Organizational Behavior C715 Final Review Questions

Esther Lugo has gone for an interview at an advertising firm in Manhattan and has been asked to complete a self-report survey to help interviewers understand if she is the right candidate for the job. From the interview, they have found that she is extroverted, empathic, scrupulous, and cooperative in nature, which are key characteristics needed for the job. These characteristics about Lugo indicate her

Personality

Ellen Athers works as a communication executive at a travel house. She is known to be friendly with her colleagues and interacts with them regularly to build strong work relationships. She knows that her rapport with her co-workers is a crucial part of her work and invests time in these relationships. In addition, while making decisions, she is assertive and colleagues take her decisions seriously. Which of the following personality types is Athers most likely to be characterized by according to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) classification? _______

Extraverted- a personality dimension describing someone who is sociable, gregarious, and assertive.

What does the heredity approach state?

B) An individual's personality is determined by molecular structure of the genes.

. ________ is as important for managers as for front-line employees and, among all Big Five Model traits, is most consistently related to job performance.

Conscientiousness- someone who is responsible, dependable, persistent, and organized. Most consistently related to increased job performance.

What trait is associated with job satisfaction?

Emotional Stability.

What is a personality assessment model that taps 5 Basic Dimensions? What are the five dimensions?

The Big Five Model- 1. Extraversion/Intraversion. 2. Agreeableness. 3. Conscientiousness. 4. Emotional Stability. 5. Openess to Experience.

What is a core self evaluation?

Bottom line conclusions individuals have about their compatibilities, and worth as a person.

Which of the following statements is true about people with positive core self-evaluations ?

They are committed to their goals and set ambitious goals.

Which of the following is true of the baby boomer generation?

They give high importance to achievement and material success.

What is true about Millennials?

They are more questioning and entrepreneurial than the other generations.

What is true about Generations Xers?

They give the highest importance to flexibility and life options.

Which of the following statements is most likely to be true regarding people with proactive personalities?

They are more likely than others to be seen as leaders.

Which of the following is true of values ?

They have content and intensity attributes. Values are judgemental, tend to be stable, mostly established in earlier years.

According to the Rokeach Value Survey what are terminal and instrumental values?

Terminal Values- desirable end states. Where you want to be, where you want to achieve.

Instrumental Values- preferable modes of behavior, a means to achieve terminal values. Behaviors that can get you there.

What are some examples of instrumental values?

Personal discipline, self improvemet, autonomy, self reliance, kindness, ambition.

What are some examples of Terminal Values?

Economic Success, social recognition, world peace, Meaning of life

What is an example of an instrumental value according to the Rokeach value survey?

personal discipline- a behavior

What is an example of externally caused behavior?

An employee is late to work because of a punctured tire.

What is an example of an internally caused behavior?

An employee postpones a meeting because he overslept. An employee was fired because he violated a company policy. An employee was promoted when he achieved more than the assigned objectives.

According to the attribution theory, if a behavior scores ________, we tend to attribute it to external causes.

low on consistency

According to the attribution theory, if a behavior scores ________, we tend to attribute it to external causes.

High on Distinctivness, and Consensus

) Which of the following terms refers to a situation in which a person inaccurately perceives a second person, and the resulting expectations cause the second person to behave in ways consistent with the original perception?

Self Fulfilling Prophecy

What is the tendency to seek out information that reaffirms past choices?

Confirmation Bias

What is the term that refers to determining if someones behavior is external or internal?

Attribution Theory

What is the term that refers to a comparison with other people and ranking them higher or lower?

Contrast Effect

What is true regarding the rational decision-making model?

It assumes that an individual is able to identify all relevant options in an unbiased manner.

Define Bounded Rationality.

It involves constructing simplified models without capturing all their complexity.

What is an unconscious decision making process created from distilled experience?

Intuitive Decision making model.

The tendency to seek out information that reaffirms past choices and to discount information that contradicts past judgments is known as a(n) ________ bias.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to fixate on initial information from which one then fails to adequately adjust.

Anchoring Bias

A manager doing performance appraisals gives more weight to recent employee behaviors than to behaviors of 6 or 9 months earlier. This shows that the manager's perception is affected by a(n) ________ bias.

availability bias- the tendency for people to base their judgements on information that is readily available.

If Alberta is a categorized as a Theory X manager, what behaviors is she most likely to exhibit?

She will strictly control all the details of any project she is managing.

Davina is categorized as a Theory Y manager, what are some behaviors that she is most likely to exhibit?

She will let her employees choose their own goals.

She will trust her employees to use their discretion in most matters.

She will delegate authority extensively to junior managers.

You manage a department of five employees. You have identified that Joe has a high need for achievement, Mary has a high need for power, and Tim has a high need for affiliation. Sarah scored high on the need for power and low on the need for affiliation. Doug scored low on both need for power and need for affiliation.

Which of these five employees is most suitable for handling your responsibilities when you are on a vacation?

Sarah

Which level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs deals with satisfying one's hunger, thirst, and other bodily needs?

physiological base needs must be met first

According to the two-factor theory, ________.

The aspects that lead to job satisfaction are separate and distinct from those that lead to job dissatisfaction

What are the two factors of the two factor theory (Hygiene)?

Intrinsic-job satisfaction

Extrinsic- dissatisfaction

What theory proposes that people prefer to feel they have control over their actions, so anything that makes a previously enjoyed task feel more like an obligation than a freely chosen activity will undermine motivation?

self-determination theory

What statements are true regarding goal-setting theory?

People do better when they get feedback on how well they are progressing toward their goals.

According to Albert Bandura, the most important source of increasing self-efficacy is ________.

enactive mastery

Name a describe the four ways that self efficacy can be increased.

Enactive Mastery- gaining relevant experience.

Vicarious Modeling- becoming more confident seeing someone else complete a task.

Verbal Persuasion-someone convinces you.

Arousal- Psyched up

A(n) ________ is any consequence, immediately following a response, that increases the probability that the behavior will be repeated.

reinforcer

Jim is a salaried employee whose job is to develop content for online web sites. He discovers that he is paid substantially more than his colleagues, even though their jobs and levels of performance are very similar. According to the equity theory, what impact is this discovery most likely to have on his behavior and performance?

He will increase his productivity and/or the overall quality of his work.

Valerie Sinclair, a climate campaigner at an environmental organization, invariably uses rationale to make decisions for project implementation. She believes that the right decisions can only be made through scrutiny and analysis. Each time she needs to make a decision, she weighs all option before taking action. Which of the following is Sinclairs personality type according to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Classification?

Thinking

What are the eight personality types according to the Myers Briggs?

Extraverted

Introverted

Sensing

Intuitive

Thinking

Feeling

Judging

Perceiving

What is the major problem with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as a measure of personality?

It forces a person to be categorized as either one type or another when in reality people can be multiple types

Describe Core Self Evaluation.

Positive core like themselves, effective, capable, in control of their environment.

Negative Core dislike themselves, question their capabilities, feel powerless over their environment.

What is Machiavellianism?

How to gain power.

High machs- manipulate more, win more, hard to persuade.

Salesman

Define Narcissism.

Describes a person who has grandiose sense of self importance. Arrogant

What is self monitoring?

Refers to an individuals ability to adjust his or her behavior to external situational factors.

Increased self monitors adapt and adjust, are sensitive to external cues and can behave differently in situations.

Low self monitors cannot disguise what they are or what there true disposition is.

John Hollands personality job fit theory presents 6 personality types. What are they?

Realistic- prefers physical jobs (mechanic, assembly line)

Investigative- prefers thinking activites (mathmetician)

Social- prefers helping others(social worker)

Conventional - prefers rule regulated (accountant)

Enterprising - prefers verbal activities (Lawyer)

Artistic-prefers changing activites (artist)

According to Hofstede's framework, the country that scores highest in individualism is?

United States

What is a true statement about perception?

Our perception of reality can be different from the objective reality.

According to the Attribution Theory what is an example of an internally caused behavior?

An employee was fired at work because he violated a company policy.

According to the Attribution Theory what is an example of an externally caused behavior?

An employee was late for a meeting because of a heavy downpour.

What is the tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgements about the behaviors of others?

Fundamental Attribution Error

You are more likely to notice a car like your own due to ______.

Selective Perception

What is the tendency to evaluate a persons characteristics by comparison with other people who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics?

Contrast Effect

What is judging someone based on the perception of what the "group" thinks?

Stereotyping

___________bias refers to the tendency for people to base their judgments on information that is easily accessible.

Availability Bias

_______bias refers to the tendency to seek out information that reaffirms past choices and to discount information that contradicts past judgements.

Confirmation Bias

_____bias refers to the tendency to believe falsely after an outcome of an event is actually known, that one would have accurately predicted that outcome.

Hindsight Bias

________ refers to staying with a decision even when there is clear evidence it is wrong.

Escalation of committment

________refers to the tendency of individuals to believe they can predict the outcome of random events.

Randomness Error

According to the concept of __________, decisions are made solely on the basis of their outcomes, ideally to provide the greatest good for the greatest number.

Utilitarianism

Individuals who report unethical practices by their employer to outsiders are known as__________.

Whistle Blowers

Self determination theory proposes that in addition to being driven by a need for autonomy, people seek ways to achieve____________.

Competence and positive connections

In equity theory, individuals asses the ____________.

outcome-input ratio IE; pay raise = how hard we work

What is a theory that says that individuals compare their job inputs and outcomes with those of others and then respond to eliminate any inequities.

Equity Theory

Jackie thinks that she is paid a lot less than other employees in her division and feels extremely resentful. She starts taking long breaks and generally wastes time. Her actions resulted from a perceived lack of ______________ Justice

Distributive

Oscar is looking for a new job, He used to be the companies top sales rep and was eagerly expecting to be promoted. However one of the regional managers friends was promoted to district manager instead. According to the expectancy theory Oscars dissatisfaction with his current job stems from a breakdown in the ________ relationship.

Performance - Reward Relationship

With reference to the Expectancy Theory what is an example that indicates a weak rewards-personal goals relationship?

An employee works hard in order to be relocated to the Paris Office but instead is transferred to Beijing. A reward was given but not the one the employee wanted.

An informal group is characterized by the ________.

fulfillment of the need for social contact

What are the 4 Stages of Group Development?

Forming- Uncertainty

Storming- Conflict

Norming- Cohesiveness

Performing- Fully Functional

Adjourning- wrapping up

The second stage of the five-stage group development model is characterized by ________.

intragroup conflict within the group

When the group energy is focused on the task at hand and the group is fully functional, it is said to be in the stage of ________.

performing

Most people assume that a police officer should behave in a lawful manner, refrain from demonstrating favoritism to any particular group, and do their best to uphold the law. Which of the following terms best represents these beliefs?

role expectation

The ________ norms dictate behavior such as with whom group members eat lunch and friendships on and off the job.

social arrangement

Jonas Wilkes has struggled for many years with tight finances at home. Throughout school and college, he worked really hard, earned the best grades, and prepared himself for a better life. By a better life, he meant a house in the uptown Wellington Road and a membership in the Diamond District Club where he envisions himself playing golf on weekends. The residents of Wellington Road and the members of Diamond District Club serve as a ________ for him.

reference group

According to status characteristics theory a theory that states that differences in status creates status hierarchies within groups. What are the three factors that determine status?

1. The power a person wields over others.

2. A persons ability to contribute to group goals.

3. An individuals personal characteristics

Which of the following is an effective means of countering social loafing?

ensuring that individual contributions to the group's outcome are identified

Which of the following is an advantage of group decision making when compared to individual decision making?

increased diversity of views

________ refers to the degree to which members are attracted to each other and motivated to stay in the group.

Cohesiveness

Which of the following steps can be taken by a manager so as to minimize groupthink?

seeking input from employees before the group leader presents his opinions

A group decision-making method in which individual members meet face-to-face to pool their judgments in a systematic but independent fashion is the ________ technique.

nominal groups

Groupshift is seen when ________.

group members tend to exaggerate the initial positions they hold when discussing a given set of alternatives and arriving at a solution

According to the traditional view of conflict, all conflict is ________.

harmful and must be avoided

According to the Interactionist view of conflict, some conflict is ________.

necessary and improves creativity of a group, healthy and improves productivity, natural and helps generate discussion

For process conflict to be productive, it must be ________.

kept low

What are the 5 stages of the conflict process?

Stage I- Potential opposition or incompatability.

Stage II- Cognition and personalization

Stage III- Intentions

Stage IV- Behavior

Stage V- Outcomes

The ________ stage of the conflict process is important because it's where conflict issues tend to be defined.

cognition and personalization

________ is a conflict-handling technique in which the parties in a conflict each desire to satisfy fully the concerns of all parties.

Collaborating

A party who seeks to appease an opponent may be willing to place the opponent's interests above his or her own, sacrificing to maintain the relationship. We refer to this intention as ________.

accommodating

Which of the following is a conflict-stimulation technique?

bringing in outsiders

Conflict is dysfunctional when it ________.

reduces group cohesiveness

What is a true statement about formal groups?

They are marked by stipulated behaviors in pursuit of organizational goals.

The size of the group does affect the groups overall behavior.

Evidence suggests that smaller groups are faster at completing tasks than larger ones.

As compared to smaller groups, larger groups are better in problem solving.

If the goal of the group is fact finding then larger groups are more effective than smaller groups.

Evidence indicates that individuals perform better in smaller groups than in larger ones.

When _______ is of importance in decision making, group decisions are preferred to individual decisions.

Acceptance of Solution (people are more likely to accept a solution decided by a group)

What is the definition of group think?

A phenomenon in which the norm for consensus overrides realistic needs for an alternate course of action.

What is the definition of Group Shift?

A change between a groups decision and an individuals decision. Can be a shift towards more conservative or more risky.