Deck 10: Leadership of Culture and Diversity, and the Learning Organization

Question 1

When an organization's culture is in sync with what is needed for successful strategy implementation, it creates a strategy-culture gap that must be closed by either changing the strategy to fit the culture or changing the culture to fit the strategy.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

An organization's culture is considered strong when there is little agreement on the values, beliefs, and norms governing member behavior.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

In strong cultures, values and behavioral norms are so deeply ingrained that they do not change much even when a new leader takes over.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Politicized internal environment is a characteristic of low-performance cultures.

Question 5

Culture reinforcement tools is a characteristic of high-performance cultures.

Question 6

An organization that reinforces their concern for individual employees will generally benefit from increased teamwork, morale, and loyalty.

Question 7

Leaders use facilities design to reflect the values they want to promote within the organization.

Question 8

An appropriate match between the right cultural value type, organizational strategy, and external environment has little impact on organizational performance.

Question 9

Cooperative culture has an external focus on employee empowerment, emphasizing the value of satisfying employee needs above all others.

Question 10

Obstacles to achieving diversity include policies and practices.

Question 11

Diversity training and education is a key leadership initiative for effectively managing diversity.

Question 12

For optimal organizational learning, a leader should make sure to discipline errors.

Question 13

__________ creates internal unity and helps the organization adapt to the external environment.

A) Diversity
B) Culture
C) Leadership
D) Informal rules

Question 14

A factors that contributes to a strong culture includes:

A) a strong leader
B) total organizational commitment
C) support from the key stakeholders
D) all the answers are correct

Question 15

__________ actions are highly visible and concrete steps to show management's commitment to new strategic initiatives and cultural changes.

A) Symbolic leadership
B) Substantive leadership
C) Traditional leadership
D) none on the answers are correct

Question 16

A(n) __________ culture is made up of politics, procedures, and practices that support employees' ability to respond quickly to changing environmental conditions.

A) adaptive
B) cooperative
C) bureaucratic
D) competitive

Question 17

A(n) __________ culture operates in a stable, mature external market environment in which competition for market share is very intense.

A) adaptive
B) competitive.
C) bureaucratic
D) competitive

Question 18

__________ describes the differences resulting from age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation.

A) Ethnocentrism
B) The glass ceiling
C) Diversity
D) Demographics

Question 19

Achieving full diversity requires top management to show its commitment to diversity by:

A) removing obstacles
B) implanting a diversity-supportive culture
C) providing diversity awareness training and leadership education
D) all of the answers are correct

Question 20

A stable environment, centralized decision making, and a vertical structure are characteristics of an organization that is __________ driven.

A) learning
B) management
C) efficiency
D) process

Question 21

How can leaders enhance organizational learning?

A) encourage systems thinking
B) encourage creative thinking and experimentation
C) provide incentives for learning and innovation
D) all of the answers are correct

Question 22

Distinguish between a weak and a strong culture.

Question 23

Identify the three areas in which visible and strong leadership action is needed to achieve full diversity.

Question 24

Explain the leader's role in creating a culture that supports diversity.

Question 25

How would individualism as a value dimension among followers affect their interaction and relationship with other coworkers who display collectivism?

Question 26

Compare a weak and strong culture.

Question 27

Identify three areas in which visible and strong leadership action is needed to achieve full diversity.

Question 28

Explain the leader's role in creating a diversity-supportive culture.

Question 29

APPLYING THE CONCEPT

-Explaining why he likes his job and the company he works for, Michael tells Paul that he enjoys being treated like a person, not like a number or a piece of equipment. Michael seems to come from an organization that can be characterized as having a __________-performance culture.

A) low
B) high

Question 30

APPLYING THE CONCEPT

-An organization where employees and managers get together regularly to celebrate one thing or another is more likely one with a __________-performance culture.

A) low
B) high

Question 31

APPLYING THE CONCEPT

-Responding to a manager's negative response to a request, an employee makes this comment, "Why do I hear it's not in the budget so often around here?" This statement is more likely to be characteristic of an organization with a __________-performance culture.

A) low
B) high

Question 32

APPLYING THE CONCEPT

-At ABC Corporation, management tells its employees what it wants done and then lets them perform the job the way they see fit, so long as established goals are met. This practice is characteristic of a company with a __________-performance culture.

A) low
B) high

Question 33

APPLYING THE CONCEPT

-The organizational type characterized by a horizontal structure without many levels of management is:

A) traditional
B) learning

Question 34

APPLYING THE CONCEPT

-An organization with a unionized workforce, where employees' jobs are clearly defined and they are not allowed to work outside their defined area is:

A) traditional
B) learning

Question 35

APPLYING THE CONCEPT

-The type of organization where top-level managers make all the important decisions is described as:

A) traditional
B) learning

Question 36

Describe the culture where you work or have worked. Is it weak or strong? Explain your answer.

Question 37

Describe the culture where you work or have worked as a low- or high-performance culture. Explain your answer.

Question 38

Identify and briefly explain which of the 10 leadership actions for shaping culture have been used by a leader where you work or have worked.

Question 39

Discuss which of the four mechanisms for advocating ethical behavior exist where you work or have worked.

Question 40

Based on the five value dimensions in the text, briefly explain the level of cultural understanding that exists where you work or have worked.

Question 41

Describe diversity where you work or have worked. For example, approximately what percentage are male versus female, Caucasian versus non-Caucasian, older versus younger, and so on?

Question 42

Identify and briefly explain which of the five obstacles exist and/or have been removed where you work or have worked.

Question 43

Identify and briefly explain which of the five factors related to diversity success exist or do not exist where you work or have worked.

Question 44

Does the organization you work or have worked for offer diversity awareness training and education? If you are not sure, contact the human resources department to find out. If it does, briefly describe the program.