Deck 12: Power and Politics

Question 1

Empowerment involves sharing power, information, and rewards with employees to make decisions and solve problems in their work.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The iron law of responsibility describes a situation in which one person's gain is equal to another person's loss.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Power and politics are among the most important concepts in organizational behavior, but they are also the least understood.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Power and force are interchangeable terms.

Question 5

Coercive power is the extent to which a manager can use extrinsic and intrinsic rewards to control other people.

Question 6

A zone of indifference is the range of authoritative requests to which a subordinate is willing to respond without subjecting the directives to critical evaluations or judgment.

Question 7

Power is defined as the ability of a person or group to influence or control some aspect of another person or group.

Question 8

Legitimate power, or formal hierarchical authority, stems from the extent to which a manager can control subordinates' behavior because they believe the boss has the right to do so.

Question 9

A term used to recognize that power comes from the ability to influence another in a social relation is called association power.

Question 10

A zero sum game states that when power imbalances get bad enough, forces are triggered that will rise up and take the power away to restore balances.

Question 11

A dependency means that one person or group relies on another person or group to get what they want or need.

Question 12

Internalization is the authority or ability to exercise restraining or dominating influence over someone or something.

Question 13

The problem of deferring responsibility and accountability upward in organizations is known as dysfunctional resistance.

Question 14

The lack of autonomy and participation is known as constructive resistance.

Question 15

Control is a power made operative against another's will.

Question 16

Power can be based on punishment instead of reward.

Question 17

We can increase our power and self-control by removing another's power over us.

Question 18

There are seven important aspects of position power: legitimate, reward, coercive, process, information, representative power, and subordination.

Question 19

Personal power stems from the formal hierarchy or authority vested in a particular role or position.

Question 20

According to Chester Barnard, directives falling within the zone of indifference are obeyed, whereas those falling outside of it are not considered legitimate under the terms of the psychological contract.

Question 21

Today, hierarchical thinking is the best method for an organization that needs to draw upon the distributed intelligence of all employees to generate the innovation and adaptability needed for survival.

Question 22

Research finds that employees who use constructive resistance are more likely to receive negative performance ratings from managers, while employees who use dysfunctional resistance are more likely to receive positive ratings form managers.

Question 23

Identification occurs when individuals accept an influence attempt because they want to maintain a positive relationship with the person or group making the influence request..

Question 24

Identification occurs when individuals accept another's influence because of the positive or negative outcomes tied to it.

Question 25

Association power describes a form of power arising from alliances with others developed through reciprocity.

Question 26

Conscientious employees are more likely to use constructive resistance, whereas less conscientious employees are more likely to use dysfunctional resistance.

Question 27

Personal power resides in the individual and is independent of that individual's position within an organization.

Question 28

Expert power is the ability to control another's behavior through the possession of knowledge, experience, or judgment that the other person does not have but needs.

Question 29

Compliance occurs when individuals accept an influence attempt out of duty or obligation.

Question 30

Information power is power whose basis is the ability to administer outcomes that have positive valence and remove or decrease outcomes that have negative valence.

Question 31

Because compliance is an extrinsic form of motivation it generates the maximum effort, proportional to the reward on punishment.

Question 32

Fortunately, expert power is absolute, not relative.

Question 33

Referent power is the ability to alter another's behavior because of the individual's desire to identify with the power source.

Question 34

The lesson from the Bathsheba syndrome is that power can have potentially intoxicating and corruptive effects that, if not prepared for, may lead to devastating outcomes.

Question 35

The iron law of responsibility is when men and women of otherwise strong personal integrity and intelligence engage in unethical and selfish behavior in the pinnacle of power because they mistakenly believe they are above the law.

Question 36

Constructive resistance involves a more passive form of non-compliance in which individuals ignore or dismiss the request of the influencing agent.

Question 37

Effective networkers recognize that reciprocity and reciprocal alliances are a powerful way to form strong networks in organizations.

Question 38

Two sources of personal power are reward power and coercive power.

Question 39

Responses to power include conformity and resistance.

Question 40

Connection power is possession of or access to information that is valuable to others.

Question 41

Herbert Kelmen identified three levels of conformity. They are: ___________, ______________, and __________________.

A) compliance, instrumental, influence
B) influence, motivation, force
C) control, dependence, identification
D) compliance, identification, internalization
E) force, internalization, influence

Question 42

Reciprocal alliances are efforts by organizational members to seek resources and achieve desired goals through informal systems and structures.

Question 43

Political savvy is a skill and adroitness at reading political environments and understanding how to influence effectively in these environments.

Question 44

Which type of power arises from influence with a powerful person on whom others depend?

A) Connection power
B) Referent power
C) Association power
D) Legitimate power
E) Expert power

Question 45

Which of the following describes a form of power arising from alliances with others developed through reciprocity?

A) Reciprocal alliances
B) Association power
C) Internalization
D) Constructive resistance
E) Social capita

Question 46

Brokers serve as links between structural holes in a network, providing greater access to resource, information and opportunities.

Question 47

Another term for political savvy is political power which the ability to effectively understand others at work, and to use such knowledge to influence others to act in ways that enhance one's personal and/or organizational objectives.

Question 48

Perception of organizational politics is the perception that political activities in the organization are self-serving, illegitimate, and harmful to organizational members.

Question 49

Social capital is the knowledge, skills and intellectual assets employees bring to the workplace.

Question 50

Structural holes are the absence of a link between two contacts in a social network.

Question 51

Workaround occurs when people work around the system to accomplish a task or goal when the normal process or method isn't producing the desired result

Question 52

All of the following are reasons subordination is a problem EXCEPT:

A) Leads employees to defer responsibility.
B) Leads employees to not take initiative.
C) Leads employees to become more empowered.
D) Leads employees to become overly dependent on managers for direction.
E) Leads employees to become overly dependent on managers for motivation.

Question 53

Reflecting their informal nature, politics are often described as the management of influence to obtain ends not sanctioned by the organization, or to obtain sanctioned ends through non-sanctioned means.

Question 54

Information power is built through internal networks, external networks, and being central in a network. It comes from aligning oneself with others who can provide advice, friendship, alliances, collaborations, information flows, and access to job opportunities.

Question 55

Organizations should only be comprised of formal systems to be successful.

Question 56

Informal systems dictate what is to be done in organizations and how work processes are to be coordinated and structured.

Question 57

When Mary is able to call on her networks both inside and outside the organization for support in getting things done and in meeting her goals, she is utilizing which of these powers?

A) Association power
B) Connection power
C) Referent power
D) Information power
E) Coercive power

Question 58

Formal systems are patterns of activity and relationships that arise in everyday activities as individuals and groups work to get things done.

Question 59

Power bases are the sources of power individuals and subunits develop in organizations.

Question 60

Self-interested politics occur when individuals or groups work to shift otherwise ambiguous outcomes to their personal advantage without consideration of the organization or coworkers.

Question 61

In a department meeting, Jamira engages in a thoughtful dissent aimed at constructively challenging her manager, Shivana, to rethink the decision to close two major client accounts. Jamira is engaging in which of the following?

A) Forceful resistance
B) Constructive resistance
C) Control
D) Dysfunctional resistance
E) Conformity

Question 62

Which of the following are the sources of power individuals and subunits develop in organizations?

A) Lobbying
B) Power bases
C) Social capital
D) Political savvy
E) Control

Question 63

All of the following are keys to being powerful EXCEPT:

A) managing oneself in the face of power.
B) realizing you can never have enough power.
C) retaining humility.
D) surrounding yourself with others who will help you maintain perspective.
E) taking responsibility in the face of others' power.

Question 64

Which of the following are efforts by organizational members to seek resources and achieve desired goals through informal systems and structures?

A) Formal systems
B) Informal systems
C) Legitimate powers
D) Self-interested politics
E) Organizational politics

Question 65

Which type of power is built through internal networks, external networks, and being central in a network?

A) Information
B) Social
C) Coercive
D) Legitimate
E) Connection

Question 66

Which of the following involves a more passive form of non-compliance in which individuals ignore or dismiss the request of the influencing agent?

A) Resistance
B) Constructive resistance
C) Control
D) Dysfunctional resistance
E) Conformity

Question 67

The perception that political activities in the organization are self-serving, illegitimate, and harmful to organizational members is called ________________.

A) workarounds
B) self-interested politics
C) organizational politics
D) organizational political climates
E) perceptions of organizational politics

Question 68

Which of the following occurs when individuals accept an influence attempt out of duty or obligation?

A) Identification
B) Compliance
C) Conformity
D) Commitment
E) Internalization

Question 69

_______________ occurs when an individual accepts influence because the induced behavior is congruent with their value system.

A) Conformity
B) Identification
C) Internalization
D) Commitment
E) Compliance

Question 70

A skill and adroitness at reading political environments and understanding how to influence effectively in these environments is known as

A) political power.
B) control.
C) information power.
D) political savvy.
E) social capita.

Question 71

___________ is when men and women of otherwise strong personal integrity and intelligence engage in unethical and selfish behavior in the pinnacle of power because they mistakenly believe they are above the law.

A) The Iron law of responsibility
B) The Bathsheba syndrome
C) Hierarchical thinking
D) The zone of indifference
E) A structural hole

Question 72

Which of the following means that the individual or the work performed by the subunit cannot be easily replaced?

A) Workarounds
B) Non-substitutability
C) Powerlessness
D) Structural holes
E) Legitimate power

Question 73

Which of the following occurs when individuals accept another's influence because of the positive or negative outcomes tied to it?

A) Internalization
B) Compliance
C) Force
D) Conformity
E) Identification

Question 74

____________ involves individuals saying no, making excuses, stalling or even arguing against the initiative.

A) Compliance
B) Conformity
C) Resistance
D) Force
E) Coercion

Question 75

______________ occurs when individuals accept an influence attempt because they want to maintain a positive relationship with the person or group making the influence request.

A) Compliance
B) Conformity
C) Internalization
D) Commitment
E) Identification

Question 76

Patterns of activity and relationships that arise in everyday activities as individuals and groups work to get things done are known as

A) formal systems.
B) informal systems.
C) legitimate powers.
D) self-interested politics.
E) organizational politics.

Question 77

Which of the following dictate what is to be done in organizations and how work processes are to be coordinated and structured?

A) Formal systems
B) Informal systems
C) Legitimate powers
D) Self-interested politics
E) Organizational politics

Question 78

Working around the system to accomplish a task or goal when the normal process or method isn't producing the desired result is known as ______________.

A) workarounds
B) self-interested politics
C) organizational politics
D) organizational political climates
E) perceptions of organizational politics

Question 79

Forms of destructive politics include all of the following EXCEPT:

A) illegitimate political activities such as coalition building.
B) favoritism-based pay and promotions.
C) scapegoating.
D) lobbying.
E) backstabbing.

Question 80

Which of the following are the shared perceptions about the political nature of the organization?

A) Workarounds
B) Self-interested politics
C) Organizational politics
D) Organizational political climates
E) Perceptions of organizational politics