Deck 9: Motivation, performance, and Effectiveness

Question 1

The concept of motivation helps explain differences seen among people in terms of the energy and direction of their behavior.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

According to McClelland,differences in achievement orientation are a key reason why people differ in the levels of effort they exert to accomplish assignments,objectives,or goals.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The second component of a performance management cycle is planning that includes tracking follower performance,sharing feedback on goal progress,providing needed resources and coaching,and the like.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Employee engagement is the extent to which people enjoy coming to work or are happy with their pay and benefits,and job satisfaction is the extent to which people are absorbed with,committed to,and enthusiastic about their assigned work tasks.

Question 5

In the context of approaches to motivation,an empowered worker will have fewer choices in how and when to accomplish high work demands and as such will suffer from more stress than will an unempowered worker.

Question 6

Volunteering to help another employee with a task or project is an example of organizational citizenship behavior.

Question 7

According to research,a strong correlation exists between the amount of money an organization spends on motivational programs and motivational speakers and its revenues,profitability,and market share.

Question 8

According to the Pygmalion effect,leaders who have little faith in their followers' ability to accomplish a goal are rarely disappointed.

Question 9

A firm with a pay-for-performance culture that distributes bonuses and commissions for results obtained is most likely using the empowerment approach to motivate employees.

Question 10

Studies suggest that if firms could get almost 4 percent more work out of each employee,the GDP in the United States would increase by $355 billion.

Question 11

In the context of the operant approach,noncontingent rewards or punishments are administered as consequences of a particular behavior.

Question 12

Companies that spend a considerable amount of time and effort attracting,developing,and retaining the best people often report superior financial results.

Question 13

Job satisfaction is not how hard one works or how well one works,but rather how much one likes a specific kind of job or work activity.

Question 14

In Maslow's hierarchy,physiological and security needs must be satisfied before belongingness or esteem needs are pursued.

Question 15

Performance differs from effectiveness in that performance generally involves making judgments about the adequacy of behavior with respect to certain criteria such as work group or organizational goals.

Question 16

Worker productivity and job dissatisfaction in the United States are at an all-time high.

Question 17

According to Daniel Pink,rewards and punishment are unhelpful in motivating employees doing routine,assembly line work but work well when it comes to performing complex tasks or creating new products.

Question 18

Leaders that use operant principles to motivate workers should limit themselves to administering organizationally sanctioned rewards and punishments.

Question 19

According to Daniel Pink,the three fundamental needs that drive employees who create new products or services or perform complex,non-routine work are autonomy,mastery,and meaning.

Question 20

Motivation,learning,and stress are the three macro psychological components of empowerment.

Question 21

Which of the following involves making judgments about the adequacy of behavior with respect to certain criteria such as work group or organizational goals?

A)reliability
B)responsiveness
C)performance
D)effectiveness

Question 22

Which of the following most likely occurs when leaders articulate high expectations for followers?

A)the Hawthorne effect
B)the Pygmalion effect
C)the Golem effect
D)the Hierarchy effect

Question 23

Which statement about empowerment and the operant approach is most likely true?

A)A concerning situation can almost always be fixed,and followers are the only variable important in the performance equation.
B)By changing a particular situation,leaders can enhance followers' motivation,performance,and satisfaction.
C)Restructuring work processes and procedures generally has little effect on follower's motivational levels.
D)Most followers enjoy the challenge of doing things in new ways and feel immediately empowered.

Question 24

In the context of team and organizational effectiveness,which of the following occurs when effectiveness measures are affected by factors unrelated to follower performance?

A)criterion contamination
B)confirmation bias
C)pay dispersion
D)talent hoarding

Question 25

An individual's tendency to exert effort toward task accomplishment depends partly on the strength of his or her motivation to achieve success.This concept is called

A)problem solving.
B)customer orientation.
C)relationship building.
D)achievement orientation.

Question 26

Performance is best described as

A)the likelihood that behaviors will be repeated without reward.
B)judgments about the adequacy or inadequacy of behavior.
C)behaviors directed toward an organization's mission.
D)how much an individual enjoys a work activity.

Question 27

Which of the following statements about goals is most likely false?

A)Determining just how challenging to make goals creates a dilemma for many leaders.
B)Goal commitment is likely to increase with follower participation in goal setting.
C)Followers exert the greatest effort when goals are accompanied by feedback.
D)Easily attainable goals result in higher levels of effort and performance.

Question 28

One limitation of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is that it fails to

A)consider an individual's higher-order needs.
B)place enough emphasis on an individual's lower-order needs.
C)address the general nature of the various types of basic human needs.
D)make specific predictions on what an individual will do to satisfy a particular need.

Question 29

Which statement best summarizes the components of empowerment as defined by the authors?

A)Leaders delegate leadership and decision making down to the lowest level possible and equip followers with the resources,knowledge,and skills necessary to make good decisions.
B)Leaders articulate a vision and specific goals and hold followers responsible for achieving them.
C)Followers act as entrepreneurs and owners who question rules and make intelligent decisions.
D)Empowerment is a bottom-up approach that focuses on intelligent risk taking,growth,change,trust,and ownership.

Question 30

Which of the following is not a macro psychological component that underlies empowerment?

A)motivation
B)influence
C)learning
D)stress

Question 31

In the context of the fundamental needs that affect motivation,which of the following statements is true of the work of Daniel Pink?

A)Pink believed that followers need to be paid lower than market rates.
B)Millennials,Gen Yers,Gen Xers,and Baby Boomers have nothing in common when it comes to autonomy,mastery,and meaning.
C)Pink maintained that rewards and punishment work well for motivating employees doing routine and assembly line work.
D)One critical aspect of autonomy is providing followers with feedback on skill development or task progress.

Question 32

Which of the following is the major theme of characteristics of the operant approach?

A)setting goals to change behavior
B)satisfying needs to change behavior
C)giving people autonomy and latitude to increase their motivation for work
D)changing rewards and punishments to change behavior

Question 33

Which of the following is most likely an example of a noncontingent reward?

A)performance bonus
B)annual salary
C)monthly commission
D)stock options

Question 34

In terms of the underlying causes of performance problems,leaders seem to have the most difficulty in recognizing and rectifying

A)motivation problems.
B)unclear expectations.
C)employee skill deficits.
D)resource shortages.

Question 35

Which of the following is the most powerful determinant of task behavior according to Locke and Latham?

A)values
B)goals
C)abilities
D)needs

Question 36

In the context of factors affecting motivation at work,which of the following statements is true of empowerment?

A)An empowered worker will have fewer choices in how and when to accomplish high work demands and will suffer from more stress than will an unempowered worker.
B)Delegating leadership and decision making down to the lowest level possible is a component of empowerment.
C)Leaders should select only followers who both possess the right skills and have a higher level of a personality trait called achievement orientation.
D)Empowered employees lack the latitude to make decisions and are uncomfortable making these decisions.

Question 37

In the context of factors that affect worker motivation,which of the following is a macro psychological component that underlies empowerment?

A)meaning
B)influence
C)learning
D)competence

Question 38

In the context of team and organizational effectiveness,which of the following refers to people systematically overestimating their own performance in areas where they lack competence and readily dismissing any information to the contrary?

A)the Pygmalion effect
B)the Dunning-Kruger effect
C)the Golem effect
D)the Autler-Townes effect

Question 39

Which of the following would most likely result in consistently higher effort and performance?

A)assigning goals that are both specific and difficult
B)having goals that are very difficult to achieve
C)assigning "do your best" goals
D)having multiple goals

Question 40

In the context of the factors affecting motivation at work,which of the following statements is true of the operant approach?

A)A shortcoming of the operant technique is that situational factors can overwhelm the effectiveness of a reward program.
B)In the operant technique,noncontingent rewards and punishments are associated with particular behaviors.
C)Leadership practitioners should create perceptions of inequity when administering individually tailored rewards.
D)Leadership practitioners should limit themselves to administering organizationally sanctioned rewards and punishments.