Deck 5: Strategy and Culture

Question 1

Which of the following are methods of historical strategic analysis? Choose all that apply.

A) Cyclical influences
B) Historical narratives
C) Chronological analysis
D) Anchor points
E) Historo- cultural analysis

Answer 1

A, B, C, D

Question 2

Supranational culture refers to:

A) The fragmentation of national cultures
B) The development of single cultural 'norms' across several nations
C) The transfer of national cultural characteristics
D) The dominance of one national culture

Answer 2

B

Question 3

What is the main danger associated with public statements of many organisations' values, beliefs and purposes?

A) That they relate to all aspects of the paradigm.
B) That they represent the past rather than the future.
C) That they imply a false legitimacy.
D) That they may be the aspirations of a group of stakeholders rather than accurate pictures of the actual culture.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

What term is used for the set of assumptions held relatively in common and taken from granted in an organisation?

A) Field
B) Values
C) Beliefs
D) Paradigm
E) Behaviours

Question 5

Which of the following is not one of the cultural frames of reference?

A) National
B) Organisational field
C) Functional
D) Historical
E) Organisational

Question 6

Which three of the following are good reasons why understanding the organisation's history is important for managers?

A) It helps managers to stand outside the organisation and make rational decisions.
B) It ensures that the organisation does not suffer strategic drift.
C) It makes it less likely that managers will misattribute the reasons for past successes.
D) It helps managers to avoid giving too great a weight to recent events.

Question 7

What term is given to the situation where early events and decisions establish policies that have lasting effects on subsequent events and decisions?

A) Historical lock- out
B) Recency bias
C) Path dependency
D) Strategic drift

Question 8

Which of the following is not an element of the cultural web?

A) Rituals and routines
B) IT systems and HR approach
C) Control systems and organisational structures
D) Power structures and paradigm
E) Symbols and stories

Question 9

Which three of the following comments may justify continuing a policy of incremental change?

A) Our regular customers would never change to other suppliers.
B) We should continue to experiment about the successful formula we have followed before.
C) The environment is only changing gradually.
D) This strategy has been a success in the past.

Question 10

Which two of the following questions would be the most suitable when trying to investigate the routines and rituals that make up a cultural web?

A) What do induction training programmes emphasise?
B) How is power distributed in the organisation?
C) Do the structures encourage collaboration or competition?
D) What things have been done for a long time around here?

Question 11

It is important to understand national and regional cultures because:

A) Organisations operating internationally have to cope with different regulatory regimes.
B) Organisations operating internationally have to cope with different languages.
C) Organisations operating internationally have to cope with a wide array of barriers to trade, including different taxation thresholds.
D) Organisations operating internationally have to cope with the very different standards and expectations of the various regions and countries in which they operate.

Question 12

Which of the following is not a symptom of strategic drift?

A) A rise in production costs.
B) A loss in market share.
C) A decline in share price.
D) A downturn in financial performance.

Question 13

Which of the following statements are examples of how organisational structure may contribute to the organisation's culture? Choose all that apply.

A) A formal, hierarchical structure emphasises that strategy is the province of senior managers.
B) The marketing team refer to their customers as 'bonus providers'.
C) A highly devolved structure may signify that collaboration is less important than competition.
D) The organisation's rituals include regular social meetings after work.

Question 14

Which two of the following questions would be the most suitable when trying to investigate the stories that make up a cultural web?

A) Who are the rebels and what do they rebel against?
B) Who are the heroes and villains in the organisation?
C) How flat is the hierarchy?
D) What is most closely monitored?

Question 15

What are the four layers of culture?

A) Values, beliefs, behaviours and taken- for- granted assumptions
B) Theatre, literature, music and art
C) Symbols, stories, rituals and paradigm
D) Values, mission, vision and behaviours

Question 16

In relation to path creation and innovation, which two of the following questions are most useful for managers?

A) What does the future demand but also not require from the past?
B) What can we ignore from the past before we start considering the future?
C) What can the future tell us about past performance?
D) What is relevant from the past that can help with the future?

Question 17

Which of the following may be affected by path dependency and lock- in?

A) Value systems
B) Technology
C) People's day- to- day behaviour
D) Training and education
E) All of the above

Question 18

Past success may often be based on excellent relationships with customers, suppliers and employees. Which problems may arise as a result? Choose all that apply.

A) Customers will accept the need for change and are very unlikely to switch to new suppliers.
B) It may be difficult to make a fundamental change in strategy.
C) Major changes required in the skill base may involve changes in the workforce.
D) Major changes in the the products created may require a change to new suppliers.

Question 19

Which of the following statements is most accurate when in relation to organisational culture?

A) Cultures are intangible and so cannot be managed, as they cannot be measured.
B) 'Appropriateness' of a culture depends on the unique combination of strategy, culture and circumstances facing the organisation.
C) The existence of sub- cultures proves it is impossible to manage culture as it is not one cohesive thing.
D) It is possible to identify the 'best' type of culture for a given organisation.

Question 20

Which three of the following are good reasons why understanding the organisation's history is important for managers?

A) It ensures that managers can identify the reasons for success.
B) It encourages managers to consider 'What if' questions.
C) Having a knowledge of the history helps managers to stand outside the organisation and assess how that history may affect decision making.
D) It makes managers more sensitive to the risk of strategic drift.

Question 21

An organisation has built its strategy around previous path- dependent capabilities that they have developed. Which term is used for this situation?

A) Lock in
B) Lock out
C) Strategic drift
D) Recency

Question 22

Which two of the following statements explain why the taken- for- granted nature of culture is centrally important in relation to the management of strategy?

A) It is easier to change the paradigm than it is to change particular aspects of the culture.
B) Managers generally stand outside the culture so may not have a clear understanding of it.
C) Because it is difficult to observe, identify and control it is difficult to manage.
D) Organisations can be captured by the their culture, making it very difficult to change strategy outside the bounds of that culture.

Question 23

Which two comments correctly apply to strategic drift? Choose all that apply.

A) The appointment of new management makes the adoption of new strategy difficult while the new managers become accustomed to the new organisation.
B) Strategies are transferred from one part of an organisation to another.
C) Strategies tend to develop incrementally on the basis of historical influences.
D) Strategies may fail to keep pace with the changing environment.

Question 24

Legitimacy is concerned with meeting expectations within an organisational field in terms of which three aspects?

A) Paradigms
B) Behaviours
C) Assumptions
D) Strategies

Question 25

What term is used for historical events that were significant for organisations at a particular point in time.

A) Major events
B) Chronological sequences
C) Anchor points
D) Cycles

Question 26

Which of the following explain why it is often difficult for managers to identify strategic drift? Choose all that apply.

A) Managers may be over- enthusiastic about adopting new policies.
B) Changes are not always easy to see without the benefit of hindsight.
C) The core competences that created advantage may be exactly the same as the core rigidities that are creating drift.
D) Performance may not suffer significantly during the early stages of drift.

Question 27

History is important in terms of how it influences current strategy; it is generally easy to trace links to the organisation as it currently exists.

Question 28

What do you understand by the term 'cultural web'?

A) It is a diagnostic tool that examines the taken- for- granted assumptions of an organisation and the physical manifestations of organisational culture.
B) It is a model for understanding the web of values and beliefs that underpin an organisation's approach to strategy.
C) It is a reference to the way people who join an organisation get caught up in the beliefs, values and established ways of working without realising it.
D) It is a trap some organisations fall into whereby the get convinced that their way of doing things is best because their culture blinds them to other possibilities.

Question 29

Which of the following is not an example of how culture might adversely affect strategy implementation?

A) The behaviours required for the strategy to work may not be present.
B) A lack of trust and openness may result in the misreporting of control data.
C) A lack of trust between managers and workers may result in a lack of commitment to the strategy.
D) Decision making may be slowed down by the number of decision makers who have to be consulted.

Question 30

Chronological analysis involves setting down the sequence of the key, non- financial, events showing change in the organisation.

Question 31

Which of the following is not an appropriate question for evaluating routines and rituals in cultural web analysis?

A) Which routines are emphasised?
B) What are the key rituals?
C) Are there particular symbols which denote the organisation?
D) How easy are rituals/routines to change?
E) What do training programmes emphasise?

Question 32

Which of the following could be classed as differences in sub- national culture? Choose all that apply.

A) Differences between England and France
B) Differences between North and South England
C) Differences between Europe and the USA
D) Differences between a town and rural environment

Question 33

Capabilities that have been the bases of advantage may become difficult to change - they have become core rigidities. Identify the two main reasons for this.

A) They tend to persist beyond their usefulness.
B) Financial performance tends to lead the causes of strategic drift.
C) They are easy to identify with hindsight.
D) They become embedded in organisational routines and become difficult to unravel.

Question 34

The period of flux typically sees the organisation adopting new strategies, clearly focused on creating change.

Question 35

What are the two aims of creating a cultural web?

A) To analyse the historical reasons for particular aspects of the existing culture.
B) To design a suitable culture.
C) To understand the existing culture.
D) To understand the effect s of the existing culture.

Question 36

Managers are usually in a powerful position within organisations to influence the expectations of other stakeholders, therefore:

A) They should behave with integrity.
B) They should always attempt to maximise stakeholder benefits.
C) They should always be regulated by an external body.
D) They should always attempt to maximise shareholder value.

Question 37

Which of the following is not a stage in the process of strategic drift?

A) Strategic drift
B) Stepped incremental change
C) Flux
D) Incremental change
E) Transformational change or death

Question 38

Which of the following are possible outcomes of the final stage of the strategic drift process? Choose all that apply.

A) The organisation may be taken over by another organisation.
B) The organisation may continue as before, creating steady growth for shareholders.
C) The organisation goes into receivership.
D) The organisation may experience transformational change.

Question 39

Which of the following correctly state the ways in which strategy can be shaped by the need for legitimacy? Choose all that apply.

A) Through regulation
B) As a recipe for what is appropriate
C) In response to normative expectations
D) Through organisational structure

Question 40

Which of the following is not one of the four layers of organisational culture?

A) Beliefs
B) Behaviours
C) Field
D) Paradigm
E) Values

Question 41

The paradigm of the organisation encapsulates and reinforces the behaviours observed in the other elements of the cultural web.

Question 42

With regard to both values and beliefs it is important to remember that, in relation to culture, the concern is with collective rather than the individual's values and beliefs.

Question 43

By breaking norms, organisations may hope to gain approval, thus increasing their legitimacy.

Question 44

Taken- for- granted assumptions are the core of an organisation's culture.

Question 45

Strategic drift is the tendency for strategy to develop in a series of abrupt steps in response to changes in the external environment.

Question 46

The organisational field is a community of organisations that interact more frequently with one another and that have developed a shared meaning system.

Question 47

'What if' questions encourage managers to imagine what might have happened had there been other influences in the environment, different responses form customers, or different initiatives within the organisation.