Deck 1: Introduction to Organisational Behaviour

Question 1

Organisational behaviour is:

A)a work culture that respects the interests of multiple stakeholders, including the individual, the organisation and the community.
B) The systematic study of individuals, groups and organisations to create high-performing organisations that engender high levels of outcomes for all organisational stakeholders, including employees, shareholders and the community.
C) organisations behaving in a manner consistent with societal expectations.
D) the relationships between the self-concept, personality and emotions of an individual employee in an organisation.

Answer 1

The systematic study of individuals, groups and organisations to create high-performing organisations that engender high levels of outcomes for all organisational stakeholders, including employees, shareholders and the community.

Question 2

What are the three main mechanisms through which globalisation can promote productivity and increasing living standards?

A) Exposure to the world's best practices, better resource allocation and savings deployed to productive investment.
B) The internet, more access to foreign direct investment and deregulation of markets.
C) Outsourcing to low labour cost countries, increased workforce mobility and streamlining of senior executives salary packages.
D) More cross-cultural exchanges, improved communication technologies and better supply chain modelling.

Answer 2

Exposure to the world's best practices, better resource allocation and savings deployed to productive investment.

Question 3

Research from a variety of disciplines suggests that pushing staff to sustain higher levels of individual and organisational performance, without addressing individual issues, will probably lead to:

A) lower levels of stress and reduced productivity.
B) higher levels of stress and increased productivity.
C) higher levels of stress and reduced productivity
D) lower levels of stress and reduced productivity .

Answer 3

higher levels of stress and reduced productivity

Question 4

Which of the following is a not regarded as a negative impact of globalisation?

A) Reduced wages for the poorly educated and technologically unskilled.
B) Job displacement in affected businesses.
C) Increased power of unions.
D) Worsened economic conditions in countries that cannot engage in the global economy.

Question 5

Which of the following is not an OB research topic relevant to globalisation?

A) Recruiting and developing global leaders.
B) Global organisational learning.
C) Cross-cultural communication.
D) Cultural migration.

Question 6

Which of the following is not regarded to be a positive impact of globalisation?

A) Rise of union influence.
B) Increased wages for the well educated and technologically skilled.
C) Improved economic conditions in countries and regions that successfully compete in the global economy.
D) Increased access to more goods at reduced prices.

Question 7

The systematic study of organisational behaviour can be traced to:

A) efforts made by social psychologists to apply their methods to organisational problems in the early 1800s.
B) efforts made by sociologists to apply their methods to organisational problems in the 1950s.
C) the contributions of Sigmund Freud in psychoanalysis.
D) efforts made by experimental psychologists to apply their methods to organisational problems in the early 1900s.

Question 8

The knowledge that one was being observed and the expectation that changes to one's work environment should change productivity is a finding of which famous research experiment?

A) The time and motion studies.
B) The Hawthorne studies.
C) The scientific management studies.
D) The observational studies.

Question 9

'Changes in performance or other behaviour result from people knowing that they are the subject of study'. This statement describes a phenomenon called:

A) the Hawthorne effect.
B) the Halo effect.
C) the Self-other effect.
D) the Frederick Taylor effect.

Question 10

There is emerging consensus among scholars and practitioners that:

A) a firm's ability to retain its form, stick to one strategy and sustain its capabilities is the key to competitive success.
B) a firm's ability to continually react to every external force is the key to competitive success.
C) a firm's ability to anticipate and change before a change is indicated is the key to competitive success.
D) a firm's ability to continually learn, adapt and upgrade its capabilities is the key to competitive success.

Question 11

The suggestion system in Toyota's kaizen system:

A) effectively turns every worker into a 'knowledge worker'.
B) tends to stifle worker creativity and innovation.
C) effectively turns every worker into a 'cog in the larger bureaucratic machine'.
D) is only suitable for the manufacturing industry.

Question 12

When experienced managers leave the organisation:

A) they take with them their future earning potential, which is a loss to the human capital of the firm.
B) they take with them their tacit knowledge, which is a loss to the human capital of the firm.
C) they take with them their intellectual property, which is a loss to the human capital of the firm.
D) they take with them their databases, which is a loss to the human capital of the firm.

Question 13

Successful implementation of knowledge management practices requires:

A) a culture that restricts innovation.
B) a culture that controls the costs of human capital.
C) a simplistic view of organisational structure.
D) a fundamental cultural change.

Question 14

Wellbeing is:

A) a legal requirement in most modern workplaces.
B) an index of life evaluation, emotional health, physical health, healthy behaviours, work environment and basic access.
C) a feeling of general happiness and absence of illness.
D) an index of absenteeism in the workplace.

Question 15

According to Kossek, Kalliath, and Kalliath (2013), which condition does not contribute to the development of a flourishing workplace?

A) A reward system that promotes individual and team effort.
B) Individuals feeling they are recognised and valued for good work.
C) Individuals believing they are able to have a career with their employer with mutual positive social exchange.
D) Individuals being able to develop skills and knowledge that keep them employable for a lifelong career.

Question 16

'Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs' is one definition of:

A) inter-organisational trust.
B) corporate social responsibility.
C) ethical behaviour.
D) organisational behaviour.

Question 17

Business ethics is:

A) a written statement of ethical standards.
B) the study of moral or ethical choices that can arise in the running of a business.
C) the natural tensions that stem from the differing interests of companies, their employees, customers and the greater society.
D) conflict of interest.

Question 18

Pressures to behave unethically do not include:

A) the natural tensions that stem from differing interests of companies, their employees, customers and the greater society.
B) a person's upbringing.
C) conflicts of interest.
D) the corporate culture.

Question 19

Evidence-based management is:

A) management practice for which proof may be produced.
B) translating principles based on best evidence into organisational practices.
C) management practice in which the outcomes or decisions are clearly evident.
D) thorough record keeping on management decisions in practice.

Question 20

'Scientific method' is:

A) a method in which only measurable outcomes are considered valid.
B) a method employed in the physical sciences.
C) the systematic study of observable events and their impact on other events in order to attribute cause and effect and draw conclusions based on evidence.
D) a rigorous, structured approach that follows a set procedure and documents all outcomes.

Question 21

Which good management practice, related to high-performing organisations, was not identified by Bloom, Sadun and van Reenan (2012)?

A) Targets: does the organisation support long-term goals with tough but achievable short-term performance benchmarks?
B) Incentives: does the organisation reward high performers with promotions and bonuses while retraining or moving underperformers?
C) Managing turnover: does the organisation actively manage turnover and implement retention programs to retain critical talent?
D) Monitoring: does the organisation rigorously collect and analyse performance data to identify opportunities for improvement?

Question 22

The dabbawalla system lists three key components driving its success. Which component, listed below, is not one of the three?

A) The supply chain management.
B) The financing.
C) The coding system.
D) The employees.

Question 23

What are some of the challenges in the effort to sustain higher levels of employee and organisational performance?

Question 24

What are the three channels or mechanisms that promote globalisation?

Question 25

Does globalisation have a positive impact on organisations and countries? Or is the impact negative, or both? Discuss.

Question 26

What are the impacts of globalisation on organisational behaviour theory?

Question 27

Define knowledge management and discuss the fundamental requirement for its success.

Question 28

Wellbeing has been defined as 'an index of life evaluation, emotional health, physical health, healthy behaviours, work environment and basic access'. Discuss current trends in the wellbeing index and workplace design, to create congruence between employer and employee interests.

Question 29

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been defined as 'meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs' (World Business Council for Sustainable Development). Discuss the reasons corporations adopt CSR and the benefits.

Question 30

Evidence-based management means translating principles based on best evidence into organisational practices. Based on the study by Bloom and colleagues (2012), discuss the results of interventions in targets, incentives and monitoring and the implications for adopting evidence-based management.