Learn: MGT 301: Sample Questions for Midterm

CH 1: According to the "management in the news article" discussed in class, what are some business schools doing to improve hiring outcomes for MBA students?

a. Increasing networking effort

b. Training in AI

c. Offering micro-credentials and certificates

d. Increasing focus on specialization

e. Both a and b

e. Both a and b

CH 1: According to the text, what is a key to career growth?

a. Do things you've never done before

b. Be efficient

c. Be effective

d. Networking

e. Formal Education

a. Do things you've never done before

- be the most curious person (key to the future)

- develop the courage and confidence to learn your way forward through uncertainty

CH 1: According to the discussion in class, effectiveness is associated with good:

a. Management

b. Leadership

c. Communication

d. Conceptual skills

e. Ethics

b. Leadership

CH 1: According to the text, what does the research show is associated with better health, work, and life satisfaction, and performance?

a. Diversity and inclusion

b. Competitive advantage

c. Mastering technology

d. Education

e. Sense of meaningfulness

e. Sense of meaningfulness

CH 1: Which of the following is an example of an attitude of career readiness?

a. Resilience

b. Ownership/accepting responsibilities

c. Socia intelligence

d. understanding the business

e. None of the above

b. Ownership/accepting responsibilities (accountability!)

- attitude is different from personality!

CH 2: According to the "management in the news article discussed in class, female college students in the US use AI:

a. same percentage as male students

b. 10% more than male students

c. 10% less than male studnets

d. 25% less than male students

e. none of the above

d. 25% less than male students

CH 2: why should you keep a brag book?

to guard against recency bias, as your boss remembers recent achievement, not one from months ago

CH 2: According to the discussion in class, peter druker believed the purpose of a business is:

a. make a profit

b. contribute to society

c. create a customer

d. take care of employees

e. none of the above

c. create a customer

- believed workers should be treated as assets

- service profit sharing

CH 2: Who suggested we should evaluate a task by specifically studying each part of it?

a. peter drucker

b. max weber

c. mary parker follett

d. frederick w. taylor

e. none of the above

d. frederick w. taylor

CH 2: What was the problem with the classical viewpoint of management?

a. nothing

b. too mechanistic

c. too organic

d. didn't account for situations

e. both c and d

b. too mechanistic

CH 2: According to the discussion in class, "the law of crappy systems trumps the law of crappy people" comes from:

a. behaviorism

b. evidence-based management

c. classical perspective

d. complexity theory

e. contingency viewpoint

b. evidence-based management

- facing hard facts, rejecting nonsense

CH 2: The systems viewpoint led to the development of:

a. complexity theory

b. contingency perspective

c. human relations

d. high performance work practices

e. none of the above

a. complexity theory

- views organizations as dynamic interconnected systems where outcomes emerge from interactions rather than linear cause-and-effect

- small changes can amplify into large effects

- managers must navigate uncertainty rather than control it

- creating conditions for learning, adaptation, and innovation

CH 2: In "How China's Deepseek Outsmarted America" mgt on the news article, what was a potential obstacle for hiring for technical positions?

experience, as experienced people will tell you how to do things right without hesitation.

on the contrary, inexperienced people will repeatedly explore and think seriously on how to tackle the problem, then find a solution that suits the current actual situation

CH 3: What is GEO?

Generative Engine Optimization

CH 3: AI fluency + human judgment + = ?

= responsible, ethical, high-value performance

CH 3: According to the text, younger workers value:

a. meaningful work

b. higher pay

c. less supervision

d. strong leadership

e. stability

a. meaningful work

CH 3: Which of the following is an internal stakeholder?

a. customer

b. supplier

c. distributor

d. special-interest groups

e. owners

e. owners

- internal stakeholder: an individual or group whose interest in a company or project comes from a direct, inside relationship, such as employment, ownership, or management

- i.e. owners, employees, and board of directors

- **customer, **competitors, suppliers, distributors, & special-interest groups are part of the task environment

CH 3: According to the discussion in class, what are the underpinnings for ethics?

a. attitudes

b. personalities

c. motivation

d. educational background

e. morals

e. morals

- the why/the reason why you do the ethical thing

CH 3: According to the discussion in class, showing up on time, being prepared, and taking initiative are examples of:

a. social intelligence

b. emotional intelligence

c. professionalism

d. critical thinking

e. personal adaptability

c. professionalism

- along with appropriate attire, business etiquette, and professional courtesy (using honorifics)

CH 4: According to the management in the news article, which country has the biggest trade surplus with the U.S.?

Vietnam

- Trump's tariffs moved prod. from China to its southwestern neighbor, Vietnam, where the effective rate stood at 6.5%

CH 4: Which of the following countries is NOT a high value context culture?

a. United States

b. Korea

c. Japan

d. Mexico

e. China

a. United States

- high value context culture: a society or group where people communicate through implicit cues, shared history, body language, and non-verbal tone rather than relying solely on direct, literal words

CH 4: which of the following is not one of Hofstede's four cultural dimensions?

a. power distance

b. gender egalitarianism

c. masculinity/femininity

d. uncertainty avoidance

e. indivualism/collectivism

b. gender egalitarianism

- part of the Globe Framework

CH 4: Which one of the following Globe cultural dimensions does the US rank as one of the highest?

a. performance orientation

b. power distance

c. uncertainty avoidance

d. future orientation

e. collectivism

a. performance orientation

- the US also ranks highest in **assertiveness**

CH 5: According to the discussion in class, companies usually achieve sustainable competitive advantage through:

a. technology

b. people

c. location

d. timing

e. planning

b. people

- sustainable comp. advantage is uniquely different, long-term sustainability

- "what you do with your people, culture, etc."

- i.e. Southwest! didn't suffer any losses during the recession

CH 5: According to the discussion in class, "what is our reason for being" is a statement of:

a. mission

b. purpose

c. vision

d. values

e. goals

b. purpose

- in the slides provided in class, this is attributed as a mission statement, however, bret disagreed with this. in class, we attributed this as a statement of purpose!

CH 5: what are the problems with goal setting?

1. goals can place a ceiling on performance

2. goals constrain or limit range of performance behaviors

CH 5: what are the four key skills of being open minded?

1. question your beliefs

2. pause and seek feedback

3. watch for communication blocks

4. check the accuracy of your past judgments and predictions

CH 5: According to the discussion in class, which of the following is a key skill to being open minded?

a. watch for communication blocks

b. pause and seek feedback

c. focus on solutions

d. take initiative

e. both a and b

e. both a and b

CH 5: difference between long-term and short-term goals?

long-term: strategic goals

short-term: tactical or operational goals, also ref to as plain goals

CH 6: According to the TEDx Talk by Michael Raynor, what are the three rules for success?

1. Better before cheaper

2. Revenue before cost

3. No other rules

CH 6: organization is part of which approach to assessing the current strategic reality?

a. SWOT

b. VRIO

c. benchmarking

d. forecasting

e. term analysis

b. VRIO

- value, rarity, imitability, and organization

CH 6: According to the discussion in class, considering "what might happen to cause this to fail?" is called:

a. premortem

b. postmortem

c. plan b

d. VRIO

e. SWOT

a. premortem

- preemptive, anticipate

CH 6: According to the discussion in class, benchmarking often leads to:

a. comp. advantage

b. sustainable comp. advantage

c. competitive parity

d. innovation

e. none of the above

CH 6: porter's comp. strategies

- cost-leadership strategy: keeping costs and prices low for a wide market: Benchmark

- differentiation strategy: offering unique and superior value for a wide market: Buffalo Trace

- cost-focus strategy: keeping costs and prices low for a NARROW market: traveller whiskey

- focused-differentiation strategy: offering unique and superior value for a NARROW market: Pappy Van Winkle, Weller, EHT, Blantons (allocated)

CH 6: According to the text and discussion in class, who is described as "the all-time greatest strategy guru"?

a. peter senge

b. michael porter

c. peter drucker

d. frederick taylor

e. none of the above

b. michael porter

CH 6: according to the discussion in class, Pappy Van Winkle bourbon is an example of which of Porter's comp. strategies?

a. focused differentiation

b. cost-focus

c. differentiation

d. cost-leadership

e. quality-leadership

a. focused differentiation

what is the number 1 predictor of success?

resilience

CH 7: According to the discussion, what stage of the decision-making process should you practice group decision making?

a. stage 1

b. stage 2

c. stage 3

d. stage 4

e. every stage

e. every stage

CH 7: According to the discussion in class, what type of learning is associated with problem solving?

a. double-loop

b. single-loop

c. iterative

d. oraganizational

e. none of the above

b. single-loop

- problem solving

double-loop: transformational change

CH 7: According to the discussion in class, what type of decision is associated with the bounded rationality model?

a. optimal

b. satisfactory

c. rational

d. logical

e. none of the above

e. none of the above

- satisfice, "good enough"

CH 7: When practicing evidence-based management, what is the best diagnostic question?

a. what happens when people fail?

b. how can we keep people from failing?

c. why do people fail?

d. why do people succeed?

e. how can we motivate people?

a. what happens when people fail?

CH 7: According to the discussion in class, what is probably the most common decision-making bias?

a. escalation of commitment

b. framing bias

c. hindsight bias

d. representative bias

e. confirmation bias

e. confirmation bias

- seeking information to support your point of view

**other ver. of this questions could be: what is the anchoring and adjustment bias? what is the overconfidence bias? what is the escalation of commitment bias? what is the categorical thinking bias?

CH 7: According to the discussion in class, what is the #1 cause of groupthink?

a. high cohesiveness

b. overconfidence and reputational concerns

c. illusions of invulnerability

d. rationalization

e. satisficing

b. overconfidence and reputational concerns

- overconf. bias: blind to our own blindness

CH 7: what are the antecedents (causes) of groupthink?

- high cohesiveness (overconfidence and reputational concerns instead); Adam Grant

- people deep into groupthink kept in the group; outliers not too welcome

CH 7: how do we minimize groupthink?

- limit group size

- encourage group leaders to actively seek input from all members and avoid expressing their own opinions

- appoint a devil's advocate

- use exercise that stimulate active discussion of diverse alternatives

CH 7: characteristics of group decision making

- less efficient

- their size affects decision quality

- they may be too confident

- knowledge counts

CH 7: slower formulation, faster implementation

execute asap because people implementing already know

CH 7: project postmortems

for when the plan fails; "why it failed-- what went wrong?"