises. Instead of actually generating additional renewable energy, most of the premiums are going for marketing costs.

Question 20

Functional benchmarking
A)is not very useful for organizations with a divisional organizational structure.
B)endeavors to determine best practices regardless of industry.
C)restricts the search for best practices to competitors.
D)is useful when researching industry-specific standards.

Accepted Answer

There are two primary types of benchmarking. Competitive benchmarking restricts the search for best practices to competitors, while functional benchmarking endeavors to determine best practices regardless of industry.

Quiz 11: Strategic Leadership: Creating a Learning Organization and an Ethical Organization

The chance of ethical crises occurring is enhanced if

Which of the following is not a characteristic of a successful learning organization?

Which of the following statements about ethics is false?

In order to create an environment where employees can achieve their potential as they move the organization towards its goals, the manager role needs to be that of

As a manager, when faced with ethical crises you should

According to the CEO of Hanover Insurance, learning organizations require that everyone feels and supports a compelling purpose. What is the most difficult aspect of creating this learning organization?

A strong ethical orientation can have __________ on employee commitment and motivation to excel.

An ethically sound organization, drawing on the concepts of stakeholder management, can also strengthen its bonds among its __, , and _.

In organizations, ethical behavior must start with _ before ___ can be expected to perform accordingly.

Companies that cultivate cultures of experimentation and curiosity make sure that ______________ is not, in essence, to be avoided at all costs.

Inspiring and motivating people with a mission or purpose is a ______________ for developing an organization that can learn and adapt.

Effective learning organizations must redistribute ___, _, and _____ in order to assure that there is a common body of knowledge.

Research suggests that not all leadership development programs are equally effective. Which of the following is not a common trait shared in all successful development programs?

Which of the following positive relationships is not supported with consistent results?

Unethical business practices typically involve the _______ cooperation of others and reflect the values, attitudes, and behavior patterns that define the operating culture of the organization.

Empowering individuals by soliciting their input helps an organization to enjoy better employee

Which of the following is not a guideline an organization can use to promote the challenging of the status quo?

Less than 18 percent of voluntary customer contributions in a recent year went to renewable energy development in the Duke Power of Indiana program called GoGreen Power. This is an example of

Functional benchmarking