Deck 4: The Systems Perspective on Organizations and Communication

Question 1

When individuals use common resources to benefit personal needs rather than the needs of the whole, this process is called

A) closed systems.
B) counterdependence.
C) "the tragedy of the commons."
D) "counter-networking."

Answer 1

C

Question 2

"There is no best way to organize" and "all ways of organizing are not equally effective" are two tenets of

A) Giddens's theory of structuration.
B) contingency theory.
C) von Bertalanffy's general systems theory.
D) Einstein's theory of relativity.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following concepts is found in both Weick's basic model of organizing and his theory of retrospective sense making?

A) Retention
B) Continuation
C) Enactment
D) Socialization

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Systems theory encourages us to explore how organizational effectiveness depends on the coordination of

A) the production cycle.
B) the areas of the organization that create the most revenue.
C) the total enterprise.
D) technology and machines.

Question 5

The idea that we all display some, but not all, of our behaviors at work is called

A) enactment.
B) extracted cues.
C) partial inclusion.
D) selective construction.

Question 6

According to the text, which of the following is the main reason that researchers are not doing a better job of studying organizational communication from a systems approach?

A) Insufficient statistics training
B) The changing nature of systems
C) The concept of equifinality
D) Insufficient research support

Question 7

Policies are important texts that give individuals the means to understand their relationship to the organization. According to the text, this policy knowledge includes all of the following EXCEPT

A) health insurance.
B) vacation time.
C) workload.
D) political and religious affiliation.

Question 8

Steve Corman's concept of "counter-networking" has been particularly useful in learning about which of the following groups?

A) Government agencies
B) Emergency services
C) Protest organizations
D) Terrorist networks

Question 9

Karl Weick said, "How can I know what I think until I see what I say?" This statement best represents which of the following concepts?

A) Retrospective sense making
B) Selection
C) Equifinality
D) Partial inclusion

Question 10

Which of the following is not a concept in systems theory?

A) Feedback
B) Top-down management
C) Interdependence
D) Goals

Question 11

According to Peter Senge, which of the following concepts requires us to shift our way of thinking about organizations to a more participative and holistic approach?

A) Open systems
B) Closed systems
C) Interdependent systems
D) Learning organizations

Question 12

Which of the following is the key factor that turns a group into a system?

A) Relationships
B) Organization
C) Nature
D) None of the options are correct.

Question 13

Which of the following concepts from the systems approach shows us that average employees could be strong leaders in their community outside of work?

A) Distributed intelligence
B) Partial inclusion
C) Boundary spanners
D) Socialization

Question 14

Peter Senge draws a distinction between

A) discussion and communication.
B) selecting and organizing.
C) the goals of individuals and the goals individuals have for their organization.
D) discussion and dialogue.

Question 15

Which of the following theories changed the way that we look at the universe, thereby giving rise to the systems approach?

A) Giddens's theory of structuration
B) Weick's sense-making model
C) von Bertalanffy's general systems theory
D) Einstein's theory of relativity

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT one of the properties of sense making as identified by Karl Weick?

A) Enactment
B) Socialization
C) Selection
D) Extracted cues

Question 17

As part of his early theorizing on sense making, Karl Weick referred to the process of making sense of uncertainty through interaction as

A) enactment.
B) equivocality reduction.
C) retention.
D) partial inclusion.

Question 18

According to Karl Weick, the primary purpose of organizations is to

A) provide a space for storytelling and socializing.
B) profit.
C) perpetuate the system.
D) move from closed systems to open systems.

Question 19

Part of Weick's theory of retrospective sense making suggests that sufficient information and plausibility take precedence over

A) socialization.
B) retrospection.
C) accuracy.
D) enactment.

Question 20

An employee who regularly interacts with others outside of the organization is referred to as a(n)

A) systems manager.
B) environmental scanner.
C) external facilitator.
D) boundary spanner.

Question 21

The typical college or university exemplifies a loosely coupled system, because the actions of one department often have little impact on the actions of another department.

Question 22

When organizations need both cooperative and competitive models at work in a single system, which of the following strategic approaches to organizing should they consider?

A) Coopetition
B) Retrospection
C) Open systems
D) General systems

Question 23

Goals can differ across systems levels.

Question 24

Coopetition works only for nonprofit organizations.

Question 25

Weick's theory of retrospective sense making does not take into account people who strive to act only in accordance with predetermined plans.

Question 26

Loosely coupled systems are always superior to tightly coupled systems.

Question 27

A significant power imbalance can lead to a lack of mutual interdependence.

Question 28

Which of the following approaches claims that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts?

A) Classical management
B) Interpretivism
C) The human relations approach
D) The systems approach

Question 29

An underlying assumption of Weick's model is that decision making is largely retrospective sense making.

Question 30

According to the systems approach, which of the following concepts connects communication and action?

A) Dialogue
B) Feedback
C) Empathic concern
D) Interdependence

Question 31

Shared visions are an important part of learning organizations.

Question 32

When one struggles with uncertainty due to multiple interpretations of a single experience, the systems approach would suggest that this person struggles with

A) retrospection.
B) enactment.
C) equivocality.
D) equifinality.

Question 33

Closed systems are more likely to respond quickly to a change in the system.

Question 34

Learning organizations that use "double-loop learning" rely on which of the following concepts?

A) Socialization
B) Feedback
C) Sense making
D) "Counter-networking"

Question 35

Equifinality refers to the notion that there is "one best way" to organize.

Question 36

In systems theory, there are two main types of feedback: direct and indirect.

Question 37

According to Karl Weick, loosely coupled systems are not able to withstand jolts from the environment.

Question 38

Interdependence refers to the relationship between the whole and the individual parts.

Question 39

One emerging area of inquiry that makes important use of systems concepts is the study of policy communication.

Question 40

The concept of distributed intelligence recognizes that all members of a system-be they people or cells-are important.

Question 41

Explain the concept of an open system. Provide an example that illustrates your point.

Question 42

The concept of feedback is particularly important to systems theory. Explain how feedback operates in a systems approach, paying particular attention to deviation-counteracting versus deviation-amplifying feedback.

Question 43

Describe how equifinality operates in organizations. Offer an example of this concept that illustrates your point.

Question 44

Draw connections between general systems theory as it applies to biological and physical sciences as well as how it has been adapted to the social sciences.

Question 45

If distributed intelligence is important to an organization, how should managers and employees use this concept?

Question 46

Describe each part of Weick's model of organizing.

Question 47

Illustrate Weick's process of sense making, and explain its importance to organizational communication.

Question 48

Explain Weick's quotation, "How can I know what I think until I see what I say?" Moreover, use his model of retrospective sense making to explain how Weick's approach has shifted to a more relationally based quotation, "How can we know what we think until we see what we say?"

Question 49

The concept of interdependence is a central concept to the systems approach. Explain interdependence by demonstrating how it relates to the other concepts associated with the systems approach. Conclude your essay by offering a very detailed example of how interdependence makes a system work.

Question 50

What are the five features of Senge's learning organization?

Question 51

An underlying assumption of Weick's model is that decision making is largely retrospective sense making. What does this mean?

Question 52

Illustrate how the enacted environment is so important to Weick's theory.

Question 53

How is systems theory unique from the other three theoretical approaches to organizational communication?