Monday, February 22, 2010

MGT502 Final Paper

FINALTERM  EXAMINATION
Fall 2009
MGT502- Organizational Behaviour (Session - 3)


    
Question No: 1    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 The lowest level positions require ____________ skills but as you move up_____________skills are more required.

       Conceptual, Technical
       Technical, Conceptual
       Human, Conceptual
       Human, Technical 
   
Question No: 2    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Mr. Hassan, Professor of Mathematics, when he starts teaching about a concept, he praises any answer that is close to the right answer. This is an example of which of the following learning theory?

       Classical conditioning
       Operant conditioning
       Social learning
       Contemporary theory
   
Question No: 3    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which of the following can be considered a method of social learning?

       Classroom
       Workshop
       TV commercial
       Work Manual
   
Question No: 4    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 “Smoking is injurious to health”. This statement is an example of which one of the following components of attitude?  

       Cognitive
       Affective
       Behavioral
       Behavior intension
   
Question No: 5    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Asif is late for work each day by about ten minutes. How would Attribution Theory describe this behavior?

       It shows consensus
       It shows similarity
       It shows reliability
       It shows consistency
   
Question No: 6    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which of the following statement best describes “motivation?”

       Results in a level of efforts put by a group
       Intensifies an individual’s efforts from others
       Guides an individual’s efforts towards a goal
       Meets an individual’s needs, wants and demnands
   
Question No: 7    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 What are the three key elements of motivation?

       Interest, activity and reward
       Awareness, effort and outcome
       Stimulation, progress and achievement
       Intensity, direction and persistence
   
Question No: 8    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Hassan derives a great sense of belongingness, acceptance and friendship from his relationships with his extended family. Which of Maslow’s needs is Hassan fulfilling through these relationships?

       Self-actualization
       Esteem
       Social
       Physiological
   
Question No: 9    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Who developed ERG theory?

       Mcclelland
       Maslow
       Alderfer
       Ouchi
   
Question No: 10    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 What continuum in the two-factor theory is made up of the hygiene factors?

       No dissatisfaction to dissatisfaction
       No dissatisfaction to satisfaction
       Satisfaction to no satisfaction
       Satisfaction to dissatisfaction
   
Question No: 11    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 All of the following are problem solving techniques EXCEPT:

       Consensus
       Brainstorming
       Nominal Group Techniques
       Synergy
   
Question No: 12    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which of the following are the two dimensions of leader behavior explained in the Ohio State studies?

       Initiating structure and consideration
       Employee-oriented and production-oriented
       Concern for people and concern for production
       Operant conditioning and classical conditioning
   
Question No: 13    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 According to the University of Michigan studies, which of the following is used to define a leader who takes personal interest in the needs of his/her subordinates?
       Situation-oriented
       Employee-oriented
       Production- oriented
       Task-oriented
   
Question No: 14    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 According to the Managerial Grid, managers perform best using which of the following styles?

       9, 9
       9, 1
       1, 9
       5, 5
   
Question No: 15    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which of the following is an example of downward communication flow?

       Suggestion boxes
       Disscussing problem with boss
       Feedback on job performance
       Letters to your boss
   
Question No: 16    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Suggestion boxes, employee attitude surveys, and grievance procedures are examples of:
       Downward communication
       Horizontal communication
       Upward communication
       Lateral communication
   
Question No: 17    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Asif is the manager of a petroleum company. He lets the employees know what is expected of them, schedules work to be done, and gives specific guidance as to how to accomplish tasks. He observes which of the following leadership style?
       Supportive
       Participative
       Directive
       Achievement-oriented
   
Question No: 18    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which of the following is NOT true of charismatic leaders?



       They have ability to articulate their vision
       They have behavior that is unconventional
       They are unwilling to take high personal risk
       They have high self belief and exhibit determination
   
Question No: 19    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Trust and trustworthiness affect a leader’s access to:




       Dedication and achievement
       Persuasion and control
       Power and influence
       Knowledge and cooperation
   
Question No: 20    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 The most fragile relationships are contained in which of the following types of trust?




       Reward
       Deterrence
       Knowledge
       Identification
   
Question No: 21    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Naveed is relatively new employee and wants to make sure that he makes a good impression on his coworkers and supervisor.  He agrees with the supervisor’s opinion most of the time and is always doing nice things for him.  Naveed is attempting to use:



       Political behavior
       Defensive behavior
       Fastidious behavior
       Impression management
   
Question No: 22    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which type of conflict will you experience  among the multiple roles in your life,  like role of a father and a manager?
       Intergroup Conflict
       Interpersonal Conflict
       Interrole Conflict
       Intrarole Conflict
   
Question No: 23    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 In which stage of the conflict process does conflict become visible?



       Illumination
       Intentions
       Behavior
       Cognition
   
Question No: 24    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which bargaining strategy is preferable for use in intra-organizational behavior?





       Positive negotiation
       Distributive bargaining
       Integrative bargaining
       Equal bargaining
   
Question No: 25    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 The example of labor-management negotiations over wages exemplifies which of the following bargaining?




►Integrative
►Reflective
►Distributive
►Restrictive
   
Question No: 26    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which of the following is NOT a conflict resolution technique?

►Creating super ordinate goals
►Appointing a devil’s advocate
►Exercising authoritative command
►Generating additional resources
   
Question No: 27    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 UNO wants to bring in a neutral third party who will facilitate a negotiated solution by using reasoning, persuasion, suggesting alternatives, and the like.  This person is a(n):



►Mediator
►Arbitrator
►Conciliator
►Consultant
   
Question No: 28    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 If you have a narrow span of control, you have which of the following type of a (n) organization?




►Efficient
►Short
►Tall
►Matrix
   
Question No: 29    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which of the given options is the expansion of job content to include a wider variety of the tasks and to increase the workers'  responsibility for checking quality and direction for the method?

►Job enlargement
►Job rotation
►Job enrichment
►Job reengineering
   
Question No: 30    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Seema is working with a pharmaceutical firm; as a means of balancing her work and family responsibilities she typically works a standard 40-hour week or only work 3 or 4 days of the week (i.e., putting in more than 8 hours but working fewer days). Which one of the following work schedule Seema is following?
►Compressed work week
►Shorter work week
►Longer work week 
►Job sharing
   
Question No: 31    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which one of the following is NOT an example of regional economic alliances?

►European Union
►Democratic Union of Hungarians
►North American Free Trade Agreement
►Caribbean Community
   
Question No: 32    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Personal management skills such as attitudes and behaviors that drive one's potential for growth and team work skills is called _____________.

►Soft skills
►Hard skills
►Technical skills
►None of the given options
   
Question No: 33    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 All of the following include Physical symptoms of stress EXCEPT:
►Bad moods
►Faster heart beat
►Increased sweating
►Cool skin
   
Question No: 34    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 When the people are asked to envision the organization in five years and to describe what is different is called:
►Discovery
►Dreaming
►Design
►Destiny
    
Question No: 35    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which one of the following involves lateral transfers that enable employees to work at different jobs?

►Job enlargement
►Job enrichment
►Job rotation
►Job enhancement
   
Question No: 36    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Job analysis can be used in performance review to identify or develop:
►Goals and objectives
►Performance standards
►Evaluation criteria
►All of the given options
   
Question No: 37    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 A technical specialists working with a reputable organization is allowed to continue to contribute his expertise to the company without having to become manager. He makes recommendations in a wide range of business areas, participates in high level decisions, and acts as mentor to other employees. This situation is represented by which one of the following option?
►Traditional career path

►Network career path

►Lateral skill path

►Dual career path

   
Question No: 38    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 The centerpiece of most diversity programs is:

►Money
►Employer commitment
►Training     
►Human resource personnel
   
Question No: 39    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which of the following statement is true regarding a dominant culture?



►The sum of an organization’s subcultures
►Defined by the leader of an organization
►Synonymous with an organization’s culture
►Likely to be a weak culture of an organization
   
Question No: 40    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 All of the following are examples of material symbols EXCEPT:


►Use of the company jet
►New employee orientations
►Luxury cars for executives
►Private parking spots
   
Question No: 41    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Responding to changes in external or internal environment is called:
►Incremental Change
►Anticipatory change
►Radical Change
►Reactive change
   
Question No: 42    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Phrases such as “more cultural diversity,” “many new entrants with inadequate skills” are all
examples of which force for change?



►Technology
►World politics
►Nature of the work force
►Social trends
   
Question No: 43    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which of the following is an example of change in the nature of competition?




►Growth of e-commerce
►Decline in global oil prices
►Increased interest in urban living
►A decrease in interest rates
   
Question No: 44    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which tactic for overcoming resistance to change basically assumes that the source of resistance lies in misinformation?


►Training and development
►Facilitation and support
►Education and communication
►Cooptation and manipulation
   
Question No: 45    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 A bachelor degree holder is most likely to have a job that requires:

►Human skills
►Technical skills
►Conceptual skills
►Leading skills 
   
Question No: 46    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which emotions are the emotions an individual actually is experiencing, despite what they might apparently show?

►Felt
►Displayed
►Conditional
►Exposed
   
Question No: 47    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Desires for associations with those who are significant to us, such as family members, supervisors, and friends, are examples of which of the following Alderfer’s needs?

►Relatedness 
►Existence
►Association
►Esteem
   
Question No: 48    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 A person in the organization may have crucial information about a statistical breakthrough of great importance to the organization and its strategic marketing plan. This is an example of which of the following power?


►Referent
►Legitimate
►Reward
►Expert
   
Question No: 49    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Keeping subordinates informed about company policies and the penalties for violating those policies is an example of using which of the following power?
►Referent
►Legitimate
►Expert
►Coercive
   
Question No: 50    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 The reasons for political behavior include all of the following EXCEPT:



►Ambiguous goals
►Scarce resources
►Control of information
►Non-programmed decisions
   
Question No: 51    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Samina and Naeem are Senior managers of marketing depertment. Samina wants her department to grow and expand into new products. While Naeem feels that the department is already too big and should reduce its size and trim its product line. Samina and Naeem are experiencing which of the following conflict?
►Legal conflict
►Task conflict
►Process conflict
►Relationship conflict
   
Question No: 52    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 The degree to which two party’s goals can be achieved simultaneously is called:


►Goal interdependence
►Goal accommodation
►Goal avoidance
►Goal compatibility
   
Question No: 53    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 When two party’s goals are incompatible, but their interactions are important to meeting their goals, which reaction to conflict is likely to occur?
►Competition
►Collaboration
►Compromise
►Accommodation
   
Question No: 54    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which of the following statements about gender difference in leadership is correct?
►There is no difference in leadership on the basis of gender
►Women leaders are not good at negotiation
►Men leaders seem to be more supportive and patient
►Women tend to adopt democratic leadership style
   
Question No: 55    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 The main advantage of division of labor is that it promotes:
►Worker satisfaction
►Worker autonomy
►The creation of stimulating jobs
►Efficient use of labor
   
Question No: 56    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 The process of constructing and adjusting an organization's structure to achieve its goals is:
►Strategic management
►Strategy-structure fit
►Organizational design
►Organizational reconfiguration
   
Question No: 57    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which of the following is the manner in which divided tasks are combined and allocated to work groups?

►Departmentalization
►Specialization
►Formalization
►Standardization
   
Question No: 58    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which of the following selection technique is most commonly used worldwide?

►Work sample test
►Interview
►Background check
►Performance-simulation tests
   
Question No: 59    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which of the following states the minimum acceptable qualifications that the incumbent must possess to perform the job successfully?


►Job description
►Job specification
►Job evaluation
►Job enrichment
   
Question No: 60    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 All of the following are examples of internal forces for change EXCEPT:

►Company Crisis
►Changing work climate
►Declining effectiveness
►Globalization
   
Question No: 61    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 ABC is a manufacturing company. R&D department suggested some changes in their product line. But employees of marketing department were reluctant in accepting this change. A meeting was held to remove the ambiguity and all pros and cons were discussed which resulted in better decision. In this case the resistance to change from the marketing department resulted in which of the following?

►Positive decision
►Negative decision
►Conflicting decision
►Irrational decision
   
Question No: 62    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which of the following is the individual source of resistance to change?





►Structural inertia
►Threat to expertise
►Dislike of change agent
►Threatened power
   
Question No: 63    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 Which of the following is the organizational source of resistance to change?
►Fear of unknown
►Economic threat
►New social relationship
►Fixed investment
   
Question No: 64    ( Marks: 1 )    - Please choose one
 The CEO of ABC manufacturer is not satisfied with the sales of his products. He has decided to operate in international market to earn the targeted sales. What can be the possible reason of this expansion?
►To work with untrained labor
►To avoid cultural diversity
►To acquire resources
►To work under poor working conditions
   
Question No: 65    ( Marks: 3 )
 How can charismatic leadership hurt an organization?

Answer :
A charismatic leader is one who might not have legitimate authority over the followers but followers respect him for his charisma, knowledge, expertise and his vision.

Charismatic leaders can hurt an organization because their followers might go against the legitimate chain of command of the organization to follow the leader. As it is not necessary for the charismatic leader to have legitimate authority therefore he might not follow the proper chain of command. This creates the problem of unity of command. People will follow two managers. One will be their manager according to the company hierarchy or structure and one will be the leader. This might create people-role conflict for employees.  This affects the organization in a negative way and hurt the organization.
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Question No: 66    ( Marks: 5 )
 “As important as attracting good employees is, it is just as important to retain them”. How you can justify this statement.


Answer : Employees are the biggest assets for an organization. They are the real distinctive competency of an organization. The organizations who pay heed to this fact are the most successful ones.  Technology and other resources that a successful organization holds can be acquired by other organizations as well but motivated, expert and skilled employees that one firm has cannot be duplicated easily by other firms. That is the main reason competing firms try to buy out employees from their rivals in an attempt to gain the distinctive competencies that the rival holds because of these employees.

Therefore for an organization to be successful, it should not only attract or hire good employees but it should also retain them. There are a number of reasons why retaining is also as important or even more important than hiring good employees. Some of the reasons are:

1)     The company might spend a lot of money on the training and development of employees and once the employee leaves the company, the company not only suffers in terms of employee loss but also financial loss which was caused because of the wastage of training resources on the leaving employee.
2)     When an employee leaves and his position is vacant, the company will need to hire someone new in his/her place. The new person will need to be trained or will take time to get to work on the same position. This wastes valuable company resources and lowers productivity of the company.
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3)     The employee who has been working for a company for a longer time knows the company culture and has accepted it to a great extent. But when this employee leaves and a new employee is hired in his place, it will take time for the new employee to get acquainted with the culture and norms of the organization.

4)     When an employee leaves this does not only affect him but demoralizes other employees as well and gives an impression that people don’t like to work for this company and the employees who are sticking around might be making a mistake. This often urges other employees also to either look for better opportunities and they loose loyalty and commitment to the company.

5)     The employee working for a company might have acquired good experience after a considerable amount of time working for the company and if he leaves then this experience can’t be replaced. The company might hire some one with the same qualification but the experience that the leaving employee has will not be there.

Because of all the important reasons mentioned above, it is very important that a company not only attracts good employees but should also strive to retain them by making policies that foster long term commitment and loyalty.



   
Question No: 67    ( Marks: 10 )
 What is flextime? What are the advantages of flextime from an employee’s perspective and from management’s perspective?

Answer : Flextime is a work arrangement where an employee works for the same core hours during the day but the arrangement of these hours or how he makes up these hours from the day is flexible. For example a company might have a policy for employees to work for eight hours every day and the company starts at 8.00 AM. So in flextime arrangement the employee might be given the discretion of working for eight hours but not necessarily from 8 AM. An employee might start for example at 10 AM and work up to 6 AM thereby completing eight hours of work and starting at his convenient time.
This is only one example of flextime. Other methods include flexible or compressed work weeks where the employee can work for more hours during some days and thereby reducing the total working days during the week. Others include job sharing , part time work arrangements and telecommuting.

Advantages from employee’s perspective:

1)     Flexible working hours will suit many people and they will be more satisfied with their work and will not have to look for other employment options.

2)     Working husbands and wives can easily arrange work to take care of their children. For example the wife might arrange her working hours so that either she or the husband is always with the children.

3)     If a company allows telecommuting for example then it can get more work force options because then those women can also work who need to be at home. Working from home can help these women earn money as well as attending to their family commitments.

4)     Compressed working weeks might help those people who can work for a less number of days for a week for example four out of seven days and extend their working hours per day and then go to their families during the three days off in case their families live in some other area or away from their place of work.

5)     There might be many people who would not work at all if flextime option was not available for example for college students who want to work part time because during the day they cannot work. So for these cases flextime will make more types of jobs available to them and they can easily work for example during the evenings and earn without affecting their education.



Advantages from employer’s perspective

1)     The biggest advantage from the employer’s perspective is that he will get better productivity from employees working in flextime

2)     The employees will be satisfied and hence the employer will not have to worry about boosting the morale of the employees or for employees leaving the company to find other jobs that suits them..

3)     This is a very good method to retain employees because when employees get such a good option of flexible timing, they will not be tempted to leave the organization.


4)     Using flextime the company can hire experts who will not be willing to work for example during the day maybe because they might be working with some other company. So this way the company can get the experts they need by allowing them to work as part-timers.


   
Question No: 68    ( Marks: 10 )
 Sometimes data gathered from interview is biased. Explain different interviewing mistakes that can lessen the effectiveness of a job interview.


Answer :
Interview is a method of verbal communication and therefore is subjective. It depends a lot on the context under which the interview was conducted and also on the interviewer’s skills as well his perceptions. As human interaction gets involved here, therefore the interview can become very subjective instead of being objective.  A lot of issues related to human nature can be introduced during the interview which might make it biased. The biasness depends on many factors. These factors can lead to interviewing mistakes which adversely affects the effectiveness of the job interview.

Some of the mistakes that can lessen the effectiveness of the job interview are :

1)     Selective perception: The selective perception of the interviewer might affect the interview. Different people perceive the same situation at the same time in different ways. This is due to their life experiences, education, values and personality. So based on these they might interpret the same situation in different ways. This might create biasness in their judgment.

2)     Projection:  Some interviewers might have some qualities and they might value them a lot and might want to see the same qualities in the interviewee and if they don’t see the same qualities, they will be biased in their interview.


3)     Stereotyping : Stereotyping is the preset judgement a person makes based on the group to which the interviewee belongs. For example the interviewer might have a stereotype that women are not good for managerial positions so he might get biased into not giving good review in  job interview to a woman who applied for the a management position.

4)     Halo effect:  Halo effect is when a person makes good or bad judgement based on just one quality. In this the interviewer might get biased based on just one quality and might give good reviews without paying attention to other good qualities or bad qualities that a person has. Similarly the same thing goes for a bad quality that the interviewer might see in the interviewee.

5)     Similar to me effect :: In this the interviewer might try to find qualities in an interviewee which is similar to the interviewer. If he doesn’t find any such quality he will be biased to not hire the job applicant. If on the other hand he sees such a quality then he will be biased to hire the job applicant without paying attention to other qualities needed for the job

6)     Inadequate knowledge about the job:  Some times the interviewer might not be well-versed with the exact requirements for a position for which he might be conducting the interview. For example an HR manager hiring for a technical job in the information technology department. As this is a completely technical field so the manager taking the interview might not be capable enough to do the interview because of his limited knowledge of the field of computer sciences. In this case he will be biased to see human or communications skills more than the technical skills the job applicant has that are more important to the job than his human skills. Similarly the interviewer might be hiring for a non technical position but he might lack the knowledge of the exact requirements or specifications for the job opening.

7)     Previous interviewee effect:  If an interviewee is being interviewed immediately after a perceived good or bad interviewee then he will be judged against the previous interviewee. If the previous interviewee was perceived as very good by the interviewer then the next person will have difficulties in making a good impression on the interviewer and if the previous interviewee was perceived as bad then the next one will be considered good even if he is just slightly better than the previous. So this creates a bias on the part of the interviewer and is one of the mistakes in job interviews which lessens its effectiveness.

8)     Preconceived notion about the interviewee :  If the interviewer has already heard about the job interviewee before the interview from some other sources whether it is something good or bad about him, the interviewer will already have made an impression about the interviewee even before the interview begins. So this can introduce a good or a bad bias on the part of the interviewer and lessens the effectiveness of the interview.

9)     Emotional state of the interviewer :  As interview is a human interaction so it is prone to human emotions. If the interviewer is not emotionally stable then it might bias the interview. For example an interviewer sitting down to take the interview has just heard some bad news before the start of the interview sessions and that might affect his judgement in reviewing the right person for the job.

All the factors mentioned above are mistakes that are involved in the interview process and that might affect the effectiveness of the job interview. There are many techniques to cope with these problems and make the interview as objective as possible so that exactly the right person can be hired for the right job.

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