Chapter 01: What is Organizational Behaviour
1) Organizational behaviour is generally defined as a field of study that
- investigates how organizations effectively face competition.
- investigates how individuals, groups, and structure affect and are affected by behaviour within organizations.
- attempts to understand and solve problems regarding individual behaviour on and off the job.
- seeks ways and means to match human effort with machines.
- examines how the structure of different organizations contributes to, or inhibits, effective communication.
Answer: b
Diff: 1
Type: MC
Skill: Recall
Objective: 1-1 What is organizational behaviour?
2) Researchers in OB are finding that superior financial performance of an organization seems to be directly related to
- understanding what organizational behaviour is.
- recognizing the importance of interpersonal skills in the workplace.
- reducing the size of the company by layoffs.
- controlling absenteeism and employee turnover.
- better marketing efforts to customers.
Answer: b
Diff: 2
Type: MC
Skill: Recall
Objective: 1-1 What is organizational behaviour?
3) Organizational behaviour is
- for managers, employees, and those in the non-profit sectors.
- for executives and managers only.
- relevant to only those in the private sector of for-profit businesses.
- relevant to only those at the workplace.
- only applicable for entrepreneurs and those working in the private and government sectors.
Answer: a
Diff: 1
Type: MC
Skill: Recall
Objective: 1-1 What is organizational behaviour?
4) Organizational behaviour is
- based on one field of study.
- an applied field of study.
- an application of common sense within business and organizations.
- the field of study where public expectations of employee behaviour is researched.
- the use of a directive approach to manage employee behaviour.
Answer: b
Diff: 1
Type: MC
Skill: Recall
Objective: 1-1 What is organizational behaviour?
5) The behavioural science discipline commonly referred to as ________, has been most influential on the OB subject of organizational culture.
- social psychology
- anthropology
- sociology
- political science
- psychology
Answer: b
Diff: 1
Type: MC
Skill: Recall
Objective: 1-1 What is organizational behaviour?
6) Rita is concerned with the implications of the chronic absenteeism of her staff, especially since it is a very busy unit. She is likely most concerned about the probability of
- improved workflow.
- decrease in efficiency and effectiveness.
- quicker decision making.
- decrease in efficiency only.
- greater quality of output.
Answer: b
Diff: 3
Type: MC
Skill: Applied
Objective: 1-4 What challenges do managers and employees face in the workplace of the twenty-first century?
7) Recognition of the importance of developing interpersonal skills is closely tied to the need for organizations to
- reward high-performing employees.
- empower high-performing employees.
- attain and retain high performing employees.
- evaluate high-performing employees.
- train high-performing employees on job skills.
Answer: c
Diff: 3
Type: MC
Skill: Applied
Objective: 1-4 What challenges do managers and employees face in the workplace of the twenty-first century?
8) A recent study found that the main reason why people like their jobs or stay with an employer is
- wages and benefits.
- advancement opportunities.
- supportive work environment.
- proximity to home.
- company policies.
Answer: c
Diff: 3
Type: MC
Skill: Recall
Objective: 1-1 What is organizational behaviour?
9) ________ suggests that managers should be more scientific in how they think about management problems.
- Open book management
- Participative management
- Evidenced-based management
- Empowered management
- Democratic management
Answer: c
Diff: 2
Type: MC
Skill: Recall
Objective: 1-1 What is organizational behaviour?
10) Tara is used to making decisions based on her intuition or “gut feel” even though she doesn’t always make the right decision. Tara’s decision-making process could benefit from
- empowered management.
- open book management.
- evidence-based management.
- effective management.
- organizational management.
Answer: c
Diff: 3
Type: MC
Skill: Applied
Objective: 1-2 Isn’t organizational behaviour common sense? Or just like psychology?
11) SCENARIO 1-1
You are an OB specialist at XYZ University and have been charged with the task of bringing together faculty from different behavioural disciplines to author a new textbook on organizational behaviour. You have faculty from the fields of psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and political science. The key tasks here are to consider the various ideas and to structure them in such a manner as to provide a clear and plausible description of organizational behaviour and how it applies to the work environment.
Referring to SCENARIO 1-1, you would likely address issues of communication toa. the psychologist.
- the anthropologist.
- the political scientist.
- the social psychologist.
- the sociologist.
Answer: d
Diff: 2
Type: MC
Skill: Applied
Objective: 1-2 Isn’t organizational behaviour common sense? Or just like psychology?
12) SCENARIO 1-1
You are an OB specialist at XYZ University and have been charged with the task of bringing together faculty from different behavioural disciplines to author a new textbook on organizational behaviour. You have faculty from the fields of psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and political science. The key tasks here are to consider the various ideas and to structure them in such a manner as to provide a clear and plausible description of organizational behaviour and how it applies to the work environment.
Referring to SCENARIO 1-1, information on ________ would probably be a contribution from the faculty member from psychology.a. personality
- job satisfaction
- individual decision making
- work stress
- all of the above
Answer: e
Diff: 3
Type: MC
Skill: Applied
Objective: 1-2 Isn’t organizational behaviour common sense? Or just like psychology?
13) SCENARIO 1-1
You are an OB specialist at XYZ University and have been charged with the task of bringing together faculty from different behavioural disciplines to author a new textbook on organizational behaviour. You have faculty from the fields of psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and political science. The key tasks here are to consider the various ideas and to structure them in such a manner as to provide a clear and plausible description of organizational behaviour and how it applies to the work environment.
Referring to SCENARIO 1-1, one of the major considerations that will need to be clearly portrayed is thata. organizational behaviour is an applied behavioural science.
- organizational behaviour is largely theoretical and difficult to apply to the real world.
- leadership cannot be readily studied or understood through organizational behaviour.
- relationships between leadership and decision making are not clear.
- organizational behaviour is based largely upon an intuitive approach.
Answer: a
Diff: 3
Type: MC
Skill: Applied
Objective: 1-2 Isn’t organizational behaviour common sense? Or just like psychology?
14) Which of the following disciplines would most likely describe organizations as being the modern equivalent of tribes?
- sociology
- psychology
- anthropology
- archeology
- political science
Answer: c
Diff: 1
Type: MC
Skill: Recall
Objective: 1-2 Isn’t organizational behaviour common sense? Or just like psychology?
15) Predictability of individual behaviour is improved if we know
- that the person is rational.
- how the person perceives the situation.
- that behaviour has a cause.
- the person’s age.
- the person’s level of education.
Answer: b
Diff: 1
Type: MC
Skill: Recall
Objective: 1-2 Isn’t organizational behaviour common sense? Or just like psychology?
16) You are working as an assistant to an OB specialist doing research on a project to determine relationships between certain variables and cause-effect situations. The specialist is attempting to determine when people are motivated by pay or salary, and when they are motivated by recognition, support, and encouragement. By examining the connection between rewards and incentives, and motivation under various conditions, the specialist appears to be using which of the following approaches in research?
- open-systems approach
- systematic study
- human resources approach
- observational approach
- scientific management approach
Answer: b
Diff: 3
Type: MC
Skill: Applied
Objective: 1-2 Isn’t organizational behaviour common sense? Or just like psychology?
17) Which of the following is the best description of OB’s current state?
- All of OB is based on universal truths proposed by academics, researchers, and practitioners.
- OB is practically based on situational or contingency conditions.
- There is little disagreement among OB researchers and scholars as to the current state.
- Cause-effect principles have been isolated and tend to apply to all situations.
- Political forces have a tendency to influence the study of OB and, hence, skew resulting conclusions.
Answer: b
Diff: 2
Type: MC
Skill: Recall
Objective: 1-2 Isn’t organizational behaviour common sense? Or just like psychology?
18) According to your text, a significant problem with using common sense to try and understand and interpret behaviour of others is that
- it is usually wrong.
- what one person considers common sense is frequently different than what someone else considers common sense.
- some managers base actions on company policy, not common sense.
- it is not considered progressive.
- it is not considered an effective management strategy.
Answer: b
Diff: 2
Type: MC
Skill: Recall
Objective: 1-2 Isn’t organizational behaviour common sense? Or just like psychology?
19) Erika is a supervisor in a department with eight employees. She has been recently exposed to some of the management issues from OB and enthusiastically recognizes that managing people well pays off. She knows that some of her employees have an emotional attachment to the company since they have been there from the beginning. This type of attachment is called
- organizational citizenship behaviour.
- common sense.
- affective commitment.
- evidence-based management.
- intuition.
Answer: c
Diff: 2
Type: MC
Skill: Recall
Objective: 1-3 How does knowing about organizational behaviour make work and life more understandable?
20) Which of the following best describes the contingency approach in OB?
- Behaviour is dependent on the situation.
- Behaviour is predictable in all situations.
- Since humans are logical, so is their behaviour.
- Employee behaviour is only dependent on perception.
- Motivational sources explain all behaviour.
Answer: a
Diff: 1
Type: MC
Skill: Recall
