Question 1

Your supervisor is intrigued by the concept of self-leadership and wants to know more about it.Discuss how she can encourage self-leadership and which conditions would encourage self-leadership to be more likely to occur.

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Question 2

ClamCo, a large energy company, was once a bureaucratic organization that valued long service and promotions through a steep hierarchy.After several years of difficult change, it is now a much flatter organization that places more responsibility with self-directed work teams.Explain what changes ClamCo probably would have made to align its reward system with this new corporate philosophy.

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Question 3

The chief executive officer of a mid-sized manufacturing company has hired you to design the work site and to make any other changes necessary for employees to feel more empowered.Briefly define empowerment and describe three important conditions you would ensure to improve empowerment among the employees.

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Question 4

A large retail organization previously divided work among its four employee benefits staff into distinct specializations.One person answered all questions about superannuation (pension plans), another answered all questions about various forms of paid time off (e.g.vacations), and so on.These jobs were recently restructured so that each employee benefits person answers all questions for people in a particular geographic area.For example, one staff member is responsible for all employee benefits inquiries from anyone in a particular geographic region.This job restructuring is an example of:
A)self-leadership.
B)job enrichment.
C)job rotation.
D)scientific management.
E)self-monitoring.

Accepted Answer

One way to increase job enrichment is by combining highly interdependent tasks into one job.This is known as a natural grouping approach.By forming natural work units, jobholders have stronger feelings of responsibility for an identifiable body of work.They feel a sense of ownership and therefore tend to increase job quality.In this case, a staff member is responsible for all employee benefits inquiries from anyone in a particular geographic region.

Question 5

Briefly describe some of the important strategies for improving reward effectiveness.

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Question 6

A large retail organization previously divided work among its four employee benefits staff into distinct specializations.One person answered all questions about superannuation (pension plans), another answered all questions about various forms of paid time off (e.g.vacations), and so on.These jobs were recently restructured so that each employee benefits person answers all questions for people in a particular geographic area.For example, one staff member is responsible for all employee benefits inquiries from anyone in a particular geographic region.This restructuring most likely increased each employee's _________________.
A)sense of ownership
B)absenteeism
C)tendency to overwork
D)self-talk
E)competence

Accepted Answer

With job enrichment, product and service quality tend to improve because job enrichment increases the jobholder's felt responsibility and sense of ownership over the product or service.

Question 7

_____ is the process of keeping track at regular intervals of one's progress toward a goal by using naturally occurring feedback.
A)Job feedback
B)Self-monitoring
C)Natural grouping
D)Job specialization
E)Task significance

Accepted Answer

Self-monitoring is the process of keeping track at regular intervals of one's progress toward a goal by using naturally occurring feedback.

Question 8

Briefly explain the benefits and problems of job specialization.

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Question 9

Self-leadership provides a different way of thinking about motivating employees.Identify and fully describe three of the elements of the self-leadership model and briefly explain how self-leadership differs from other applied motivation practices.

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Question 10

Describe a reward system that would best motivate employees to learn several jobs.Identify potential disadvantages of this reward system.

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Question 11

Briefly describe how organizations reward people for job status.Discuss three potential problems with rewarding employees for their job status.

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Question 12

Explain the three critical psychological states that affect employee motivation and satisfaction in the context of the job characteristics model.

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Question 13

Steelweld, a car parts manufacturer, pays employees a higher hourly rate as they learn to master more parts of the work process.Employees earn $10 per hour when they are hired and they can earn up to $20 per hour if they master all 12 work units in the production process.Which of these reward systems is being applied by Steelweld?
A)Skill-based pay
B)Piece-rate pay
C)Job evaluation system
D)Seniority-based pay
E)Membership-based pay

Accepted Answer

Skill-based pay plans are a specific variation of competency-based rewards in which people receive higher pay based on their mastery of measurable skills.At Steelweld, as employees learn to master more parts of the work process, they are paid a higher hourly rate.

Question 14

Compare and contrast gainsharing with employee share ownership plans.

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Question 15

A cable TV company redesigned jobs so that one employee interacts directly with customers, connects and disconnects their cable service, installs their special services and collects overdue accounts in an assigned area.They also decided to do away with scripted customer interaction manuals and allow each employee to determine how best to interact with each customer.Previously, each task was performed by a different person and the customer interacted only with someone at the head office.This change most likely increased each employee's _______________.
A)skill variety
B)task identity
C)task significance
D)autonomy
E)all of these

Accepted Answer

Skill variety refers to the use of different skills and talents to complete a variety of work activities.Task identity is the degree to which a job requires completion of a whole or identifiable piece of work.Task significance is the degree to which the job affects the organization and/or larger society.Autonomy is the degree to which a job gives employees the freedom, independence and discretion to schedule their work and determine the procedures used in completing it.

Question 16

Steelweld, a car parts manufacturer, pays employees a higher hourly rate as they learn to master more parts of the work process.Employees earn $10 per hour when they are hired and they can earn up to $20 per hour if they master all 12 work units in the production process.Which of the following is most likely a benefit Steelweld is trying to achieve with this reward system?
A)The attraction of applicants.
B)The minimization of pay discrimination.
C)The motivation of task performance.
D)The creation of an ownership culture.
E)The improvement of workforce flexibility.

Accepted Answer

One of the advantages of competency rewards (i.e.skill based pay) is that it improves workforce flexibility.

Question 17

A cable TV company redesigned jobs so that one employee interacts directly with customers, connects and disconnects their cable service, installs their special services and collects overdue accounts in an assigned area.They also decided to do away with scripted customer interaction manuals and allow each employee to determine how best to interact with each customer.Previously, each task was performed by a different person and the customer interacted only with someone at the head office.This change is an example of:
A)increasing job enrichment by establishing client relationships.
B)encouraging self-reinforcement.
C)introducing job rotation.
D)increasing job specialization.
E)introducing job feedback.

Accepted Answer

A job enrichment strategy, called establishing client relationships, involves putting employees in direct contact with their clients rather than using the supervisor as a go between.By being directly responsible for specific clients, employees have more information and can make decisions affecting those clients.

Question 18

Katie decided to do a more enjoyable task after completing a task that she disliked.This instance is an example of:
A)self-reinforcement.
B)job enrichment.
C)job specialization.
D)self-monitoring.
E)job feedback.

Accepted Answer

Self-reinforcement occurs whenever an employee has control over a reinforcer but doesn't "take" the reinforcer until completing a self-set goal.It also occurs when one decides to do a more enjoyable task after completing a task that one dislikes.

Quiz 6: Applied Performance Practices