Deck 2: Individual Behaviour, Personality and Values

Question 1

It is sometimes difficult to apply the individual rights principle of ethical decision making because one individual right may conflict with another.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Motivation is an external force on the person that causes him or her to engage in specific behaviours.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The ideal situation in organisations is to have employees whose values are perfectly congruent with the organisation's values.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

One person-job matching strategy is to select applicants whose existing competencies best fit the required task.

Question 5

Companies can improve employee role perceptions by describing the employee's assigned tasks clearly and providing meaningful performance feedback.

Question 6

Task performance refers to goal-directed behaviours under the individual's control that support organisational objectives.

Question 7

One limitation with cross-cultural values information is that it incorrectly assumes that everyone within a specific country holds similar values.

Question 8

People arrange values into a needs hierarchy.

Question 9

Situational factors are working conditions within the employee's control.

Question 10

In terms of cross-cultural values,Australians tend to have relatively high individualism with an average achievement orientation and low power distance.

Question 11

Competencies refer to the complete set of motivations,abilities,role perceptions and situational factors that contribute to job performance.

Question 12

Utilitarianism judges morality by the consequences of our actions,not the means to attaining those consequences.

Question 13

Espoused values represent the values that you and your spouse have in common.

Question 14

Organisational citizenship is less likely to occur among employees with a high conscientiousness personality.

Question 15

One way to increase the effect of values on behaviour is to make people mindful of their values.

Question 16

Cultures with high collectivism must also have low individualism.

Question 17

The MARS model identifies the four main factors that influence individual behaviour.

Question 18

Learned capabilities refer to the skills and knowledge that you have actually acquired.

Question 19

Aptitudes are natural talents that help individuals to learn specific tasks more quickly and perform them better than other people.

Question 20

According to the MARS model of individual behaviour and performance,employee performance will remain high even if one of the four factors significantly weakens.

Question 21

The MBTI is a good indicator of certain personality traits and improves individual self awareness as well as being a good predictor of performance.

Question 22

Corporate leaders have a strong influence on the moral conduct of employees in that organisation.

Question 23

Ethically sensitive people tend to have more empathy and knowledge about the situation.

Question 24

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator measures the personality traits described by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung.

Question 25

Self transcendence is linked to ideals which are opposite to those held by Narcissist,Machiavellianist and psychopathic personalities.

Question 26

Agreeableness,extroversion and conscientiousness are three of the 'Big Five' personality dimensions.

Question 27

Deviating from preferred work methods is counterproductive behaviour when quality standards are not maintained or are threatened

Question 28

One concern with using personality tests as a basis for selection in organisations is that 'more' of a trait may not give the best performance.

Question 29

Presenteeism means employees come to work when they are not fit to do so and can cause more problems than absenteeism.

Question 30

Having a positive sense of self esteem is useful but when it is associated with self aggrandisement,unwillingness to listen to negative feedback and a strong sense of entitlement then it becomes Machiavellianism.

Question 31

The ability to 'bend but not break' is associated with the personality trait of resilience.

Question 32

Research indicates that people almost always make ethical decisions even when under pressure to make unethical decisions.

Question 33

There is almost complete agreement among psychologists that personality is mostly formed by a person's childhood socialisation.

Question 34

Organisational citizenship behaviours do not include what employees do outside work time.

Question 35

People with a low score on the neuroticism personality dimension tend to be more relaxed,secure and calm.

Question 36

Neuroticism,sensing and locus of control are three of the 'Big Five' personality dimensions.

Question 37

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a personality test that measures the 'Big Five' personality dimensions.

Question 38

People who use incivility,bullying,aggression,sabotage as well as flattery and charm to get their own way in organisations often show poor work performance.

Question 39

Conscientiousness is one of the best personality traits for predicting job performance in most job groups.

Question 40

Unscheduled absenteeism is something most employees cannot control and neither can organisations.

Question 41

Which of these refers to a person's beliefs about what behaviours are appropriate,necessary and preferred,in a particular situation?

A) Natural aptitudes
B) Role perceptions
C) Competencies
D) Locus of control

Question 42

Which of the following would be considered a work-related behaviour?

A) Completing required job duties above the minimum performance standard or helping a co-worker even though it isn't part of your job
B) Showing up for work at scheduled times
C) Accepting the organisation's offer of employment
D) All of the options listed here are correct

Question 43

Which of the following is considered a counter-productive work behaviour:

A) Insulting others
B) Theft
C) Deliberately performing work incorrectly so the organisation suffers a loss
D) All of the options listed here are correct

Question 44

The practice of giving simple accounts to newly hired employees,then adding more challenging accounts as employees master the simple tasks is mainly to:

A) Improve role perceptions
B) Increase person-job matching
C) Reduce employee motivation
D) Provide more resources to accomplish the assigned task

Question 45

Motivation represents the forces within a person that affects his or her direction intensity and ________ of voluntary behaviour.

A) Persistence
B) Efforts
C) Goal direction
D) All of the options listed here are correct

Question 46

All of these factors directly influence an employee's voluntary behaviour and performance EXCEPT:

A) Motivation
B) Role perceptions
C) Situational factors
D) Moral intensity

Question 47

Motivation affects a person's ______ of voluntary behaviour.

A) Direction,intensity and persistence
B) Antecedents,consequences and reinforcers
C) Size,shape and weight
D) Aptitudes,abilities and competencies

Question 48

Companies can improve employee performance through situational factors by:

A) Asking employees about the things that motivate them
B) Testing employee skills and knowledge before they are hired
C) Providing training so employees learn the required competencies
D) Identifying problems employees experience with time and resources,and then removing those obstacles to job performance

Question 49

Motivation and ability are important influences on individual behaviour and performance,but employees also require accurate:

A) Critical perceptions
B) Coordination
C) Role perceptions
D) None of the options listed here is correct

Question 50

Aptitudes and learned capabilities are closely related to:

A) Superior performance
B) Competencies
C) Confidence
D) None of the options listed here is correct

Question 51

Extroversion characterises people who are outgoing,talkative sociable and:

A) Energetic
B) Independent
C) Assertive
D) Curious

Question 52

Which of the following ensures that job incumbents have appropriate aptitudes to perform the job when they start?

A) Hire applicants with appropriate aptitudes
B) Train employees so they develop appropriate aptitudes
C) Motivate employees to have appropriate aptitudes
D) Provide resources that allow employees to perform their jobs

Question 53

Aptitudes,skills and competencies all fall under which of the following concepts?

A) Motivation
B) Personality
C) Values
D) Ability

Question 54

Ability includes which of these?

A) Aptitudes and learned skills
B) Natural aptitude and intensity
C) Persistence and direction
D) Intensity and learned capabilities

Question 55

The four elements of the MARS model directly influencing behaviour and performance are: motivation,ability,role perceptions and:

A) Situational factors
B) Individual differences
C) Personality characteristics
D) Values

Question 56

Competencies include:

A) A person's aptitudes
B) A person's learned abilities
C) A person's skills
D) All of the options listed here are correct

Question 57

Which of the following identifies the four factors that directly influence individual behaviour and performance?

A) Utilitarianism
B) MARS model
C) Schwartz's model
D) Holland's model

Question 58

Ability includes both the natural aptitudes and:

A) Motivation
B) Learned capabilities
C) Competencies
D) Self-concept

Question 59

Which of the following statements about task performance is FALSE?

A) Employees are evaluated against a performance standard
B) Task performance refers to goal-directed activities under the individual's control
C) Employees are almost always evaluated on just one performance dimension
D) Employees are expected to perform their work above a minimum acceptable level

Question 60

______ is the amount of effort allocated to the goal.

A) Persistence
B) Direction
C) Intensity
D) Aptitude

Question 61

People with high collectivism:

A) Accept unequal distribution of power
B) Also have low individualism
C) Value harmonious relationships in the groups to which they belong
D) Value thrift,savings and persistence

Question 62

Ethics is most closely related to:

A) Values
B) Locus of control
C) The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
D) Personality

Question 63

The main reason why a person's values do not influence his or her behaviour is that:

A) Values never affect behaviour under any circumstances
B) Values affect a person's ability but not his or her motivation to act
C) Values usually conflict with each other,making it difficult to determine which value to apply
D) Values tend to be too abstract to see the connection to specific situations

Question 64

Which of the following statements about values is FALSE?

A) Values help define what is right or wrong and good or bad in the world
B) Values are arranged into a hierarchy of preferences
C) The values that dominate a person's preferences differ across cultures
D) A person's hierarchy of values typically changes a few times each year

Question 65

An individual's personality:

A) Changes several times throughout the year
B) Is formed only from childhood socialisation and the environment
C) Is less evident in situations where social norms,reward systems and other conditions constrain behaviour
D) All of the options listed here are correct

Question 66

Which of the following is LEAST connected to the topic of values?

A) Organisational culture
B) Collectivism
C) Ethical sensitivity
D) Neuroticism

Question 67

When assessing the ethics of a decision,you should:

A) Rely mainly on the utilitarianism principle
B) Consider its implications against all three principles described in the textbook
C) Rely mainly on your level of collectivism
D) Avoid considering the decision's moral intensity until after the decision has been made

Question 68

One problem with the utilitarian principle of ethics is that:

A) Not all utilitarian rights are protected by law
B) It is impossible to determine what factors should be relevant when distributing rewards
C) It is difficult to predict the 'trickle down' benefits to the least well off in society
D) It judges morality by the results but not by the means to attaining those results

Question 69

The 'Big Five' personality dimensions represent:

A) All of the personality traits found in an ideal job applicant
B) The aggregated clusters representing most known personality traits
C) The personality traits caused by the environment rather than heredity
D) All of the options listed here are correct

Question 70

People who have high ethical sensitivity:

A) Are always more ethical than people with a moderate or low level of ethical sensitivity
B) Tend to have higher empathy
C) Tend to have more information about the specific situation
D) Tend to have higher empathy and tend to have more information about the specific situation

Question 71

Which of the following is a 'Big Five' personality dimension?

A) Extroversion
B) Openness to experience
C) Locus of control
D) Extroversion and openness to experience

Question 72

The ability to recognise the presence and determine the relative importance of an ethical issue is known as:

A) Neuroticism
B) Moral intensity
C) Ethical sensitivity
D) Utilitarianism

Question 73

Employees from cultures with a high power distance are more likely to:

A) Use their existing power to gain more power
B) Encourage consensus-oriented decision making
C) Avoid people in positions of power
D) Readily accept the high status of other people in the organisation

Question 74

The main limitation of the individual rights principle is that:

A) It really isn't an ethical principle at all
B) Some individual rights conflict with other individual rights
C) It pays attention to whether consequences are ethical,but not to whether the means to those consequences are ethical
D) It is almost impossible to evaluate the benefits or costs of decisions when many stakeholders are affected

Question 75

All of the following are domains in Schwartz's values model EXCEPT:

A) Tradition
B) Power
C) Conscientiousness
D) Conformity

Question 76

Espoused-enacted values congruence occurs when:

A) An organisation's values are consistent with the dominant values of the culture in which it operates
B) An employee's personal values are similar to the values of other employees on the same team
C) An employee's personal values are consistent with the organisation's values
D) None of the options listed here is correct

Question 77

People with a high ______ value assertiveness,competitiveness and materialism.

A) Individualism
B) Collectivism
C) Power distance
D) Achievement orientation

Question 78

Schwartz's values model includes all of the following EXCEPT:

A) Universalism
B) Hedonism
C) Security
D) Utilitarianism

Question 79

In the section on cross-cultural values,the author warns that:

A) The cross-cultural data presented are based on a very small sample (less than 10 people in each country studied)
B) The definitions of most values have changed over the past decade,so most cross-cultural information has little meaning anymore
C) Several cultures don't have any values
D) Diverse societies such as in Asia and Australia have a wide range of values even though the information presented assumes that everyone in the country has similar values

Question 80

Which of the following values represents people who value duty to groups to which they belong,and to group harmony?

A) High individualism
B) High uncertainty avoidance
C) High nurturing orientation
D) High collectivism