Lesson 3
Q1. The central premise of the decision-making model developed by Vroom, Yetton, and Jago is that ______.
a. decisions should be made in the most cost-efficient manner possible
b. group Decision-Making is superior to authority or consultative Decision-Making
c. authority decisions are superior to consultative decisions
d. consultative decisions are superior to authority decisions
e. the decision-making method used should always be appropriate to the problem being solved
Q2. The lack-of-participation error occurs in which phase of the rational decision model?
a. evaluating results
b. identifying alternatives
c. implementing preferred course of action
d. choosing a preferred course of action
e. recognizing the problem
Q3. Problem-solving decisions in organizations are typically made under three different conditions or environments. These are ______.
a. confidence, chance, and doubt
b. certainty, risk, and uncertainty
c. conviction, hazard, and concern
d. certainty, jeopardy, and skepticism
e. confidence, hazard, and doubt
Q4. ______environments exist when managers have so little information that they cannot even assign probabilities to various alternatives and their possible outcomes.
a. Uncertain
b. Risk
c. Unpredictable
d. Jeopardy
e. Hazard
Q5. The most difficult environment for decision makers to cope with is the ______environment.
a. risk
b. certain
c. expectant
d. uncertain
e. statutory
Q6. ______accepts the notion of bounded rationality and assumes that decision makers act only in terms of what they perceive about a given situation.
a. Behavioral decision theory
b. Perceptive decision theory
c. Cognitive decision theory
d. Classical decision theory
e. Visual decision theory
Q7. Behavioral scientists are cautious about applying classical decision theory to many decision situations because they recognize that human beings have ______that restrict their information-processing capabilities.
a. sociological limitations
b. cognitive limitations
c. subjective limitations
d. emotional limitations
e. psychological limitations
Q8. A key element in Decision-Making under risk and uncertainty is ______.
a. discernment
b. unrestrained rationality
c. recognition
d. intuition
e. assimilation
Q9. The first step in the rational decision model is ______.
a. choosing a preferred course of action
b. recognizing and defining the problem or opportunity
c. identifying the alternative courses of action
d. evaluating the results
e. implementing the preferred course of action
Q10. When dealing with risk environments, managers may assign ______through objective statistical procedures or through personal intuition.
a. potentialities
b. expectations
c. prospects
d. probabilities
e. feasibilities
Q11. An example of constituency negotiation occurs when representatives of management and labor negotiate a collective bargaining agreement.
a. True
b. False
Q12. In the context of the stages of conflict, when the antecedent conditions become the basis for substantive or emotional differences between people or groups, the stage of ______exists.
a. felt conflict
b. distinct conflict
c. manifest conflict
d. perceived conflict
e. apparent conflict
Q13. The hard approach to distributive negotiation may lead to a win-lose outcome.
a. True
b. False
Q14. ______most commonly occurs in the context of the competition and rivalry that characterize firms operating the same markets.
a. Shared organizational conflict
b. Intraorganizational conflict
c. Cross-organizational conflict
d. Interorganizational conflict
e. Extra-organizational conflict
Q15. In a course team where members are arguing over content choices for a PowerPoint presentation, it might help to remind everyone that the goal is to impress the instructor and get an "A" for the presentation and that this is only possible if everyone contributes their best. This is an example of which indirect conflict management strategy?
a. Managed interdependence
b. Appeals to common goals
c. Upward referral
d. Altering scripts and myths
e. None of the above
Q16. The type of conflict that diverts energies, hurts group cohesion, promotes interpersonal hostilities, and overall creates a negative environment for workers is called ______.
a. inappropriate conflict
b. inconsistent conflict
c. functional conflict
d. dysfunctional conflict
e. contradictory conflict
Q17. ______negotiation focuses on positions staked out or declared by the parties involved who are each trying to claim certain portions of the available pie.
a. Integrative
b. Distributive
c. Good-faith
d. Consolidating
e. Process
Q18. Negotiations can break down because of a(n) ______problem, wherein the parties don't really talk to one another, at least not in the sense of making themselves truly understood.
a. telling
b. selling
c. perceptual
d. hearing
e. cognitive
Q19. Two important goals must be considered in negotiation. These goals are ______.
a. substantive goals and emotional goals
b. statutory goals and discretionary goals
c. interpersonal goals and intrapersonal goals
d. substance goals and relationship goals
e. direct goals and indirect goals
Q20. ______is the tendency in negotiations to stake out your position based on the assumption that in order to gain your way, something must be subtracted from the other party's way.
a. The myth of the fixed pie
b. Escalating commitment
c. Overconfidence
d. The telling problem
e. The selling problem
Q21. Semantic barriers to communication involve ______.
a. foreign communication
b. weak communication links
c. breaks in communication transmissions
d. loud noises that disrupt what is communicated
e. a poor choice or use of words and mixed messages
Q22. The success of international business practices such as outsourcing often rests with the quality of ______.
a. ethnocentrism
b. honesty
c. ethics
d. cross-cultural communication
e. an individual's ability to speak one language
Q23. The open and honest sharing of information is known as ______.
a. feedback
b. constructive feedback
c. interactional transparency
d. disconfirmation
e. the mum effect
Q24. One of the major functions of downward communication is to achieve influence by providing information.
a. True
b. False
Q25. Because communication is frequently biased when flowing upward, subordinates may ______.
a. only communicate with their bosses only when they have to.
b. use email as a means to communicate with their bosses.
c. communicate to their bosses only in writing.
d. filter information and tell their superiors only what they think the boss wants to hear.
e. tell their bosses everything they know about a subject.
Q26. Which of the following may lead to an interpersonal barrier?
a. Lack of trust
b. Personality clashes
c. A bad reputation
d. Stereotypes/prejudices
e. All of the above
Q27. A supportive communication principle is to focus on the problem and not the person.
a. True
b. False
Q28. ______occurs when an individual feels his self-worth is being questioned.
a. Transparency
b. Defensiveness
c. Flaming
d. Proxemics
e. Disconfirmation
Q29. The process of decoding is complicated by many factors, including the knowledge and experience of the receiver and his or her relationship with the sender.
a. True
b. False
Q30. The primary emphasis of supportive communication is to avoid ______.
a. transparency and disconfirmation
b. defensiveness and transparency
c. defensiveness and disconfirmation
d. selective listening and defensiveness
e. disconfirmation and selective listening
Q31. Which one of the following strategies for exercising relational influence can be defined as "using a direct and forceful personal approach?"
a. Assertiveness
b. Reason
c. Coalition
d. Sanctions
e. Higher authority
Q32. Which of the following control mechanisms is commonly used to ensure that executives and managers, as agents of the firm's owners, act in the best interests of those owners?
a. Pay plan incentives do not align the interests of management and stockholders.
b. The establishment of a strong, independent board of directors.
c. Stockholders with a large stake in the firm taking a weak role on the board.
d. Stockholders read board of director reports.
e. People read what is stated in newspapers.
Q33. Under which of the following conditions does the resource dependence of an organization increase?
a. As needed resources become scarcer
b. As outsiders have less control over needed resources
c. As more substitutes for a particular type of resource are available
d. As more companies can provide the necessary key resources
e. As competitor firms become weaker in your market
Q34. A manager who withholds positive outcomes, such as special assignments or bonuses, as a means for controlling the behavior of employees is using which type of power?
a. Legitimate power
b. Expert power
c. Coercive power
d. Process power
e. Reward power
Q35. Coercive power is the extent to which a manager can use extrinsic and intrinsic rewards to control other people.
a. True
b. False
Q36. The ______is an unwritten set of expectations about a person's exchange of inducements and contributions with an organization.
a. psychological contract
b. zone of indifference
c. political agreement
d. rational persuasion
e. interorganizational pact
Q37. ______is a political self-protection approach of redirecting responsibility by blaming the problem on someone or some group that has difficulty engaging in self-defense.
a. Passing the buck
b. Buffing (or rigorous documentation)
c. Preparing a blind memo
d. Rewriting history
e. Scapegoating
Q38. Defending turf is a method of political self-protection that can result from one of the following situations ______.
a. minimized commitment to a course of action
b. managers seeking to improve their power by attempting to expand the jobs their groups perform
c. organizations having various departments and groups with aligning interests
d. teams working closely together
e. managers sacrificing their personal interests for the sake of their departments
Q39. To accept and follow a manager's order, the subordinate does not need to understand how the proposed action will help the organization.
a. True
b. False
Q40. Expert power is absolute, not relative.
a. True
b. False
Q41. The biggest controversy about Fiedler's contingency theory concerns ______.
a. the three variables that Fiedler chose to measure ?? high, moderate, and low control
b. what Fiedler's LPC instrument measures
c. Fiedler's notion of situational control
d. Fiedler's definition of position power
e. Fielder's behavioral interpretation
Q42. Fiedler argues that high LPC leaders have a(n) ______style, whereas low LPC leaders have a(n) ______style.
a. consideration; initiating structure
b. employee-centered; production-centered
c. task-oriented; human-relations oriented
d. relationship-motivated; task-motivated
e. consideration; mechanistic
Q43. According to the leadership grid, a 9/1 leader has a(n) ______style.
a. country club management
b. impoverished
c. task management
d. team management
e. middle of the road
Q44. In Fiedler's leadership contingency theory, a leader's style is essentially a(n) ______.
a. power
b. strength
c. trait measure
d. personality
e. ego
Q45. Conger and Kanungo have argued that if leaders rely on vision articulation, environmental sensitivity, and unconventional behavior, rather than on maintaining the status quo, followers will tend to attribute ______leadership to them.
a. traditional
b. charismatic
c. transactional
d. transformational
e. managerial
Q46. House's path-goal theory of leadership assumes that a leader's key function is to ______in the work setting.
a. maintain his or her work behaviors
b. keep changing his or her behaviors
c. reinforce his or her typical behaviors
d. adjust his or her behaviors to complement situational contingencies
e. teach employees his or her normal behaviors
Q47. When using the leadership grid, results are plotted on a nine-position grid that places concern for ______on the vertical axis and concern for ______on the horizontal axis.
a. structure; performance
b. people; production
c. task orientation;human relations
d. initiating structure; consideration
e. financial performance; people
Q48. Len and John are managers. Len spends a lot of time scheduling work to be done and providing guidance on its accomplishment. John takes great care to listen to his subordinates' concerns and act friendly toward them. In the terminology of House's path-goal theory, Len is acting as a(n) ______leader, while John is acting as a(n) ______leader.
a. directive; achievement-oriented
b. directive; supportive
c. achievement-oriented; participative
d. achievement-oriented; supportive
e. autocratic; democratic
Q49. In his contingency theory of leadership, Fiedler measures high, moderate, and low situational control with which of the following three variables?
a. human relations orientation, task identity, and personal power
b. leader-member relations, task structure, and position power
c. position power, human relations orientation, and environmental complexity
d. human relations orientation, task variety, and environmental complexity
e. personal power, task variety, and leader-member relations
Q50. The ______of charismatic leadership emphasizes personalized power, whereas the ______of charismatic leadership emphasizes empowerment of followers.
a. bright side; dark side
b. selfish side; unselfish side
c. sustainable side; unsustainable side
d. dark side; bright side
e. strong side; weak side