Deck 20: Leadership: Motivating Change Within Organizations

Question 1

If a manager maintains flexibility toward the final design proposal, she may risk:

A) being seen as uncommitted to the proposal.
B) having the proposal taken away by lower level staff.
C) losing her place in the internal labor market.
D) increasing the benefits beyond the costs of the proposal.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

While top level executives and the board of directors have wide-ranging discretion on leadership issues, most middle managers recognize that they must exercise leadership:

A) only when told to by senior management.
B) exclusively through incentive commissions.
C) within the existing architecture.
D) only when employees act completely lost.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

If executives at Global Insurance think they have a new, innovative, and, importantly, profitable way to reorganize the company, they must recognize that they need to confront the:

A) stockholders.
B) primary government regulators.
C) other companies selling the same kind of insurance that Global sells.
D) status quo management system.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

In the 2001-2003 period, US airlines had a difficult time earning a positive net income. Terrorism, war, disease, and a weak economy all combined to reduce both business and tourist travel. In addition, the major airlines faced competition from the cut-rate airlines. Most airlines began a change in organizational architecture. All major airlines are organized by trade unions for pilots, clerks, mechanics, and flight attendants. What major leadership issues need to be addressed as these companies reorganize?

Question 5

Voluntary consent to a leader's proposals and control over resources by a leader both have an important impact of internal power of a corporate leader. Which one is most important for the successful functioning of today's corporate management?

Question 6

What are the three issues related to proposal design?

Question 7

To motivate people to change and follow a new mission for a company, it is important to:

A) move overseas for most of production.
B) outsource marketing and advertising.
C) change the company's organizational architecture.
D) rely on standard U-form organizational structures.

Question 8

A Nash equilibrium shows the outcomes of leadership in a non-cooperative environment. If the leadership of a company hopes to find a solution in a different position, the managers are required to be:

A) more risk-averse.
B) open to cooperative leadership.
C) more aggressive in their non-cooperative leadership.
D) balance the marginal benefits of leadership.

Question 9

In the case study at the end of Chapter 20, Global Insurance is a company that offers disability insurance. Its major problem is that it does not process policies very quickly, largely because it is not computerized and the process is not linked electronically. The CEO wishes to innovate and to change organizational architecture to computerize and link all phases of the application process. What aspects of leadership need to be emphasized during this difficult transition at Global?

Question 10

Two key components of leadership are:

A) education and a religious background.
B) vision and education.
C) religious background and vision.
D) motivation and vision.

Question 11

Why are academics way off base when it comes to organizational politics?

Question 12

If a senior manager wishes to see her proposal win support through flexibility toward the final product, then she is:

A) a lousy manager.
B) attempting to reduce risk to get others to sign on.
C) waiting for the CEO to change the organizational architecture.
D) not interested in winning assent for her proposal.

Question 13

A key to motivating people in a business entity is to remember that each person:

A) tends to be very lazy.
B) tends to act in his/her own self interest.
C) follows the rules of ethics distributed by their professional societies.
D) tends to follow orders unless a strong reason is given to otherwise.

Question 14

As CitiGroup was being formed out of Travelers Insurance, Solomon Smith Barney, and CitiBank, many of the new executives were friends of one another. The company adopted an organizational architecture that financed large mergers, initial public offerings (IPOs), and corporate loans while using its brokerage house, Solomon Smith Barney, to sell stock in the companies it promoted to ordinary investors. Explain the potential issues of power and leadership in a new restructured corporation with a very complex structure.

Question 15

What are the two tasks of good leadership?

Question 16

If an executive exercises leadership through changing organizational architecture, then that manager will:

A) reallocate decision rights.
B) change the reward system.
C) restructure the performance evaluation system.
D) All of the above.

Question 17

During the 1990s, Xerox had a problem with quality. CEO Kearns found that to solve the problem, he needed to:

A) move to a new company and start over.
B) change the evaluation and incentive system.
C) show that he built his copiers with quality.
D) hire executives who understood quality.

Question 18

Becca Lynn Stanton is a product manager whose compensation is 100% variable pay and based on the profits earned by her product line. Since she is risk-averse, she tends to favor production proposals that increase her income and status, but she is leery of production proposals that have a wide potential for positive or negative payoffs. What would it take to get her to consider a new production system?

Question 19

Economists are often defined as people with good mathematical skills but without the personality of accountants. If leadership is so important, why do economists often rise to the top of organizations?

Question 20

Mahatma Gandhi, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. are all cited as charismatic leaders. Economics tells us that charisma can be learned. What is the inconsistency in the economic argument?
Economics tells us that those leaders will do anything to improve their own utility and promote their own self interest. If it is in the leader's self interest to be charismatic, then he will spend resources to learn the styles from others. But the problem is that the very style the leader is copying in the said question, are from individuals who did not care about their own welfare in the first place.

Question 21

Sometimes a person has a number of successes and people tend to think that this manager always presents good new proposals for ratification. If a manager does not work hard at proposal design or marketing, then they are:

A) getting sloppy after all the years of success.
B) relying on reputation.
C) working hard to lay the groundwork of proposal.
D) going to change the architecture during the monitoring phase.

Question 22

Ultimately, power to change inside a corporation comes from:

A) other people who voluntary agree to comply with a leader's proposals.
B) a leader's charter in the articles of incorporation.
C) a leader's formal ownership of his employees.
D) changing the organizational architecture every two years.

Question 23

The CEO of US, Inc., indicates that we should vote for the change we can believe in. In doing so, he is:

A) marketing a proposal.
B) doing the groundwork.
C) relying on reputation.
D) emphasizing a crisis.

Question 24

The problem with logrolling is

A) nobody wins in the long run
B) all other proposals go through only after yours goes through
C) your proposal will be supported only after all other proposals go through
D) once you support someone's proposal, they can turn their back on yours

Question 25

J.L. Pratt noted of the old General Motors that, "When one of them had a project, why he would get the vote of his fellow members, if they would vote for his project, he would vote for theirs." This is called:

A) logrolling.
B) hypertension.
C) a violation of antitrust law.
D) proposal marketing.

Question 26

Three issues related to proposal design are:

A) commitment, distribution and marketing.
B) flexibility, marketing and distribution.
C) flexibility, commitment and marketing.
D) flexibility, commitment and distribution.

Question 27

The keys to good leadership are:

A) marketing and motivation.
B) motivation and logrolling.
C) vision setting and logrolling.
D) vision setting and motivation.

Question 28

Which one of the following is a source of organizational power?

A) Vision setting.
B) Logrolling.
C) Coalition formation.
D) Control of budgets and resources.

Question 29

Which one of the following is a source of organizational power?

A) Vision setting.
B) Logrolling.
C) Coalition formation.
D) Having close friends and allies.

Question 30

One way to market a proposal for a new business venture, especially when architecture changes are ruled out and opposition seems strong is to:

A) replace the Board of Directors.
B) emphasize the level of crisis that exists inside the firm.
C) pretend that architecture changes will be made.
D) withdraw the proposal.

Question 31

In his famous Fortune magazine article, Wheat listed "what it takes" to become a great leader. Which of the following is not on his list?

A) Stand up and be seen.
B) Be brutally optimistic.
C) Don't let the facts get in your way.
D) Make team members feel important.

Question 32

For an employee (agent) with formal leadership assignments or title, specific knowledge can be:

A) a problem and a potential for loss of employment.
B) something that evolves into general knowledge.
C) a significant source of power in ratification of proposals.
D) the result of an intuitive translation.

Question 33

Franklin D. Roosevelt pointed out that the New Deal was a series of experiments and that one could learn the good and bad from trying. His leadership reveals:

A) commitment.
B) clever marketing.
C) distribution awareness.
D) flexibility.

Question 34

To say that a business proposal to do something different inside a company has distributional consequences means that:

A) the warehouse will be overstocked if the proposal is ratified and implemented.
B) the company will not be able to use its current distribution marketing channels.
C) some managers will benefit from implementation and others will lose.
D) dividends will no longer be paid on the stock each quarter.

Question 35

A professor wants to convince his department that he would like to develop and teach a course titled, "Sex and Violence". The best way to gain the support of the department is to:

A) say that it will bring in a lot of students into the major.
B) say that it will add to the educational knowledge rubric.
C) say that it will add to the diversity in the campus.
D) say that it is related to the President's mission statement in the web site.

Question 36

"Laying the groundwork" in proposal design in a business means:

A) being able to market the proposal to those employees who will be impacted.
B) beginning to build the facility before ratification so the company cannot back away.
C) getting the goods on top mangers so they wouldn't dare oppose the idea.
D) introducing monitoring before implementation.

Question 37

Which one of the following is a source of organizational power?

A) Vision setting.
B) Logrolling.
C) Coalition formation.
D) Formal authority.

Question 38

As Henry Ford built his automobile company, he was famous for his industrial leadership but also for his harsh behavior towards managers and employees. He paid ___________ of $5.00 per day to entice his employees to stay with Ford.

A) an efficiency wage
B) a bribe
C) a renewal life insurance premium to promote worker safety
D) a commuting fee

Question 39

Logrolling consists of:

A) building of coalition of individuals who support one another's proposals.
B) the art of marketing a business proposal with external resources.
C) changing the architecture to capture numerous employees at once.
D) a sport engaged in many rural areas.

Question 40

The ability of a leader to control the distribution and use of resources inside a corporation provides that leader with:

A) a legal fiduciary responsibility.
B) power over others.
C) the ability to veto voluntary assent to a leader's proposals.
D) the ability to declare all changes emergencies.

Question 41

Logrolling refers to

A) bunch of individuals who are indifferent about one single proposal, but agree to support it, so each can get what he wants
B) one individual who is indifferent about others' proposals, but agrees to support all the requests, so he can get what he wants
C) bunch of individuals who care about others' proposals, and agree to support each other
D) bunch of individuals who are indifferent about others' proposals, but agree to support all the requests, so each can get what he wants