Deck 2: Individual Characteristics

Question 1

Which of the following competencies is a skill?

A) Conscientiousness
B) Work history
C) Excel proficiency
D) Agreeableness

Answer 1

C
Explanation:C) Proficiency in Excel is a skill, and this is a competency that can assist you in performing tasks requiring the use of this program.

Question 2

Which model would identify the groups of competencies needed for high performance by the employees at a sales firm?

A) Organization-wide competency model
B) Function-based competency model
C) Role-based competency model
D) Job-based competency model

Answer 2

A
Explanation:A) The organization-wide competency model would identify the groups of competencies that all employees in any organization as a whole need to have for high performance. The competencies are not specific to any role, job, or position but are needed by all employees in the organization.

Question 3

A common theme required for the various methods you can use to develop your own personal competencies is that they are ________.

A) Guided by a mentor
B) Self-initiated activities done outside of the workplace
C) Specific to your industry
D) Recommended to you by someone in your organization

Answer 3

B
Explanation:B) Employees need to take the initiative to develop themselves by finding and participating in activities outside of the workplace on their own time.

Question 4

Which of the following is not a result of the MBTI?

A) IMTP
B) ESTJ
C) INTP
D) ENFP

Question 5

The most sought after competency by employers is ________.

A) Ethics/social responsibility
B) Leadership
C) Critical thinking/problem solving
D) Teamwork/collaboration

Question 6

When are employers concerned with measuring competencies?

A) Before employees are hired
B) After employees are hired
C) Both A and B
D) None of the above

Question 7

How do most organizations help employees develop competencies?

A) Encouraging employees to develop their competencies
B) Providing training or guided experiences
C) Hiring an outside firm to assess employees' work performance
D) Only hire employees that already have all the competencies needed for their position, thus completely eliminating the need for employee competency development

Question 8

The best description of emotional contagion is ________.

A) Spreading positive emotions to others
B) Spreading negative emotions to others
C) Spreading positive or negative emotions to others
D) Impossible to measure because it's not readily displayed

Question 9

Which of the following statements about competencies is true?

A) Employees should independently seek out ways to continually develop their competencies and not rely on the organization to provide the developmental opportunities
B) Employers are responsible for providing developmental opportunities, but only for competencies you did not have when you were hired
C) Most employers will pay for any fees for courses or activities to develop your competencies if you are in a managerial position
D) Once you reach your desired job or position, your employer won't expect you to continue developing your competencies because you are not seeking further advancement

Question 10

A manager in charge of hiring a new accountant should refer to which competency model to determine the skills needed by applicants to perform the job?

A) Organization-wide
B) Function-based
C) Role-based
D) Job-based

Question 11

One of your subordinates is very shy and does not speak up in meetings to express her ideas. Your personal belief is that personality changes and develops over time, so you begin asking for her opinion during meetings in an attempt to include her in the discussion with the goal that over time she will feel more comfortable speaking up and be less shy. Your belief and actions show that you approach personality with the ________ perspective.

A) Personality
B) Heredity
C) Environment
D) Change

Question 12

Which job requires the highest level of emotional labor?

A) Certified financial accountant
B) Customer service representative
C) Financial analyst
D) Maintenance worker

Question 13

Which factor is positively correlated with performance?

A) IQ
B) EQ
C) Agreeableness
D) Emotional stability

Question 14

One of your subordinates is very shy and does not speak up in meetings to express her ideas. Your personal belief is that personality is fixed and does not change over time. You don't think that there is anything you can do to make her less shy so you don't change how you interact with her. Your belief and actions show that you approach personality with the ________ perspective.

A) Personality
B) Heredity
C) Environment
D) Change

Question 15

Two HR managers are writing an ad announcing a job opportunity but they disagree about which characteristics should be required of applicants for the position, and they want to specify requirements in the ad. Manager A wants to require all of the knowledge, skills, and abilities that the position requires because they can't easily be changed. Manager B thinks it is OK to have some but not all of these characteristics because they can train a promising candidate to fulfill the requirements. It is likely that these managers differ philosophically about changing personality. Manager A likely holds the ________ perspective while Manager B probably holds the ________ perspective.

A) Heredity; environment
B) Behavior; emotional
C) Non-trainable; trainable
D) IQ; EQ

Question 16

The traditional practice at work has been for employees to "leave your baggage at the door" which means when at work, don't bring any personal emotions or problems. By asking employees to divorce themselves from the emotions from events in their personal lives while at work, what are employers trying to minimize?

A) Emotional labor
B) Emotional contagion
C) Emotional spillover
D) Felt emotions

Question 17

The Big 5 describes your personality ________ while the MBTI describes your personality ________.

A) In personal interactions; with the focus on the workplace
B) With five dimensions; using four dimensions
C) In psychological terms; using terms derived from research
D) That you openly express; that you feel but don't express

Question 18

Which of the following is not true of emotional intelligence (EQ)?

A) EQ remains consistent throughout one's lifetime
B) High EQ can predict high performance
C) EQ can be measured
D) Individuals have different levels of EQ

Question 19

Which personality measure is used in most Fortune 500 companies?

A) Big Five
B) MBTI
C) IQ
D) EQ

Question 20

Someone who often makes rash and hasty decisions would likely score high on the ________ dimension of personality.

A) Feeling
B) Sensing
C) Intuiting
D) Judging

Question 21

What would be the most likely measure for a high school guidance counselor to give to a student starting to make plans after their graduation?

A) EQ measure
B) IQ measure
C) Big 5 personality inventory
D) Projective test

Question 22

A student received a poor grade on an exam. Which thought will the student have if they have a high internal locus of control?

A) "I don't care about that class so it really doesn't bother me."
B) "I am not good in that subject. It's not in my major and I'm only taking it because I have to."
C) "I am going to change my study habits so that I can improve on the next exam."
D) "The teacher never taught us that material, so it's no surprise my grade was bad."

Question 23

Positive and constructive feedback increases ________.

A) Locus of control
B) Attitude
C) Self-efficacy
D) Machiavellianism

Question 24

Manager E has just learned that emotional intelligence is a great predictor of workplace performance. Which of the following would be the best choice for Manager E to measure the emotional intelligence of subordinates?

A) Ask their manager if they have high or low emotional intelligence
B) Ask the person to role play how they would respond in different customer interactions and measure their responses
C) Ask the person to rate their own level of emotional intelligence
D) Use their score on emotional labor because the two concepts are so closely related

Question 25

How can employers use EQ and IQ in their workplace? Explain your answer.