Organizational Behavior- 1

Answer set for the mid-term examinations

I. Choose the correct alternative from the choices provided.

1. According to Katz, technical skills encompass the ability to _____.

a. analyze and diagnose complex situations
b. exchange information and control complex situations
c. apply specialized knowledge or expertise
d. initiate and oversee complex projects
(c)
2. Which of Luthans’ managerial activities involves socializing, politicking, and interacting with
outsiders?
a. traditional management
b. communicating
c. human resource management
d. networking
(d)
3. According to Katz, when managers have the mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex
situations, they possess _____ skills.
a. technical
b. leadership
c. problem-solving
d. conceptual
(d}

4. Which of the following according to you is not a core topic of organizational behavior?
a. motivation
b. attitude development
c. conflict
d. resource allocation
(d}

5. In order to predict human behavior, it is best to supplement your intuitive opinions with
information derived in what fashion?
a. common sense
b. direct observation
c. systematic inquiry
d. speculation
(c)

6. When a manager observes a pattern of behaviour in his organization based on which he makes
certain conclusions, what kind of logic is he using?
a. Inductive
b. Deductive
c. intuitive
d. none of the above
(a)
7. Which field of study has contributed to OB through its research on organizational culture and
formal organization theory and structure?
a. psychology
b. operations management
 c. corporate strategy
d. sociology
(d)

8. There are _____ simple and universal principles that explain organizational behavior.
a. an infinity of
b. absolutely no
c. a confusing array of
d. few if any
(d;)

9. Today’s managers understand that the success of any effort at improving quality and
productivity must include _____.
a. process reengineering
b. quality management programs
c. customer service improvements
d. employees

(d; )

10. Given the climate of “temporariness” in modern organizations, employees must _____.
a. continually update their knowledge and skills
b. be prepared to stay in the same position for longer periods of time
c. make closer connections to their peers
d. foster friendship within the work environment

(a;)
11. Which of the following is an example of being an efficient company?
a. operating at the lowest possible cost while yielding a higher output
b. creating the highest customer satisfaction ratings
c. meeting the production schedule
d. obtaining the highest market share

(a }
12. Which one of the following words is the best synonym for “ability”, as the term is used in
organizational behavior?
a. motivation
b. capacity
c. experience
d. intellect
(b }
13. What is a factor of intelligence that suggests that it makes sense to talk about overall
intelligence?
a. general mental ability
b. intelligent quotient
c. ability
d. cultural intelligence
(a)

14. Research supports which of the following statements about men and women in the
workplace?
a. Men are more productive.
b. Women are more productive.
c. Men are the most receptive to socialization.
d. Women have more absences.
(d }
15. Which of the following is a major problem in the use of ability tests for selection and promotion
of personnel?
 a. The tests are not reliable.
b. The tests fail to take into account the personality of the individual.
c. Some individuals with high intelligence are poor test takers.
d. The tests may have an adverse impact on different racial and ethnic groups.
(d}
16. A cashier starts greeting her customers with a simple “Hello” rather than following the
company policy of greeting them with the standard greeting “Thank you for shopping with
us”, since she find saying the latter slightly embarrassing. In this case, what is the
experience that has led to learning?
a. the feeling of embarrassment when she uses the standard company greeting
b. the direction of the company to use the standard greeting
c. the decision not to use the company greeting
d. her use of the informal greeting of “Hello”
(a)
17. Operant conditioning argues that _____.
a. behavior is reflexive
b. behavior is unlearned
c. behavior is a function of its consequences
d. the tendency to repeat a behavior is very strong
(c;)

18. Social learning theory would best describe the learning in what situation?
a. An employee works through lunch several days in a row after being told by her boss
that she will receive extra pay.
b. A man learns how to perform yoga by watching a videotape of a yoga teacher.
c. A child always addresses his grandmother politely after he is given candy as a reward
for his good manners.
d. A man stops wearing brightly colored shirts to work after being teased for doing so by
his co-workers.
e. A postal worker’s pulse rate rises whenever she approaches a house where she has
been bitten by a dog before.
(b }
19. You want to increase the productivity of an employee. Your goal is to have him produce 10
units per day. On the first day he produces 5 units and you give him a reward. On the
second day he produces 5 units and you don’t give him a reward. On the third day he
produces 6 units and you give him a reward. Which method of behavioral change are you
using?
a. modeling
b. shaping
c. classical conditioning
d. social learning
(b }
20. Which of the following answer choices is the best definition of attitude?
a. Attitudes indicate how one will react to a given event.
b. Attitudes are the yardstick by which one measures one’s actions.
c. Attitudes are the emotional part of an evaluation of some person, object or event.
d. Attitudes are evaluative statements of what one believes about something or
someone.

(d;)

21. Jan is a security officer. Jan believes that it is important to know exactly who is in the office at
any given time. She notices that some employees do not sign out of the office when they
take lunch, which makes it impossible to keep track of who is actually in the office. Jan
becomes frustrated with those employees. She makes note of them and reports them to
their supervisors.

In the above scenario, what is the behavioral component of Jan’s attitude to the
 employees who did not sign out of the office?
a. Jan believes that it is important that she know exactly who is in the office at any given
time.
b. Jan notices that some employees do not sign out of the office when they take lunch.
c. Jan finds it impossible to keep track of who is actually in the office.
d. Jan notes which employees leave the office without signing out, and reports them to
their supervisors.
(d; }

22. Dan strongly believes that it is important that he spends time with his children on the
weekends. Which of the following situations would most likely result in a very strong
desire to reduce cognitive dissonance?
a. Being made by his boss to work weekends or lose his job.
b. Working over the weekend in order to cover for a sick friend.
c. Working over the weekend in order to secure a large cash bonus.
d. Working over the weekend in order to free up time for a golf game later in the week.

(d; }

23. The following are possible actions that an individual may take if they behave in a way that is
inconsistent with an attitude that they hold:

I: change the behavior

II: change the attitude
III: rationalize the behavior
IV: ignore the inconstancy

Which of these actions are the most likely to be taken?

a. Either I, or II
b. Either III or IV
c. One of I, II or III
d. One of I, III or IV
(c; }

24. The attitude-behavior relationship is likely to be much stronger if the attitude_____.

a. refers to something that the individual has direct personal experience with
b. must be defended against the attitudes of society at large
c. is perceived to be of little importance
d. is related to organizational structure
(a;)
25. In her work in the publishing industry, Vera seeks out new authors who she considers
promising. In the past two years she has found a number of new writers whose work she
thought was exceptional, and immersed herself in the task of helping them shape their
manuscripts for submission to her managers for publishing. Although she was extremely
proud of the results, none of the authors she worked with were chosen for publication.
Vera believes that the decision not to publish these authors was based on personal
rivalries within management, rather than the quality of her writers’ work. She is extremely
frustrated, dreads coming into work each morning, and is seriously thinking of resigning.

How can Vera’s job attitudes best be described?

a. low job satisfaction and low job involvement
b. low job satisfaction and high job involvement
c. high job satisfaction and low job involvement
d. high job satisfaction and high job involvement
(b; }
26. The following are methods of measuring employee attitudes:
I. a one-question global rating
II. a summation score made up of a number of job facets
 III. a 360º battery

Which of these methods are the best to use in order to measure job satisfaction?
a. I only
b. II only
c. III only
d I and II are equally as good
(d;
27. Quietly continuing to do your work when you know things won’t improve, is what type of
response to dissatisfaction?
a. exit
b. voice
c. loyalty
d. neglect
e. social voice
(d; }

28. Which of the following statements is not true?

a. Satisfied employees increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
b. Dissatisfied customers can increase an employee’s job dissatisfaction.
c. In service organizations, customer retention and defection are highly dependent on
how front-line employees deal with customers.
d. The most effective way to improve job satisfaction is a raise in pay.
(d }
29. Which of the following statements about the determinants of personality is true?
a. Personality appears to have no determinants.
b. Personality appears to be a result of external factors.
c. Personality appears to be a result of mainly environmental factors.
d. Personality appears to be a result of both hereditary and environmental factors.
(d;)
30. What does the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator classification of “E or I” stand for?
a. extroverted/intuitive
b. emotional/introverted
c. extroverted/introverted
d. emotional/intuitive
(c}

31. Which dimension of the Big Five model refers to an individual’s propensity to defer to others?
a. conscientiousness
b. agreeableness
c. extraversion
d. feeling
(b; }
32. Which of the following statements about people with positive core self-evaluations is true?
a. They set goals which are easily obtainable.
b. They do not attribute positive outcomes to their own actions.
c. They are overconfident.
d. They tend to obtain more complex and challenging jobs.
(d;)
33. During an annual review Mitchel made the following assertion: “When I look at myself and my
performance I see that what I have achieved is outstanding and has, not surprisingly,
won me the admiration and envy of most of my colleagues. I notice that everyone keeps
talking about me; they are all just waiting to find out what triumph I will pull off next! In
short, I don’t just deserve a raise, but need one, since without me, let’s face it, the place
would simply fall apart.” Which of the following is probably the best descriptor of Mitchel’s
personality?
a. Type A
b. external locus of control
 c. high-self monitoring
d. narcissistic
(d; }
34. What term is used to describe the personality of an individual who is aggressively involved in
an incessant struggle to achieve more and more in less and less time?
a. Type A personality
b. Type B personality
c. proactive personality
d. narcissistic personality
(a)
35. Which of the following statements about values is true?
a. Values are flexible.
b. Values are synonymous with attitudes.
c. Values tend to be consistent among occupational groups.
d. Values are fairly stable over time.

(d)
36. What is the difference between terminal and instrumental values, as proposed by Rokeach?
a. Terminal values are the goals that a person would like to achieve during his or her
lifetime, while the instrumental values are the preferable modes of behavior in
achieving these values.
b. Instrumental values are the goals that a person would like to achieve during his or her
lifetime, while terminal values are the preferable modes of behavior in achieving
theses values.
c. Terminal values are the highest values in a person’s value system, while instrumental
values are the ones that are most often used.
d. Instrumental values are the values that are used in day to day life, terminal values are
those that come into play at times of great stress.

(a }

37. More than other generations, ________ tend to be questioning, socially conscious, and
entrepreneurial.
a. Boomers
b. Nexters
c. Traditionalists
d. Veterans
(b)
38. Holland’s theory of personality-job fit argues that job satisfaction is highest and turnover
lowest where _____.
a. personality and occupation are in agreement
b. an individual is highly motivated
c. salary is high
d. felt emotions are displayed
(a)

Write true or false

1. The five personality factors identified in the Big Five Model appear in almost all cross-cultural
studies.
(True;

2. Zack is always moving and is impatient. He prefers work to leisure and seems obsessed with
numbers. Zack probably has a Type B personality.
(False;)

3. Studies show that while narcissists thought they were better leaders than their colleagues, their
supervisors actually rated them as worse leaders.
(True;)
4. Studies of adults lend strong support to the power of heredity in determining personality.
(False;)
5. Asking employees how they feel about key elements in a job, then adding the results to create
an overall job satisfaction score is the single global rating approach to job satisfaction.
(False;)
6. Organizational commitment is a better indicator of turnover than job satisfaction.
(True;)
7. The more specific the attitude and the more specific the behavior, the stronger the link between
the two.
(True;)
8. A high I.Q. is a good prerequisite for all jobs.
(False;)
9. The relationship between age and job performance is likely to be an issue of increasing
importance during the next decade.
(True; }
10. In employment settings, individuals tend to favor colleagues of their own race in performance
evaluations, promotion decisions, and pay raises.
(True; }
11. Learning a conditioned response involves building up an association between a conditioned
stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus.
(True;)
12. Workforce diversity is a topic dealing with how organizations are becoming more
homogeneous in terms of gender, race, and ethnicity.
(False; }