Organizational Behavior, 18e (Robbins)
Chapter 1 What Is Organizational Behavior?
1) A survey of over 2,100 CFOs across 20 industries indicated that a lack of interpersonal skills is the top reason why some employees fail to advance.
Answer: TRUE
Explanation: Business schools have realized the significant role interpersonal skills play in determining a manager's effectiveness. A survey of over 2,100 CFOs across 20 industries indicated that a lack of interpersonal skills is the top reason why some employees fail to advance.
LO: 1.1: Demonstrate the importance of interpersonal skills in the workplace.
AACSB: Diverse and multicultural work environments
Difficulty: Easy
Quest. Category: Concept
2) Discuss the growing importance of interpersonal skills in the workplace.
Answer: Until the late 1980s, business school curricula emphasized the technical aspects of management, focusing on economics, accounting, finance, and quantitative techniques. Course work in human behavior and people skills received relatively less attention. Over the past three decades, however, business faculty have come to realize the role that understanding human behavior plays in determining a manager's effectiveness and required courses on people skills have been added to many curricula. Developing managers' interpersonal skills also helps organizations attract and keep high-performing employees. Regardless of labor market conditions, outstanding employees are always in short supply. Having managers with good interpersonal skills is likely to make the workplace more pleasant, which in turn makes it easier to hire and keep qualified people. Creating a pleasant workplace also appears to make good economic sense.
LO: 1.1: Demonstrate the importance of interpersonal skills in the workplace.
Difficulty: Moderate
Quest. Category: Concept
3) ________ get things done through other people. They make decisions, allocate resources, and direct the activities of others to attain goals.
A) Assistants
B) Managers
C) Secretaries
D) Interns
E) Apprentices
Answer: B
Explanation: The defining characteristic of managers is that they get things done through other people. They make decisions, allocate resources, and direct the activities of others to attain goals.
LO: 1.2: Define organizational behavior (OB).
Difficulty: Easy
Quest. Category: Concept
4) Sally Mitchell works as a manager at an environmental organization. She is currently working on a global warming project and decides which tasks related to creating awareness about the issue need to be done. In addition, she is also deciding which members of her team will work on engaging with the public and which will work on lobbying with the government. She is also assigning people as team members to ensure that tasks are undertaken on time. Which of the following categories of functions is Mitchell undertaking?
A) planning
B) organizing
C) scrutinizing
D) controlling
E) envisioning
Answer: B
Explanation: Managers are responsible for designing an organization's structure. This function is called organizing. It includes determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom, and where decisions are to be made.
LO: 1.2: Define organizational behavior (OB).
AACSB: Analytical thinking
Difficulty: Hard
Quest. Category: Application
5) Johanna Reid, a campaign manager at a child rights organization, recently started working on an illiteracy project. During the project, she needs to motivate team members to attain their project milestones and direct them through different phases of the project. Which of the following kinds of functions will these tasks be covered under?
A) planning
B) organizing
C) scrutinizing
D) evaluating
E) leading
Answer: E
Explanation: The leading function of managers involves motivating employees, directing their activities, selecting the most effective communication channels, and resolving conflicts among members.
LO: 1.2: Define organizational behavior (OB).
AACSB: Analytical thinking
Difficulty: Hard
Quest. Category: Application
6) Lesley Torres is a project manager for the campaign "Action against Deforestation in Indonesia." She recently faced a glitch when the campaign could not be launched publicly according to schedule. Torres monitored the schedule to find the cause of the delay before speeding up the implementation process by allocating more members for the implementation phase. By doing this, which of the following functions is she performing?
Chapter 1 What Is Organizational Behavior?
1) A survey of over 2,100 CFOs across 20 industries indicated that a lack of interpersonal skills is the top reason why some employees fail to advance.
Answer: TRUE
Explanation: Business schools have realized the significant role interpersonal skills play in determining a manager's effectiveness. A survey of over 2,100 CFOs across 20 industries indicated that a lack of interpersonal skills is the top reason why some employees fail to advance.
LO: 1.1: Demonstrate the importance of interpersonal skills in the workplace.
AACSB: Diverse and multicultural work environments
Difficulty: Easy
Quest. Category: Concept
2) Discuss the growing importance of interpersonal skills in the workplace.
Answer: Until the late 1980s, business school curricula emphasized the technical aspects of management, focusing on economics, accounting, finance, and quantitative techniques. Course work in human behavior and people skills received relatively less attention. Over the past three decades, however, business faculty have come to realize the role that understanding human behavior plays in determining a manager's effectiveness and required courses on people skills have been added to many curricula. Developing managers' interpersonal skills also helps organizations attract and keep high-performing employees. Regardless of labor market conditions, outstanding employees are always in short supply. Having managers with good interpersonal skills is likely to make the workplace more pleasant, which in turn makes it easier to hire and keep qualified people. Creating a pleasant workplace also appears to make good economic sense.
LO: 1.1: Demonstrate the importance of interpersonal skills in the workplace.
Difficulty: Moderate
Quest. Category: Concept
3) ________ get things done through other people. They make decisions, allocate resources, and direct the activities of others to attain goals.
A) Assistants
B) Managers
C) Secretaries
D) Interns
E) Apprentices
Answer: B
Explanation: The defining characteristic of managers is that they get things done through other people. They make decisions, allocate resources, and direct the activities of others to attain goals.
LO: 1.2: Define organizational behavior (OB).
Difficulty: Easy
Quest. Category: Concept
4) Sally Mitchell works as a manager at an environmental organization. She is currently working on a global warming project and decides which tasks related to creating awareness about the issue need to be done. In addition, she is also deciding which members of her team will work on engaging with the public and which will work on lobbying with the government. She is also assigning people as team members to ensure that tasks are undertaken on time. Which of the following categories of functions is Mitchell undertaking?
A) planning
B) organizing
C) scrutinizing
D) controlling
E) envisioning
Answer: B
Explanation: Managers are responsible for designing an organization's structure. This function is called organizing. It includes determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom, and where decisions are to be made.
LO: 1.2: Define organizational behavior (OB).
AACSB: Analytical thinking
Difficulty: Hard
Quest. Category: Application
5) Johanna Reid, a campaign manager at a child rights organization, recently started working on an illiteracy project. During the project, she needs to motivate team members to attain their project milestones and direct them through different phases of the project. Which of the following kinds of functions will these tasks be covered under?
A) planning
B) organizing
C) scrutinizing
D) evaluating
E) leading
Answer: E
Explanation: The leading function of managers involves motivating employees, directing their activities, selecting the most effective communication channels, and resolving conflicts among members.
LO: 1.2: Define organizational behavior (OB).
AACSB: Analytical thinking
Difficulty: Hard
Quest. Category: Application
6) Lesley Torres is a project manager for the campaign "Action against Deforestation in Indonesia." She recently faced a glitch when the campaign could not be launched publicly according to schedule. Torres monitored the schedule to find the cause of the delay before speeding up the implementation process by allocating more members for the implementation phase. By doing this, which of the following functions is she performing?