Exam 4: Perception Attribution and the Management of Diversity

As a management trainee, you have had a chance to observe many supervisors. One of them, Bob Smith, is particularly fascinating to you. Bob is a retired U.S. Army tank commander. He tends to see every challenge to his authority as an enemy attack and every task as a military campaign. Bob also tends to let whomever he likes personally heavily influence who gets promotions and bonuses in his area, although he sees this as rewarding the worker's exceptional performance. Bob also believes his workers are all saints when he is in a good frame of mind and all bums when he is not. Use what you have learned about perceivers and perception to explain Bob's actions and tendencies.

The impression management tactic of ________ occurs when the target tries to present himself or herself in as positive a light as possible.

A schema is dysfunctional if it ________.

Tom Seigmund, a supervisor of engineering at Thomas & Shaffer, Inc., is proud that his engineering staff wins the company basketball tournament each year. A key contributor to their success on the court is that most of the engineers, like Tom, are over 6' 5" and played college basketball. This extracurricular anecdote may indicate that engineering hiring decisions are impacted by ________.

The more accurately managers can perceive subordinates, the better they can motivate them.

Conformity to situational norms is easy when doing business internationally.

Discuss perception and its three components.

Primacy effects are common problems in interviews.

________ is whatever the perceiver is trying to make sense of.

To combat the sexual harassment problem, one of the key steps that an organization can take is to develop a sexual harassment policy supported by top management.

Training programs where individuals act out inappropriate ways of dealing with diverse employees is one method used in diversity training.

Mark Thomas is furious at the incompetence of the local weatherman, who predicted rain for tomorrow, thereby ruining Mark's plans for a golf outing. Mark is making ________.

Due to the similar-to-me effect and stereotyping, mixed-race mentor-protégé relationships are rare.

Stuart Martin, an employee of Davis and McIntyre, Inc., has worked very hard at being a good team player, and other workers compliment him on his willingness to work with others. However, Stuart was rated as a poor team player by his supervisor, who doesn't like him personally. This inaccurate perception is MOST LIKELY due to the supervisor's ________.

The halo effect can cause a supervisor to evaluate subordinates, who are similar to him or her, more positively than they deserve.

Which of the following is NOT an example of hostile work environment sexual harassment?

The ________ is the context in which perception takes place.

Schemas are resistant to change.

The situation provides the perceiver with information to use in interpreting the target.

Schemas can hinder objective understanding because they ________.