Deck 9: Top Performance Through Empowerment, Teamwork, and Communication

Question 1

Employee empowerment rarely involves shared decision-making authority.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Offering stock options allows firms to help employees to become part owners of the company they work for.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Jose is part of a temporary team that works together to solve a specific problem and then disband. Jose is part of a cross-functional team.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Only team leaders are responsible and accountable for accomplishing their objectives.

Question 5

Self-managed teams work better when members have complementary skills.

Question 6

All teams should include people with similar skills who are committed to a common purpose.

Question 7

Orientation and getting acquainted is part of the norming stage of team building.

Question 8

Employee stock ownership programs are retirement plans set up for top-level executives.

Question 9

Although virtual teams use technology to communicate, members also meet face-to-face on a regular basis.

Question 10

Flexibility is the primary advantage of virtual teams.

Question 11

Advances in information technology have had little impact on employee empowerment.

Question 12

Effective teams typically have more than 15 members.

Question 13

Work teams are temporary groups of employees with complementary skills who perform the day-to-day work of organizations.

Question 14

Because employee stock ownership plans can be expensive to set up, they are more common in larger firms than in smaller ones.

Question 15

One risk of using information technology to empower employees is that company records may reach competitors.

Question 16

Team level represents the average level of the team while team diversity represents the variance and abilities of the team members.

Question 17

Employee empowerment often extends to non-management employees who are given the authority to make decisions ranging from ordering office supplies to granting pay increases.

Question 18

Empowerment discourages workers by adding challenges to their jobs.

Question 19

Under a stock options plan, companies give employees the option to purchase a specified amount of company stock at a given price within a given time period.

Question 20

An effective way of empowering employees is to share financial information about the organization with them.

Question 21

The primary role of the team leader in the forming stage is to encourage participation in the team tasks by all members of the team.

Question 22

Not all teams actually pass through all five stages of team development.

Question 23

In highly productive teams, norms contribute to accomplishment of team goals.

Question 24

Team cohesiveness decreases with frequent team member interaction.

Question 25

Team norms are formal written guidelines for team member conduct.

Question 26

During the norming stage, team members reach consensus about the roles of the team leader and other participants.

Question 27

During the storming stage, team members focus on solving problems.

Question 28

An example of affective conflict is when teams reconcile differences to produce the best possible solution.

Question 29

Diversity among team members often leads to conflict.

Question 30

Teams need to get beyond the storming stage to achieve any real results.

Question 31

When team cohesiveness is low, morale suffers.

Question 32

A good way to encourage team cohesiveness is to encourage workers to socialize, but only off the job.

Question 33

During the adjourning stage, the focus is on wrapping up and summarizing the team's experiences and accomplishments.

Question 34

Cohesive groups usually experience higher turnover.

Question 35

Conflicts should always be avoided.

Question 36

During the norming stage, the personalities of team members begin to emerge.

Question 37

Cognitive and affective conflict can occur together in the same team.

Question 38

Team norms are informal standards that identify key values and clarify team members' expectations.

Question 39

Absenteeism is more likely to be found in smaller teams.

Question 40

Afflictive conflict refers to a disagreement that focuses on problem- and issue-related differences of opinion.

Question 41

Noise in communication can be the result of attitudes and perceptions.

Question 42

Noise come in different forms, and can be present at any point in the communication process.

Question 43

Even if it is NEVER printed on paper, email is considered to be a form of written communication.

Question 44

Managers spend a majority of their work day engaged in communications.

Question 45

Senders should request feedback if it is NOT forthcoming.

Question 46

Silvia likes to send out a weekly email to all her employees discussing the results and challenges for the week. This is an example of an informal communication.

Question 47

Regina's supervisor sends her an email requesting updated financial figures as soon as possible. When Regina interprets the message as meaning by the end of the day, she is decoding the message.

Question 48

The sender of a written message should review the message before sending it, in order to avoid misunderstandings.

Question 49

An employee suggestion box is an example of a formal communication channel.

Question 50

Many people in an organization receive a large part of their information through the grapevine. Unfortunately, the grapevine is widely regarded as an unreliable source of information.

Question 51

When verbal and nonverbal cues conflict, receivers of the communication generally tend to believe the nonverbal content.

Question 52

Sandra is conversing with her real estate agent, whom Sandra believes is trying to sell her an expensive property in order to receive a greater commission. Sandra is engaged in offensive listening.

Question 53

The sender can only use one type of communicate channel to pass a message along to the receiver.

Question 54

High-context cultures including the United States and Germany pay attention to the conditions that surround the message, including nonverbal cues and personal relationships between the parties.

Question 55

"Spinning" bad news to make it look better almost always backfires.

Question 56

Most company recruiters rank job performance more important than communication skills.

Question 57

Immediately after listening to a message, the average person can recall only half of it.

Question 58

Feedback is often of little help in determining whether a message was decoded properly.

Question 59

Polite listeners are attentive listeners.

Question 60

When speaking during business conversations, North Americans tend to stand closer together than Latin Americans.

Question 61

In many companies, shared decision-making authority extends to all of the following EXCEPT ______.

A) purchasing supplies
B) selecting members of the board of directors
C) overseeing the safety program
D) determining individual working hours

Question 62

Giving employees responsibility and authority to make decisions about their work is termed ______.

A) performance
B) cohesiveness
C) empowerment
D) motivation

Question 63

When Toyota was faced with serious quality problems and was forced to recall thousands of vehicles, the company quickly formed a temporary group of employees to brainstorm the problem. This is an example of a(n) ______ team.

A) problem-solving
B) virtual
C) self-managed
D) cross-functional

Question 64

The grapevine is an example of formal communication.

Question 65

Rajendra's company uses open book management, where employees can visit the company intranet and look up financial performance, design standards, and photos of co-workers. This sharing of information will ______ in employee empowerment and will have ______ on product quality.

A) result; no impact
B) result; a positive impact
C) not result; no impact
D) not result; a positive impact

Question 66

When a crisis occurs in an organization, the top management should NOT appear in public.

Question 67

An annual report to shareholders is an example of external communication.

Question 68

Javier works for a home electronics store and is a member of a team created to increase communication among various departments. Javier has networked with new people and now has strong contacts for each department when he needs them. Javier is a member of a ______ team.

A) cross-functional
B) virtual
C) work
D) problem-solving

Question 69

Customer orders are considered to be an internal communication.

Question 70

When responding during a crisis, it's best to avoid visual images because they will undermine the seriousness of the situation.

Question 71

A team consists of a group of people with ______ skills and ______ are responsible and accountable for accomplishing team objectives.

A) complementary; all team members
B) complementary; team leaders
C) differing; all team members
D) differing; team leaders

Question 72

How a company handles a crisis can affect its reputation.

Question 73

Danielle belongs to a team that meets using information technology because they are dispersed across the country. Danielle belongs to a ______ team.

A) problem-solving
B) self-managed
C) cross-functional
D) virtual

Question 74

Which of the following statements is correct regarding stock option plans?

A) They are offered only to top-level executives and members of the board of directors.
B) If the stock price increases, employees are likely to exercise their option to purchase the stock.
C) The company holds the stock for the benefit of the employees.
D) Stock options are provided as a retirement benefit.

Question 75

Under ______, employees receive stock shares or the value of the stock upon retiring or leaving the company.

A) stock certificates
B) treasury bills
C) stock options
D) ESOPs

Question 76

Jahn is a member of a semi-permanent team that performs the day-to-day functions of the organization. Jahn is a member of a(n) ______ team.

A) self-managed
B) work
C) problem-solving
D) cross-functional

Question 77

Giving employees responsibility and authority to make decisions about their work is called ______.

A) empowerment
B) communication
C) teamwork
D) top-down management

Question 78

With ______ plans, employees receive stock shares or the value of the stock upon retiring or leaving the company.

A) pension
B) employee share ownership plan
C) annuity
D) stock options

Question 79

A "no comment" response during a crisis is generally considered a statement of guilt.

Question 80

All of the following are used to empower employees EXCEPT ______.

A) sharing company information
B) giving them decision-making authority about hiring decisions
C) rewarding them based on company performance
D) giving them decision-making authority about company relocation