Deck 16: Organizational Culture

Question 1

Job satisfaction is higher and stress is lower when there is a good person-organization fit.

Answer 1

True
Explanation: Two meta-analytic studies demonstrated that a good person-organization fit results in higher levels of job satisfaction and lower stress. In addition, trust and organizational commitment levels are higher.

Question 2

Formal mentoring programs have always existed in companies, but their use is increasing.

Answer 2

False
Explanation: Mentoring has always existed in companies on an informal basis. However, as organizations continue to learn about the strong benefits of these programs, they're more frequently instituting formal mentoring programs.

Question 3

Marie is the department manager at Verve, Inc. Marie has created the workplace for her department in a totally open forum. There are no walls or cubicles, and everyone-including Marie-is in one open room. The workspace of Marie's department with no walls or cubicles represents the observable artifact known as a symbol.

Answer 3

False
Explanation: Symbols can be found throughout an organization, from its corporate logo to the images it places on its website to the uniforms its employees wear. However, workspaces and open offices represent the observable artifacts known as physical structures.

Question 4

The socialization process ends once the employee stops needing outside help to handle the job.

Question 5

Strong cultures are always good cultures as they guide their employees toward the most successful organizational outcomes.

Question 6

One of the main disadvantages of realistic job previews is that they are very expensive.

Question 7

As a college senior, Mason researched many companies before deciding on those he wanted to apply to. He searched particularly for those where the company's values were in agreement with his personal values, and he didn't apply to those where they weren't. Recruiters for the companies he did apply to recommended hiring him partly because they saw Mason's values as a good fit with the company's values. When he made his selection, Mason was sure he would enjoy working for the company because it seemed like a perfect fit for him. Mason's job search reflects the attraction-selection-attrition framework.

Question 8

When a company holds to its espoused values over time, regardless of the situations it operates in, the values become less believable to employees.

Question 9

Subcultures unite a smaller subset of the organization's employees.

Question 10

Mergers often result in the creation of the strong culture that managers hope will appear when they make the decision to merge.

Question 11

When employees feel they fit with their organization's culture, they are much more likely to develop an emotional attachment to the company.

Question 12

Creativity cultures affect the quality, but not the quantity, of creative ideas within an organization.

Question 13

Marie, the department manager at Verve, Inc., starts every Monday morning with a 60-minute department meeting where each member in the department gets five minutes to report progress; share stories of success and failure; and seek general input, advice, and information. Jeremy is responsible for sharing an anecdote, an account, or a legend about the company for every first Monday of the month to keep everyone reminded of where they work and what is important. What Marie and Jeremy are doing are parts of the observable artifacts component of culture.

Question 14

The anticipatory stage of socialization begins the day an employee starts work.

Question 15

Socialization happens in five relatively distinct stages.

Question 16

When the values of subcultures do not match those of the larger organization, the subcultures are known as fragmented cultures.

Question 17

Physical structures say a lot about a culture.

Question 18

Attraction and selection processes do not always align employees' personalities with organizational culture.

Question 19

Employees transfer knowledge about a company's culture to other employees through explicit communication, simple observation, and other less obvious means.

Question 20

Organizations that have mercenary cultures are likely to be very political.

Question 21

The shared social knowledge within an organization regarding the rules, norms, and values that shape the attitudes and behaviors of its employees refers to organizational

A) study.
B) culture.
C) growth.
D) definition.
E) dynamics.

Question 22

________ are the daily or weekly planned routines that occur in an organization.

A) Rituals
B) Stories
C) Values
D) Representations
E) Symbols

Question 23

________ are formal events that are generally performed in front of an audience of organizational members.

A) Rituals
B) Stories
C) Ceremonies
D) Language
E) Symbols

Question 24

Every year, 7 Days, a large retail chain, organizes a large annual function in which it gives an "Employee of the Year" award to a deserving employee, along with a $5,000 cash prize and an opportunity to launch the retail chain's new product. This is an example of which of the following components of organizational culture?

A) stories
B) symbols
C) espoused values
D) basic underlying assumptions
E) ceremonies

Question 25

Which of the following is an example of the observable artifacts category of espoused values?

A) the apocryphal story told by the founder of Delicious Delicacies about how she was fired from her first three catering jobs
B) the open floor plan of DailyScoop.com's office that seats employees across from one another at long tables with no dividers
C) the weekly bagel breakfast Integrated Robotics hosts in its conference room that encourages employees from different departments to mingle
D) the annual field trip Island Surf Products takes to a nearby beach where all employees are required to spend the day picking up trash and beautifying the area
E) the sustainability message that Outdoor Footwear prints on each of its shoe boxes that celebrates the amount of post-consumer recycled content in its products

Question 26

Rose works in the human resources department of Spartan, makers of athletic clothing, shoes, and accessories. Celebrity athletes are regularly spotted wearing Spartan gear, but the company's slogan-"For the Athlete in All of Us"-is designed to appeal to the ordinary buyers who account for a large portion of revenues. Rose has been assigned to train a group of new employees, and she intends to begin with an information talk that includes a story about the company. Given this information, the best choice for Rose would be an account of

A) Spartan's emerging understanding of its market and the corporate values it needs to uphold in order to maintain its position-knowledge it has gained by interviewing hundreds of ordinary people and athletes of all kinds.
B) the challenges one of the company's leading executives overcame in order to live up to the company slogan, training relentlessly for weeks and months and going on to compete in the Boston Marathon.
C) the time when a local store manager had a problem keeping up with inventory and, after attempting to solve it on his own, took the issue to company headquarters and got the help he needed.
D) a wounded Iraq War veteran who got a job as a cashier at a local Spartan store and who, despite having a prosthetic arm, competed in the company's annual Spartan Games.
E) how the company's founder and CEO turned a struggling, unprofitable firm into one of the most prominent competitors in the athletic-wear market.

Question 27

At Rolce Technologies, the core design team of 10 employees has daily "stand-up" meetings. All the core design team members gather standing up for a rapid-fire update on current projects. These stand-up meetings are representative of which of the following components of the organization's culture?

A) rituals
B) solidarity
C) espoused values
D) physical structures
E) enacted values

Question 28

During her stay at the Renaissance Hotel, Ginny noticed that all the staff wore the same color and style of clothes. Which of the following layers of organizational culture would such a dress code represent?

A) espoused values
B) enacted values
C) observable artifacts
D) mnemonics
E) basic underlying assumptions

Question 29

Which of the following exemplifies the observable artifact category of physical structures?

A) the elaborate, marble-floored conference room where Bull and Bear Wealth Management Partners conducts meetings with its top clients
B) the annual holiday party thrown by Party Planner Professionals that also serves as a hands-on demonstration of the coming year's product line
C) the label on every can of Primal Urge Dog Food that is emblazoned with the words: "We love dogs, and we put that love into all of our products"
D) the group meeting held every Monday morning at Coastal Coffee Roasters where the CEO has every employee sample a cup of that week's featured roast
E) the HR supervisor for Double-Dipped Donuts who tells all new employees how the founder came up with the name of the company after accidentally glazing the same donuts twice

Question 30

________ consist of anecdotes, accounts, legends, and myths that are passed down from cohort to cohort within an organization.

A) Rituals
B) Stories
C) Values
D) Structures
E) Symbols

Question 31

________ is(are) the jargon, slang, and slogans used within the walls of an organization.

A) Rituals
B) Beliefs
C) Values
D) Language
E) Symbols

Question 32

Nike's "swoosh" is an example of a

A) language.
B) belief.
C) value.
D) ritual.
E) symbol.

Question 33

________ are the manifestations of an organizational culture that everyone can see or talk about.

A) Core values
B) Structural traits
C) Communal cultures
D) Networked cultures
E) Observable artifacts

Question 34

Which of the following supply the primary means of transmitting an organization's culture to its workforce?

A) underlying assumptions
B) observable artifacts
C) espoused values
D) competitive responses
E) norms

Question 35

The three major components to any organizational culture are

A) observable artifacts, espoused values, and basic underlying assumptions.
B) observable artifacts, hidden artifacts, and semi-public artifacts.
C) internal values, espoused values, and external values.
D) symbols, physical structures, and ceremonies.
E) language, stories, and rituals.

Question 36

At the annual holiday party, ABC Airlines gives awards to employees to recognize examples of "going above and beyond" to serve customers. Almost all the employees who possibly can, attend. This is an example of

A) a story.
B) a ritual.
C) a symbol.
D) a ceremony.
E) an unobservable artifact.

Question 37

The physical layout of workspaces, dress codes, and the level of technology used are all examples of ________ that are represented by the organization's culture.

A) core values
B) cultural diversity
C) personal dynamics
D) observable artifacts
E) operational capacity

Question 38

When Mathilda first walked into the glass-enclosed lobby of Data Mining Solutions' headquarters, she observed an enormous three-dimensional recreation of the company's logo-a bright red question mark-hanging from the ceiling. As she was taken on a tour of the building, the same red question mark appeared painted along the hallways, in decals placed on all street-facing windows, and as a screen saver on the company computers. Such corporate branding is an example of which type of observable artifact?

A) rituals
B) stories
C) symbols
D) language
E) physical structures

Question 39

Rigby has gotten his dream job working with one of the most prominent tech companies in Silicon Valley, and he is determined to make a good showing from the first day. The best way for him to do that is to

A) learn as much as possible about his own specialty, as well as the particular technical needs of the company, and take extra classes if he discovers anything lacking in his skill set.
B) conduct extensive online research using a wide variety of business sources, such as Standard & Poor's, and social media, to get a detailed portrait of the company.
C) make a point of staying late and going in to the office on weekends, both to get noticed by management and to talk with other people who work extra hours.
D) observe his coworkers from the start, figure out who is most successful and plugged in, get to know them, and not be shy about asking questions.
E) talk to people who have left the company and find out how their work experience was, including whatever negatives views they might have.

Question 40

At Delta Diamonds, Inc., managers start every week with a two-hour meeting, focusing on the company's goals for that week and how employees can achieve the goals. This routine describes

A) a ritual.
B) a story.
C) the company's values.
D) the company's language.
E) a symbol.

Question 41

Which of the following organizations exemplifies communal culture?

A) Jimmy's Chicken Shack, where the wait staff all try to provide excellent customer service but steal each other's customers whenever possible
B) Digital FX Studios, a small start-up where the owner and three FX artists collaborate as a group on all projects and talk openly and kindly with each other
C) Jeremiad Press, where most employees fraternize daily after work at a local pool hall but spend their time at the office developing their own editorial projects
D) Web Development Productions, where programmers are empowered to solve software problems in their own unique ways but often undercut each other in order to get ahead
E) National Warehouse Distributors, where the physical demands of the job result in high turnover and mean employees rarely have the opportunity to interact with each other

Question 42

In organizations with networked cultures, we tend to find ________ sociability and ________ solidarity.

A) low; low
B) low; moderate
C) high; low
D) moderate; high
E) moderate; low

Question 43

Organizations that have cultures in which employees think alike but are not friendly to one another can be considered ________ cultures.

A) diversified
B) mercenary
C) disconnected
D) fractured
E) individualized

Question 44

At Spinner Bearings, Inc., employees are distant and disconnected from one another. Based on this, the organizational culture at Spinner Bearings can be described as

A) diversified.
B) fragmented.
C) individualized.
D) safety oriented.
E) service oriented.

Question 45

Quest, Inc., has a sign hanging in every employee's cubicle that reads: "Together we are greater than any one of us." This is an example of a(n)

A) ritual.
B) espoused value.
C) enacted value.
D) basic underlying assumption.
E) physical structure.

Question 46

________ represent the deepest and least observable part of a culture.

A) Espoused values
B) Stories
C) Basic underlying assumptions
D) Rituals
E) Observable artifacts

Question 47

Which of the following are the beliefs, philosophies, and norms that a company explicitly states?

A) rituals
B) stories
C) ceremonies
D) espoused values
E) observable artifacts

Question 48

________ are the taken-for-granted beliefs and philosophies that are so ingrained that employees simply act on them rather than questioning the validity of their behavior in a given situation.

A) Espoused values
B) Stories
C) Basic underlying assumptions
D) Rituals
E) Observable artifacts

Question 49

At Workboots Inc., Ingrid has been the design department manager for five years. Ingrid has created a skull with a victory flag on its forehead as her department's corporate logo representing the "victory or die trying" motto for her group. Ingrid's logo can be described as a(n)

A) ritual.
B) story.
C) espoused value.
D) ceremony.
E) symbol.

Question 50

Walker International recently published its vision statement, which is an example of

A) observable artifacts.
B) stories.
C) basic underlying assumptions.
D) rituals.
E) espoused values.

Question 51

Magnus's company holds meetings every Monday morning. Magnus is responsible for sharing an anecdote, an account, or a legend about the company for every first Monday of the month to keep everyone reminded of where they work and what is important. Magnus is responsibility for sharing

A) symbols.
B) stories.
C) espoused values.
D) ceremonies.
E) language.

Question 52

________ is(are) the degree to which group members think and act alike, and ________ represent(s) how friendly employees are to one another.

A) Espoused values; basic underlying assumptions
B) Solidarity; sociability
C) Basic underlying assumptions; observable artifacts
D) Sociability; solidarity
E) Observable artifacts; espoused values

Question 53

Jamie is about to go to work for Potpourri, a store that sells various bed and bath accessories. Though technically a chain, Potpourri currently has just three stores, all within an hour of each other in the Midwestern United States. The type of organizational culture Jamie is likely to encounter at Potpourri is one in which employees

A) have very little connection to one another.
B) are free spirits, each of them his or her own little island.
C) tend to share a lot of opinions, including a dislike for each other.
D) enjoy friendly relations, but differ on many things, including work-related matters.
E) get along well and share many of the same views, including admiration for the company founder.

Question 54

In organizations with mercenary cultures, we tend to find ________ sociability and ________ solidarity.

A) moderate; low
B) low; high
C) high; low
D) high; moderate
E) moderate; moderate

Question 55

The environment at National Studio, Inc., is very political. Its employees often think alike but are generally unfriendly to each other. The culture at this company is best described as

A) collective.
B) networked.
C) communal.
D) mercenary.
E) fragmented.

Question 56

The published mission statement in any organization is an example of

A) espoused values.
B) stories.
C) basic underlying assumptions.
D) rituals.
E) observable artifacts.

Question 57

In organizations with communal cultures, there is ________ sociability and ________ solidarity.

A) low; low
B) moderate; high
C) moderate; low
D) high; high
E) low; moderate

Question 58

In organizations with fragmented cultures, there is ________ sociability and ________ solidarity.

A) low; low
B) moderate; high
C) high; moderate
D) high; high
E) moderate; moderate

Question 59

Which of the following is an example of a mercenary culture?

A) Crazy Imported Foods, where the employees brainstorm new product ideas every Monday at a local winery
B) Tactical Flashlights, Inc., where product designers operate independently and do not share ideas due to chronic mistrust
C) Fun Phone Apps, where the two founders, who are best friends, work in their shared apartment to develop smartphone apps
D) Mildred's Creative Preschool, where the teachers nurture and support each other but structure their lesson plans in their own ways
E) Bob's Used Exotic Cars, where the salespeople all try to sell as many cars as they can each month but compete for customers in an aggressive, cutthroat fashion

Question 60

Ingrid is a department manager at Workboots, Inc. Ingrid starts every Monday morning with a 60-minute department meeting where each member in the department gets five minutes to report progress; share stories of success and failure; and seek general input, advice, and information. What Ingrid does every Monday morning can be described as a(n)

A) ritual.
B) story.
C) espoused value.
D) ceremony.
E) symbol.

Question 61

Which of the following is an advantage of a strong culture?

A) It makes merging with another organization more simple.
B) It allows employees to identify themselves with the organization.
C) It can be "too much of a good thing" if it creates extreme behaviors.
D) It makes adapting to the environment less difficult.
E) It attracts and retains similar kinds of employees.

Question 62

Organizations that have successfully created a ________ culture have been shown to change employee attitudes and behaviors toward customers.

A) service
B) mercenary
C) safety
D) fragmented
E) creativity

Question 63

Constance, Petunia, Daisy, and Anna are four friends working at four different organizations. In Petunia's firm, Social Network Development, employees are both distant and disconnected from one another, whereas in Daisy's company, Solar Singularity, it is quite the opposite-employees are friendly, and they all think alike. Constance works for Credit Protection Services, where employees think alike but are not friendly to one another. Finally, Anna is employed at Living Trust Wealth Management, where employees are friendly, but they think differently and do their own thing. Anna's firm, Living Trust Wealth Management, can be described as having which culture type?

A) communal
B) mercenary
C) networked
D) fragmented
E) complex

Question 64

Petunia, Daisy, Constance, and Anna are four friends working at four different organizations. In Petunia's firm, Social Network Development, employees are both distant and disconnected from one another, whereas in Daisy's company, Solar Singularity, it is quite the opposite-employees are friendly, and they all think alike. Constance works for Credit Protection Services, where employees think alike but are not friendly to one another. Finally, Anna is employed at Living Trust Wealth Management, where employees are friendly, but they think differently and do their own thing. Petunia's firm, Social Network Development, can be described as having which of the following culture types?

A) communal
B) mercenary
C) networked
D) fragmented
E) collective

Question 65

Constance, Daisy, Petunia, and Anna are four friends working at four different organizations. In Petunia's firm, Social Network Development, employees are both distant and disconnected from one another, whereas in Daisy's company, Solar Singularity, it is quite the opposite-employees are friendly, and they all think alike. Constance works for Credit Protection Services, where employees think alike but are not friendly to one another. Constance's firm, Credit Protection Services, can be described as having a ________ culture.

A) communal
B) mercenary
C) networked
D) fragmented
E) collective

Question 66

Organizations with friendly employees who all think alike are ________ cultures.

A) creative
B) communal
C) diversified
D) sustainable
E) service-oriented

Question 67

Robin, a former sales manager, has been out of the workforce for more than a decade and is thrilled when she lands a job at Yoyodyne Technology Systems. For her first day at work, she dresses in a conservative business suit and digs her old briefcase out of the closet. When she arrives at the office, she is shocked to see people dressed in jeans and sweatshirts, with some not even wearing shoes. Instead of working in a cubicle as she had for years, she is seated at a long, open table with numerous other employees where everyone wears headphones as they work. She finds that she has trouble keeping up with department communications because she still relies on e-mail instead of inter-office social networks. The casual office atmosphere is distracting and the level of familiarity her co-workers demonstrate with each other is foreign to her. After a few weeks, Robin gives her notice because she realizes she will never fit in at such an organization. This situation is indicative of

A) bullying.
B) a weak culture.
C) a strong culture.
D) a counterculture.
E) a lack of self-confidence.

Question 68

To encourage innovation at the organization, MicroTrac allows its engineers to spend 20 percent of their working time pursuing projects that they are passionate about. This describes a(n) ________ culture.

A) service
B) creativity
C) disruptive
D) fragmented
E) individualized

Question 69

Eco-Adventure Gear is a well-respected apparel company. For over 50 years it has produced high-quality, durable products at a relatively high price point. Customers are willing to pay a premium for its wares because of the company's commitment to quality and its history of providing effective customer service. The company's headquarters are located at the base of a mountain range, and once a month the CEO closes the office for two days and leads the staff on a rock climbing trip. Since the company attracts outdoorsy types, nearly all the employees join in on these voluntary trips. Employees are proud to say they work at Eco-Adventure and rarely quit. Eco-Adventure Gear is demonstrating the advantages associated with which type of culture?

A) weak
B) ritual
C) strong
D) physical
E) observable

Question 70

Which of the following organizations has a strong culture?

A) Blue Blood Investments, whose youthful sales team clashes with upper management over the best way to implement new product rollouts
B) Global Package Delivery Systems, whose drivers dress the same, drive the same types of trucks, follow the most efficient routes, and rarely deviate from established delivery protocols
C) Sandi's Sunglass Shack, whose retail clerks purposefully receive little training and are hired based on their personality and ability to come up with creative ways of selling the company's products
D) Healthy Heart Snacks, whose purchasing department is predominantly vegan and frequently pushes to eliminate animal products from the company's catalog even though they are the best sellers
E) Action Video Cameras, whose product development team is led by Vance, a well-known adventurer and maverick designer who sets up a satellite office for his team three miles from the main campus

Question 71

Which of the following culture types reduces treatment errors in medical settings?

A) creativity culture
B) service culture
C) safety culture
D) diversity culture
E) communal culture

Question 72

The presence of ________ and ________within an organization indicate a strong culture.

A) high consensus; high intensity
B) low consensus; high intensity
C) high consensus; low intensity
D) low consensus; low intensity
E) moderate consensus; moderate intensity

Question 73

Which of the following is a disadvantage of a strong culture?

A) It differentiates the organization from others.
B) It allows employees to identify themselves in the organization.
C) It attracts and retains similar kinds of employees.
D) It creates stability within the organization.
E) It facilitates the desired behaviors among employees.

Question 74

A culture that attempts to help the greater social good is a ________ culture.

A) sustainability
B) customer service
C) safety
D) diversity
E) communal

Question 75

________ exist(s) when the overall organizational culture is supplemented by another culture governing a more specific set of employees.

A) Subcultures
B) Socialization
C) Fragmentation
D) Service cultures
E) Encounter stages

Question 76

Which of the following statements about organizational culture is True?

A) In a high consensus culture, employees disagree about the way things are supposed to happen.
B) In a high intensity culture, employees' behaviors are inconsistent with expectations.
C) Subcultures are less likely to exist in large organizations than in small firms.
D) Strong cultures are not always good for the organization.
E) Countercultures reinforce the values of an organization.

Question 77

Manufacturing and medical companies primarily desire to create a ________ culture.

A) safety
B) complex
C) mercenary
D) individualized
E) customer service

Question 78

County Medical Center has a good track record of treating patients well and discharging them in a timely manner. Then, in the span of one week, twelve patients suffer post-surgical bacterial infections that are resistant to drug treatment. Shortly afterward, the surgical and patient recovery teams gather to discuss the problem. One cardiac surgeon, Yvette, mentions that she read in a medical journal about a simple but effective method of reducing such infections. It involves encouraging and enforcing hand washing before all new patient contact. The key is to post reminders in every patient room and nurse station. There is also a smart phone app that will beep once every five minutes as a backup reminder. The hospital staff agrees to implement the protocol, and six months later the rate of infection has dropped by more than 50 percent. The hospital is striving to create a ________ culture.

A) safety
B) diversity
C) fragmented
D) sustainability
E) customer service

Question 79

Daisy, Petunia, Constance, and Anna are four friends working at four different organizations. In Petunia's firm, Social Network Development, employees are both distant and disconnected from one another, whereas in Daisy's company, Solar Singularity, it is quite the opposite-employees are friendly, and they all think alike. Constance works for Credit Protection Services, where employees think alike but are not friendly to one another. Finally, Anna is employed at Living Trust Wealth Management, where employees are friendly, but they think differently and do their own thing. Daisy's firm, Solar Singularity, can be described as having a(n) ________ culture.

A) communal
B) mercenary
C) networked
D) fragmented
E) individualistic

Question 80

________ cultures are those where all employees are friendly to one another, but everyone thinks differently and does his or her own thing.

A) Communal
B) Mercenary
C) Networked
D) Fragmented
E) Complex