Deck 11: Strategic Leadership: Creating a Learning, Ethical, and Socially Res

Question 1

Effective leadership is like a three-legged stool consisting of all of the following, except

A) dedication to maintaining the status quo.
B) nurturing a culture dedicated to excellence and ethical behaviour.
C) determining a direction.
D) designing the organization.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which component of EI is defined as the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods?

A) Empathy
B) Social skill
C) Self-awareness
D) Self-regulation

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Complete the following sentence: "Before there can be meaningful participation, people must share ______ about where we are trying to go."

A) a certain perspective
B) certain values and pictures
C) common goals
D) goals and required pre-conditions

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The source of referent power is

A) a subordinate's identification with the leader.
B) a leader's identification with the subordinates.
C) derived from the fact that the manager can potentially act as a reference when the employee applies for another job.
D) derived from the manager's ability to provide effective incentives to employees.

Question 5

In terms of nurturing a corporate culture, Canada's Cirque du Soleil was transformed by Guy Laliberte who

A) set a firm direction.
B) pushed himself and his artists to continuously experiment.
C) was poor at rooting out unethical behaviour.
D) maintained the status quo.

Question 6

Expert power

A) is derived from organizationally conferred decision-making authority.
B) arises from a manager's access, control, and distribution of information that is not freely available to everyone in an organization.
C) is derived from referent power.
D) is derived from the leader's capability and knowledge in a particular field.

Question 7

Refusal to share information, conflicts over resources, conflicts between departments and divisions, and petty interpersonal differences are symptoms of which type of barrier to change?

A) Systemic barriers
B) Political barriers
C) Behavioural barriers
D) Intellectual barriers

Question 8

Which of the following is not a characteristic of a successful learning organization?

A) They create a proactive, creative approach to the unknown.
B) They actively solicit the involvement of employees at all levels.
C) They regularly engage in activities to reinforce the status quo.
D) They enable everyone to use their intelligence and apply their imagination.

Question 9

Which component of EI involves the proficiency in managing relationships and building networks?

A) Empathy
B) Social skill
C) Self-awareness
D) Self-regulation

Question 10

Which component of EI involves the skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions?

A) Empathy
B) Social skill
C) Self-awareness
D) Self-regulation

Question 11

Which component of EI is defined as the ability to recognize and understand one's moods, emotions, and drives, as well as their effect on others?

A) Empathy
B) Social skill
C) Self-awareness
D) Self-regulation

Question 12

Leaders play a key role in developing and sustaining an organization's:

A) status quo
B) culture
C) reporting relationships
D) rules and regulations

Question 13

Which of the following does not explain why organizations are prone to inertia and slow to change?

A) Personal time constraints
B) Political barriers
C) Vested interests in the status quo
D) Organizational investments

Question 14

All of the following are components of emotional intelligence (EI), except

A) self-awareness.
B) self-regulation.
C) self-promotion.
D) empathy.

Question 15

A leader's role in developing a strategic vision includes the following attributes., except

A) a clear future direction.
B) a framework for their organization's mission and goals.
C) enhanced employee communication and commitment.
D) power in overcoming resistance to change.

Question 16

Coercive power

A) is the power exercised by use of fear of punishment for errors of omission or commission by employees.
B) is the power of persuasion exercised by a charismatic leader to get compliance from reluctant subordinates.
C) arises from a manager's access, control, and distribution of information that is not freely available to everyone in an organization.
D) is the ability of the leader or manager to confer rewards for positive behaviours or outcomes.

Question 17

The three broad sets of capabilities that a leader should possess include all of the following, except

A) technical skills.
B) cognitive abilities.
C) calculative abilities.
D) emotional intelligence.

Question 18

Organizational learning and change typically involve ongoing questioning of an organization's

A) need for employees.
B) head office location.
C) status quo or method of procedure.
D) leadership ability.

Question 19

All of the following constitute organizational bases of a leader's power, except

A) legitimate power.
B) reward power.
C) referent power.
D) coercive power.

Question 20

In the context of emotional intelligence, the hallmark of ______ is openness to change.

A) motivation
B) social skill
C) self-awareness
D) self-regulation

Question 21

Which of the following is not an example of internal benchmarking at Whole Foods?

A) Benchmarking is used by teams to compete against other teams in their stores.
B) Benchmarking is used by teams which compete against their own goals for sales, growth, and productivity.
C) Benchmarking is used by teams to compete against similar teams at different stores and regions.
D) Benchmarking is used by teams to compete for positive customer feedback.

Question 22

All of the following statements about ethical organizations are , except

A) the potential benefits of an ethical organization are few but direct.
B) ethical values shape the search for opportunities.
C) organizational ethics define what a company is and what it stands for.
D) ethics provide a common frame of reference that serves as a unifying force.

Question 23

A useful technique that can be used for gathering external information is known as

A) in-sourcing.
B) outsourcing.
C) benchmarking.
D) invoicing.

Question 24

Which of the following statements about ethics is accurate?

A) Ethics is the study which aims to correct inappropriate behaviour in public corporations.
B) Ethics assists individuals in deciding when an act is moral or immoral.
C) Ethics is not concerned with whether an act is socially desirable.
D) Business ethics exempts commercial enterprises from the same ethical standards are personal ethics.

Question 25

Setting a direction is the leadership activity that involves developing a strategic vision of what the organization could become.

Question 26

Key principles involved in the accelerated learning program at General Electric include all of the following, except

A) reach consensus about barriers.
B) develop a common language.
C) create an action plan.
D) train individuals rather than teams.

Question 27

Designing the organization is the leadership activity that involves building structures, teams, systems, and processes that facilitate the implementation of a leader's vision.

Question 28

Vancouver City Savings and Credit Union is Canada's largest credit union.

Question 29

A _________ is a statement describing an organization's commitment to certain standards of ethical behaviour.

A) role model
B) control system
C) corporate credo
D) reward structure

Question 30

An empowerment perspective that delegates responsibility, focuses on accountability, and relies on clearly specified rewards to motivate is known as

A) the leadership perspective.
B) the top-down approach.
C) the bottom-up approach.
D) the accounting model.

Question 31

Proactive measures to prevent organizational ethics problems include all of the following, except

A) instituting a reward system which considers outcomes as its primary criterion.
B) using leaders as role models of ethical behaviour.
C) issuing statements describing the organization's commitment to certain standards of behaviour.
D) using the organization's information systems as a control system.

Question 32

Companies that cultivate cultures of experimentation and curiosity make sure that _______ is not, in essence, a bad thing.

A) success
B) failure
C) dissent
D) risk taking

Question 33

Leaders play an important role in sustaining an organization's culture, but they are powerless to change it.

Question 34

The top-down perspective of empowerment

A) encourages intelligent risk-taking.
B) trusts people to perform.
C) encourages cooperative behaviour.
D) delegates responsibility.

Question 35

The bottom-up perspective of empowerment

A) clarifies the organization's values and mission.
B) builds teams to encourage cooperative behaviour.
C) communicates specific plans.
D) encourages employees to ask permission rather than forgiveness.

Question 36

Motorola has institutionalized its culture of dissent by

A) having executives charged.
B) criticizing mistakes and failures.
C) encouraging employees to file a minority report and go above a supervisor's head.
D) encouraging employees to follow orders from their supervisors.

Question 37

The empowerment perspective that involves trusting people to do the right thing, takes intelligent risks, and act with a sense of ownership is known as

A) the leadership perspective.
B) the top-down approach.
C) the bottom-up approach.
D) the risk-taking model.

Question 38

Leaders are not expected to accept personal responsibility for ethical behaviour in an organization because ethics is a matter of individual choice.

Question 39

All of the following are guidelines an organization can use to promote the challenging of the status quo, except

A) establishing a "culture of dissent."
B) forcefully creating a sense of urgency.
C) fostering a culture that encourages risk taking.
D) creating a result-based reward system.

Question 40

Functional benchmarking

A) is not very useful for organizations with a divisional organizational structure.
B) endeavours to determine best practices regardless of industry.
C) restricts the search for best practices to competitors.
D) is useful when researching industry-specific standards.

Question 41

Business ethics is the application of ethical standards to commercial enterprise.

Question 42

A key function of the leaders in a learning organization is to generate an organization-wide commitment to the status quo.

Question 43

In the top-down approach to empowerment, leaders clarify the mission, delegate responsibility, and hold people accountable for results.

Question 44

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is generally a better predictor of life success than intelligence quotient (IQ).

Question 45

Successful learning organizations have a proactive, creative approach to the unknown.

Question 46

CIBC's Run for the Cure exemplifies an organization that has gone beyond the expected level of socially responsible behaviour.

Question 47

The two broad bases of a leader's power are organizational and hierarchical.

Question 48

Empathy, one of the components of emotional intelligence (EI), refers to one's proficiency in managing relationships and building networks.

Question 49

Citibank CEO Walter Wriston believes a firm can "blow the competition away" by figuring out how to harness the collective genius of people in an organization.

Question 50

Organizational learning works best when an organization's leaders gather information and teach it to employees who are like their students.

Question 51

Behavioural barriers to change occur because of conflicts between departments, conflicts arising from power relationships, and refusal to share information.

Question 52

An integrity-based approach to corporate social responsibility is primarily lawyer-driven with the intent of preventing criminal misconduct.

Question 53

Systemic barriers to change refer to elements of an organization's design, structure, and reporting relationships that impede the flow of information.

Question 54

Coercive power is the power exercised by use of fear of punishment for errors of either omission or commission by employees.

Question 55

Inspiring and motivating people with a mission or purpose is a necessary and sufficient condition for developing a learning organization.

Question 56

Ethical behaviour can be reinforced through the use of an appropriate reward and evaluation system.

Question 57

A critical requirement of all learning organizations is that everyone feels and supports a compelling purpose.

Question 58

Contemporary management theory does not recognize emotional intelligence as a necessary capability.

Question 59

Given the increasing importance of EI as a core leadership capability, IQ and technical skills are now considered "threshold capabilities."

Question 60

To successfully empower employees to achieve organizational goals, leaders must perform the tasks of resource allocation and power brokering.

Question 61

Briefly discuss the three interdependent activities that are critical for effective leadership.

Question 62

Discuss the reasons why organizations and managers at all levels are prone to inertia and slow to learn, adapt and change.

Question 63

Discuss why corporate social responsibility ought to influence managerial thinking and strategic decision making.

Question 64

What is the difference between "top-down" and "bottom-up" approaches to empowerment? Discuss how these differences impact the effectiveness of empowerment efforts.

Question 65

How can developing and maintaining a high ethical standard benefit an organization? Give examples and describe the effects the examples have had on the organization and/or its stakeholders.

Question 66

Discuss the differences between integrity-based and compliance-based approaches to organizational ethics.

Question 67

What is the leader's role in establishing an ethical organization?

Question 68

What are the five key elements of a learning organization? What is the value of a learning organization in today's global marketplace?

Question 69

How can corporate credos and codes of conduct be helpful in shaping the moral dimensions of an organization?

Question 70

Identify the five components of emotional intelligence (EI). Discuss how each of these factors contributes to the success of a leader or manager.