Q&A Hero

Q: An individual's emotional intelligence is characterized by self-awareness, self-motivation, self-regulation, empathy for others, and ________. A) systems thinking B) formal communication abilities C) openness to experience D) adeptness in building relationships E) superior intellectual capabilities

Q: The capacity of people to recognize their own feelings and the feelings of others, to motivate themselves, and to manage their own feelings as well as the emotions in relationships with others, is called ________. A) emotional intelligence B) business intelligence C) social emotional learning D) affective science E) competitive intelligence

Q: Which of the following is considered a fundamental managerial skill? A) technical skills B) communication abilities C) charismatic leadership D) ability to maintain status quo E) ability to regulate procedures

Q: Primary management activities such as communicating, leading, and motivating are considered ________. A) influencing processes B) organizational outputs C) internal resources D) external resources E) organizational inputs

Q: Which of the following is considered a primary managing activity? A) building corporate culture B) reducing conflicts C) eliminating workplace stress D) creating norms E) maintaining work-life balance

Q: Trot is the CEO of a consulting firm. He plays a key role in guiding the activities of organization members in appropriate directions. This role performed by Trot can be called ________. A) communicating B) influencing C) collaborating D) motivating E) coaching

Q: Which of the following is the primary purpose of the influencing subsystem? A) elimination of organizational grapevine B) business process restructuring C) attainment of management objectives D) manipulation of critical information E) elimination of organizational conflicts

Q: ________ is the process of guiding the activities of organization members in appropriate directions. A) Communicating B) Influencing C) Controlling D) Planning E) Organizing

Q: One strategy for encouraging formal organizational communication is to ensure that all organization members have free access to formal communication channels.

Q: In order to be a good listener, one should avoid asking questions.

Q: The gossip grapevine tends to distort messages more than any other grapevine pattern.

Q: Messages tend to become more distorted as the length of the series increases in serial transmission.

Q: A manager sends an e-mail to all the employees in his department. This is an example of serial transmission.

Q: Lateral organizational communication relates primarily to the direction and control of employees.

Q: Organizational communication that follows the line of the organization chart is called formal organizational communication.

Q: Gestures, vocal tones, and facial expressions are forms of nonverbal communication.

Q: Good communicators consult with others when planning communications.

Q: Feedback is the destination's verbal reaction to a message in interpersonal communications.

Q: The two primary factors that influence how a stimulus is perceived are the destination's education level and the destination's amount of experience.

Q: Stimuli that compete with the communication message for the attention of the destination are called noise.

Q: The communication source's view of the destination is a microbarrier of communication.

Q: The increasing need for information in today's society is an example of a microbarrier to communication.

Q: A message that has been transmitted from one person to another is called a "signal."

Q: The basic elements of the interpersonal communication process are the source, the encoder, and the decoder.

Q: The capacity of people to recognize their own feelings and the feelings of others is called motivational intelligence.

Q: Communication is considered a supplementary management skill rather than a fundamental management skill.

Q: Managers transform a portion of organizational resources into appropriate organization member behavior mainly by performing activities such as leading and communicating.

Q: The process of guiding the activities of organization members in appropriate directions is called controlling.

Q: According to Hellriegel and Slocum's model, which of the following combinations is associated with high probability of survival and growth? A) high stability and low adaptability B) high stability and high adaptability C) low stability and high adaptability D) moderate stability and moderate adaptability E) low stability and moderate adaptability

Q: Changing an organization is the process of modifying an existing organization to increase organizational effectiveness. Which of the following statements is true about such modifications? A) Such changes must use established lines of organizational communication. B) The changes occur intermittently and are of a large magnitude. C) Such modifications can involve any organizational segment. D) The changes are made independent of the environment. E) The modifications do not involve changes in organizational authority.

Q: Which of the following is the most complete description of organizational effectiveness? A) the extent to which an organization accomplishes its objectives B) overall profitability of an organization or an organizational unit C) ability of an organization to produce maximum output with a given input D) the extent to which an organization's actions benefit society E) the extent to which an organization's resources are used cost-effectively

Q: Cost reduction is the most commonly cited reason for designing and implementing virtual offices.

Q: Workers who have some mobility but are expected to report to the office on a regular basis are called tethered workers.

Q: Virtual training is a training process that goes beyond the boundaries and structure of traditional training.

Q: Unlike most other ways of managing conflicts, resolving is used when managers perceive that they are in a win-loss conflict with employees.

Q: Forcing a solution is an inappropriate approach in an emergency.

Q: Avoiding is a conflict management technique whereby managers simply ignore the conflict.

Q: Compromise technique is inappropriate when the planned change is relatively minor and the time to make an organizational change is limited.

Q: Organizational conflicts can result in positive impact for the organization.

Q: Contrary to popular belief, standardized jobs and procedures actually reduce stress as compared to jobs that are classified as "interesting" by allowing more room for employee creativity.

Q: Stress is seldom significantly reduced until the stressors causing it have been coped with satisfactorily or withdrawn from the environment.

Q: The highest level of worker performance and productivity is associated with the lowest level of worker stress.

Q: Stress is the bodily strain that an individual experiences as a result of coping with some environmental factor.

Q: Changes made in the organization with an aim to improve individual satisfaction are not justified.

Q: Making changes on a tentative basis increases resistance to organizational change.

Q: Resistance to change can be lowered by not informing the employees about the change too early.

Q: The managerial grid is based on the premise that various managerial styles can be described by means of managers' concern for cost and concern for technology.

Q: Clarifying and defining jobs in an organization is an example of a people change.

Q: Structural change emphasizes increasing organizational effectiveness by changing controls that influence organization members during the performance of their jobs.

Q: Structural factors of organizational effectiveness are any types of equipment or processes that assist organization members in the performance of their jobs.

Q: A change agent is an environmental factor that acts as a moderator for organizational changes.

Q: Organizational survival and growth are most probable when both stability and adaptation are high within the organization.

Q: An unstable organization with high capability to adapt is characterized by moderate probability of success.

Q: Organizational changes typically affect the established lines of organizational communication.

Q: Virtual offices can be costly to organizations. Do you agree with this statement? Provide reasons for agreement of disagreement.

Q: A manufacturing company is at significant competitive disadvantage due to the lack of necessary automation. The company has not been able to implement the automated system due to oppositions from a group of workers. What strategy can be used here to implement automation?

Q: Briefly describe the four strategies used to manage conflicts.

Q: A manager faces stiff opposition from one of the employees in the team, when making a change. However the manager identifies the employee's point of view would not limit the success of the change. Which strategy is most suited to handle this situation?

Q: Any level of stress can be damaging to an organization. Critically analyze this statement.

Q: Although moderate levels of stress has actually been linked to improved employee productivity, stress can also have significant negative affects. Explain the different techniques for preventing the initial development of stressors in organizations.

Q: What are the situations under which making additional changes after the evaluation of a change is justified?

Q: How do most people react to change? Why? What can managers do about this reaction?

Q: Explain the concept of grid organizational development (grid OD).

Q: Briefly discuss the factors to consider when changing an organization.

Q: Briefly explain the dynamics of organizational change and stability.

Q: What is organizational change? Do you think change is important to organizations? Explain your answer.

Q: NTS Publishing, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, publishes print and electronic products that provide content and digital solutions to customers worldwide. The company decides to make use of virtual teams. Which of the following could be a possible advantage of this? A) Use of virtual teams would help them reduce the costs B) This would help the company enhance its corporate culture. C) Virtual teams would help them enhance management control. D) The organization can reduce the dependence on technology by doing this. E) The company can improve its employee socialization process.

Q: An organization is conducting a survey and has a team that collects primary data from consumers by interviewing them and getting them to fill out questionnaires. The team members report to work regularly, get the day's assignment, and come back to office in the evenings to discuss the day's findings and plan for the next day. Which of the following work arrangements is being used by this organization? A) flextime working B) hotelling C) occasional telecommuting D) tethered in office E) fully mobile working

Q: Which of the following is a trait of "tethered in office" work arrangement? A) Employees are not allocated permanent office spaces. B) Employees remain in the office most of the time and work from home occasionally. C) Employees are allowed to move out office for a few days or weeks. D) Employees are expected to report to the office on a regular basis though they have mobility. E) Employees report to the office only occasionally though they obey all the organizational norms.

Q: Which of the following is a challenge associated with managing virtual offices? A) Virtual offices make it more difficult to build desired corporate culture. B) Virtual offices increase the cost of operations. C) It is suitable only for senior employees. D) It markedly reduces employee productivity. E) Employee mobility cannot be achieved effectively by using virtual offices.

Q: Identify an advantage of establishing virtual offices. A) They provide better opportunities for employee socialization. B) They help the organization build the desired corporate culture. C) Virtual offices enable cost-reduction. D) Virtual offices enhance management control. E) They help the organization reduce the dependence on technology.

Q: Catherine works as a training specialist at a retail organization. She is not always physically present in the office though she works from other locations using a portable computer. She usually informs her colleagues in advance when she decides to come in and work from office. This work arrangement is an example of ________. A) fully mobile working B) tethered in office arrangement C) home based working D) hotelling E) occasional telecommuting

Q: Which of the following is an alternative work arrangement where workers come into the traditional office frequently, but because they are not always physically present, they are not allocated permanent office space? A) flextime working B) hotelling C) occasional telecommuting D) tethered in office E) home based

Q: Which of the following alternative work arrangements is characterized by the least amount of mobility? A) hotelling B) tethered in the office C) home based D) occasional telecommuting E) working out of a car

Q: ________ workers have fixed, traditional offices and work schedules but sometimes work at home. A) Fully mobile B) Home-based C) Tethered in office D) Occasional telecommuting E) Hotelling

Q: Which of the following is characterized by the most extensive degree of virtualization? A) virtual meeting B) virtual training C) virtual team D) virtual corporation E) virtual group

Q: Jacob believes most conflicts are winwin conflicts. He always attempts to overcome them by working out differences with employees. Which of the following conflict management techniques is preferred by Jacob? A) resolving B) compromising C) cooperating D) avoiding E) conciliating

Q: William, the CEO of a leading electronic equipment manufacturer, decides to implement a new performance appraisal system in the organization. The new system faces stiff resistance from the employees. William, however, uses his authority to implement the system. Identify the conflict management system used here. A) forcing B) negotiating C) avoiding D) resolving E) adjudication

Q: Which of the following is a valid observation about the resolving technique used to manage conflicts? A) Managers are not involved in the conflict resolution process. B) It tends to assume managers and employees are in a win-lose conflict. C) It is best suited when an immediate change has to be made. D) Managers pinpoint differences regarding change that exist between themselves and employees. E) It is the only method suitable for managing minor conflicts.

Q: Which of the following conflict resolution techniques assumes that some conflicts are win-win conflicts? A) avoiding B) compromising C) forcing D) negotiating E) resolving