🧠 Key Concepts
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Summary of Key Articles
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AI2127 Re-Exam 2022
True or False (1-10) (2p)
1. Emotional intelligence can be developed and improved. True or false? If false explain why?
True?
False? Explain why.
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2. When defining the problem, top priority should be placed on identifying all the underlying symptoms of the problem.
True?
False? Explain why.
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3. Ability equals aptitude multiplied by training and commitment.
True?
False? Explain why.
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4. When a supervisor analyzes the components of his or her subordinate's job and creates different combinations of tasks, the manager has used the refitting option.
True?
False? Explain why.
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5. Research indicates that people-focused conflicts threaten relationships, whereas issue-based conflicts enhance relationships.
True?
False? Explain why.
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6. Empowerment involves trade-offs; if some people feel empowered, others will not experience it. True or false? If false explain why?
True?
False? Explain why.
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7. To reach the fourth stage of the four stages of team development labeled by Tuckman, a team must progress through the first three stages of development.
True?
False? Explain why.
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8. Once the team has developed a comfortable climate, the next stage is the performing stage.
True?
False? Explain why.
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9. Leadership has been described as maintaining steadiness, controlling variation, and refining current performance.
True?
False? Explain why.
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10. In the article “The Manager’s Job: Folklore and Fact” Henry Mintzberg defines managerial work as “planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling”.
True?
False? Explain why.
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Multipel Choice Questions (11-20)
11. In the workplace, people are most likely to interact with which co-workers?
A) Creative co-workers
B) Co-workers with diverse social values
C) Co-workers with different self-awareness traits
D) Co-workers similar to them
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12. What is the natural tendency of people in resolving problems?
A) Select the first reasonable solution that comes to mind
B) Select the first reasonable problem that comes to mind
C) Select the best solution after evaluating all the alternatives
D) None of the answer choices are correct.
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13. What is accomplished by implementing a solution incrementally?
A) Decreases resistance by others to the solution
B) Increases the overall or total costs
C) Creates support with only a few people at a time
D) Helps give people a break during implementation
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14. If you saw your manager retreat to her technical specialty and continually focus on how things were done in the past, what would this signal?
A) The manager's desire has deteriorated.
B) The manager's ability has deteriorated.
C) The manager lacks the necessary resources and support to do her job.
D) The manager's talent has deteriorated.
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15. Which of the following is not one of the "rules of engagement" for effective conflict management?
A) Work with less information
B) Focus on the facts
C) Share commonly agreed-upon goals
D) Interject humor into the decision process
E) Maintain a balanced power structure
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16. In trying to determine a course of action, it becomes apparent that part of the team had used data supplied by the VP of Finance whereas others on the team had their data supplied from the VP of Marketing. What was a likely source for this conflict?
A) Personal differences
B) Informational deficiency
C) Role incompatibility
D) Environmental stress
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17. A peer has asked you about empowerment. Which is the best summary statement to share with your peer?
A) "Essentially, workers accomplish tasks because they are intrinsically attracted to them."
B) "Essentially, workers accomplish the tasks because of the extrinsic rewards offered to them."
C) "Essentially, empowerment and Theory X are the same."
D) "Essentially, empowerment is just a fancy word for delegate."
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18. Teams can (1) take too long to make a decision, (2) compromise on excellence in order to get agreement from everyone, and (3) demonstrate groupthink, which improves decisions made by the team. Which statements are correct?
A) All three statements are correct.
B) Only statements 1 and 2 are correct.
C) Only statements 2 and 3 are correct.
D) Only statements 1 and 3 are correct.
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19. Your best friend in another department remarks that the team members in her group are very self-conscious. Also, she indicates that she has yet to speak up in the meetings. What stage is her group most likely at?
A) Forming
B) Norming
C) Storming
D) Performing
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20. Your boss tells you, "People want to do a good job. Think about this. Do you know anyone who takes a career job and says, 'I think I'll just sit here and not do any work until they tell me what to do'? No, most people want to work and assume responsibility. So, why is it that people become unmotivated?"
A) Your boss has a Theory Y outlook.
B) Your boss has a Theory X outlook.
C) Your boss has a Theory Z outlook.
D) Your boss has deteriorating ability.
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Essay Questions (21-26)
Will do these tonight and update it with them 😊
AI2127 Exam 2021
Questions 1→13 - True or False Statements
Nr | Question (3p Each) | True or False | Explanation |
1. | The difference between EQ (emotional intelligence) and IQ (intelligence quotient) is that EQ can be developed and improved. True or false? Explain why? | False ❌ | IQ = Relatively Constant
EQ = Can be improved |
2. | You are cheating on this test because you hold to the principle of "every man for himself" and principles supersede rules and laws for principled individuals. Your stage of values maturity is the highest (level 6). True or false? Explain why? | False ❌ | Principled individuals don't break the law just for personal advantage. They may break the law because the law violates a greater human value or is morally unjustifiable. |
3. | Involving others in implementing the solution to a problem will increase support of and decrease resistance to the solution. True or false? Explain why? | True ✅ | Resistance to change can be reduced by giving the team agency. Choosing and implementing solution is one of those things. |
4. | The path-goal theory of leadership suggests that the level of managerial involvement in subordinates' tasks should depend on the manager's view of what employees expect in terms of his or her involvement. True or false? Explain why? | False ❌ | Path-goal theory suggests that the level of managerial involvement in subordinates' tasks (micro-management) should depend on specific conditions. Managers should tailor their management and involvement to those specific conditions. |
5. | Elise successfully led her team to reaching the weekly sales quota. Elise is likely to experience a feeling of accomplishment, which is an intrinsic outcome. True or false? Explain why? | True ✅ | Intrinsic outcomes are experienced by an individual directly as a result of task performance. Extrinsic outcomes are controlled by someone other than the original performer (pay, promotions, and praise). |
6. | Reorganization of the manufacturing operations in a pet food company resulted in the addition of a new third shift and a reallocation of responsibilities among the managers. Conflict ensued based on the uncertainty of who was going to have to work the third shift. The most likely source of the conflict in this situation is role incompatibility. True or false? Explain why? | False ❌ | The most likely source of the conflict in this situation is environmentally induced stress because of the immense amount of reorganization and change. Another likely source is information deficiencies. |
7. | Mintzberg´s article “The manager´s job” shows that one reason for mangers not to delegate tasks is their preference of verbal information. It would have been much easier to share the information the subordinate need to perform the delegated task if it was written down and stored in a systematic way. True or false? Explain why? (3p) | True ✅ | Mintzberg´s article = Managers prefer verbal information because it is often more specific and timely. This is also mentioned to be an obstacles towards delegation. It can take so much time to share the verbal information that the mangers chose to perform the task by themselves. |
8. | The conflict is solved. You feel vindicated, but others may feel defeated and possibly humiliated. The approach you probably used to resolve the conflict is forcing. True or false? Explain why? | True ✅ | The forcing response is an attempt to satisfy one's own needs at the expense of the needs of the other individual(s). |
9. | The rule of thumb in engaging others is to match the amount of responsibility given with the amount of authority provided. Though you retain ultimate accountability, you delegate partial accountability. True or false? Explain why? | True ✅ | The goal - Appropriate amount of responsibility and authority to complete the task. |
10. | Relationship-building roles are not as essential for the group to develop and be successful as task-facilitating roles. True or false? Explain why? | False ❌ | Relationship building roles creates or promotes trust within a group, which makes it more effective at completing tasks. Both skills are needed, but I would pick trust over task-facilitating roles all week. |
11. | What you learn in this course about teams and teamwork is applicable to employing organizations, but it is not applicable to other group activities for example in school or your private life. True or false? Explain why? | False ❌ | This course teaches us about how humans work in groups, which is a great skill to develop throughout your life and is applicable almost everywhere. |
12. | Leaders are almost always the ones credited with being the cause of the success or failure of the organization as a whole. True or false? Explain why? | True ✅ | According to the textbook this is true, but I actually don’t agree with this. Leaders should take none of the credit when things are going good, and but all of the blame when things are going to shit. |
13. | Tengblad shows in the article ”Is there a “New managerial work”? A Comparison with Henry Mintzberg´s Classic Study 30 Years Later” how managerial work has changed from being predictable and stable towards handling continuous change. True or false? Explain why? | False ❌ | Main differences concern workload, communication through meetings, information giving and administrative work. On the other hand, the study shows that most new work-practices are combined with old in a context-specific way. |
Essay Questions (14-27)
Q14. How to problem solve
You discover that there is an error in your Excel spreadsheet, but you don't know the source of the problem. In sorting out the problem, which problem style would be most appropriate? Explain why you have chosen that problem-solving approach. (4p)
Answer: Analytical (but direct)
- A bug in a spreadsheet is a fairly straight forward and well defined problem. Which benefits from an analytical problem solving.
- Because of the lack of ambiguity, an analytical person is more well suited to handle the problem from a resource perspective than a creative problem solver.
Q15. Leading Clever People
Why is it difficult to lead clever people according to the article “Leading Clever people” by Goffee and Jones?
Answer: Clever people are difficult to lead because
- Clever people don’t like to be led or told what to do.
- They don’t care for hierarchies and can sometimes talk to your boss or just know more about the subject matter than the manager does.
- They are not motivated by titles, fame or money necessarily, meaning the manager needs to figure out other ways to motivate them
- They are easily bored and usually have other job opportunities or intrests they will persue.
Q16. Maslow's hierarchy
Explain the logic underlying Maslow's hierarchy of needs. How does the theory apply to individuals?
Maslow posited five levels of human needs
- Physiological → Survival needs like water
- Safety → Personal security, employment, resources
- Belonging → Friendship & intimacy
- Esteem → Respect, self-esteem, Status
- Self-actualization → Desire to become the best version of yourself.
Key-take aways
- We prioritize our life around these needs → If I’m currently trying to self-actualize, but suddently get fired I might try to find a job before going back to self acutalizing.
- It Highlights the danger of trying to incentivize an employee with a need that has already been fulfilled.
Q17. Analyse Feedback
Four employees received feedback from their managers. Richard was told what he did wrong and was given a warning. Jolette was told that she has been too shy in team meetings and is not speaking enough. Mohammed was told that his unique skill of analysis has been very valuable to the team. Elisabeth was told about some errors she made on the reports the team produced. Who will most likely feel highly engaged and be more productive? Why will this person be more engaged and productive? What can be done through feedback to help the other team members be more engaged and productive? (4p)
Recievers of Feedback | Engagement | Explanation |
Mohammed | Increased engagement 👍 | Positive reinforcment on his strengths will increases productivity. Positive feedback loop → More engagement |
Elisabeth | Decreased engagement 👎 | Slight decrease in engagement, but this is easily fixed by implementing systems where she offers a service to one of the team members that she’s good at for proof reading her work. |
Jolette | Decreased engagement 👎 | Actually think this is both the managers fault and something Jolette can work on. Some people you just need to ask specifically what they think and they will happily tell you. |
Richard | Decreased engagement 👎 | Richard will seem “less engaged”, but it will probably have to do with being afraid to excute on his work because of the warning. He will do less, because he is afraid, which in turn looks like less engagement but necessarily is not. |
Q18 - Analyze the group project
Analyze the work in the project team according to leadership. Did anyone take the lead in the project work? Did the leadership change between different stages in the process? Were there any conflicts connected to leadership? (5p)
Q19 - Four Stages of Team Development
Which of the four stages of team development (e.g. forming, norming, storming, performing) did you reach in your project team. Explain why you have chosen this stage and use at least two concrete examples in your explanation. (5p)
Q20 - Belbins Model on Team Roles
You have all made a film in the project team. I want you to analyze the process in the team making the film using Belbins team roles. Which role/roles did each team member have? Give concrete examples. You can use examples from the whole process – the first discussion of doing the film to showing it at the seminar. (6p)
AI2127 Exam 2022
Questions 1→10 - True or False Statements
Nr | Question (2p Each) | True or False | Explanation |
1. | Emotional intelligence has been identified as a moderately unimportant factor in accounting for success in leaders and managers. True or false? If false explain why? | False ❌ | Emotional intelligence correlates with success, just like regular IQ tests correlate with success. In leadership Emotional intelligence has been identified as one of the most important metrics for managerial success. |
2. | A common problem in managerial decision-making is that alternative solutions to problems are evaluated as they are proposed. True or false? If false explain why? | True ✅ | Processed or planned evaluation can hinder effective alternative solutions generation and lead to self-censorship and mind-guarding. |
3. | To change a person's ability, the manager should make sure resources are available for the job. True or false? If false explain why? | True ✅ | Ability = Aptitude*Training*Resources
Based on this formula we can conclude resources will effect the outcome of ability. |
4. | With regard to conflict, the task of an effective manager is to encourage conflict as a means to get a high level of performance from subordinates. True or false? If false explain why? | False ❌ | An effective manager maintains an optimal level of conflict focused on productive purposes. |
5. | Managers who recognise patterns and exceptions to patterns are able to manage change more effectively than managers who do not recognise these things. True or false? If false explain why? | True ✅ | If a manager can not recognise patterns they need pay attention to every single detail as if it is an exception. Since no pattern is available to guide their decision making, they become ineffective managers. |
6. | Groupthink is the ability of a team to bring people together thus increasing the amount of expertise available to solve a problem. True or false? If false explain why? | False ❌ | Groupthink occurs when the preservation of the team takes precedence over accurate decisions or high-quality task accomplishment. Eg. The group promotes consensus rather than what is true. |
7. | People tend to pay more attention to negative than positive feedback. If you receive two positive comments on your work and one negative, it is the negative that will have a much greater and longer-lasting effect on you. True or false? If false explain why? | True ✅ | Humans are hard-wired to evaluate threats in real time, eg. negative feedback is something we will focus more of our attention on than positive feedback. |
8. | The article “High-performing teams need psychological safety. Here ́s how to create it” by Laura Delizonna emphasizes the importance of building a culture where it is ok to make mistakes. True or false? If false explain why? | True ✅ | If mistakes are not allowed, the team members will play it safe, which leads to less breakthroughs and Innovation. |
9. | An informal group in an organization does not, unlike a team, affect the organization's results. True or false? If false explain why? | False ❌ | Informal groups often influence the organization's results by exchanging information, communicating without regard to formal hierarchies, etc. |
10. | The difference between sensemaking and critical sensemaking is that sensemaking recognizes that power relations in society affect an individual's room for action in an organization. True or false? If false explain why? | False ❌ | Sensemaking = The general theory that we try to makes sense of “things”
Critical Sensemaking = Leads to Action based on “how individuals make sense of their environments at a local level while acknowledging power relations in the broader societal context”
Eg. It’s that other way around. |
Multipel Choice Questions (11-20)
- To become a better manager, what is one of the first things one should do?
- Improve one's communication skills
- Seek knowledge of oneself
- Manage one's time better
- Empower one's employees
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- What does the internal-external locus of control measure?
- The ways in which a person goes about gathering and evaluating information
- A person's value system
- The extent to which a person feels able to affect his or her life
- A person's tolerance of ambiguity
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- To know one's self, what is most prescribed?
- Introversion
- Do not cross the sensitive line
- Involve others
- Be highly selective about who to get information from
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- Your group has a presentation to the class in two weeks. Lena believes that the presentation should be similar to a presentation she gave in her Marketing class last semester. Mohammed wants it to be similar to the Finance presentation that his group gave earlier this month. Marte believes that the presentation should be like the first group, after all they received an A. You think, they are all wrong. Which guideline did your group violate in regard to the analytical problem-solving model?
- Problems should not be defined in terms of solutions.
- Limited information should be given about each alternative.
- The first acceptable alternative should not be accepted right away.
- Alternatives should not be based on what was successful in the past.
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- You are the CEO of a company in the construction industry. An industry that is likely to undergo major changes over the next 10 years. What should you do?
- Empower your employees, arrange for more self-managing work teams, and broaden participation and accountability
- Maintain control and issue top-down mandates regarding strategy and direction
- Revisit company policies with both management and employees
- Do nothing; wait until problems surface
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- Which is the most appropriate approach to creativity when incremental changes and tightening up processes are necessary?
- Imagination
- Improvement
- Investment
- Incubation
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- Amber had been struggling to come up with a creative idea for her marketing proposal for weeks. Frustrated, she decided to leave her office and go for a hike in the mountains to clear her mind. She enjoyed taking in her natural surroundings and thought little about her work. When she arrived back at the office, she suddenly had a promising new idea occur to her. In what phase of creative decision making was Amber during her hike in the mountains?
- Preparation
- Incubation
- Illumination
- Verification
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- Which of the following characteristics is least likely to be reflected in a SMART goal?
- Specific
- Measurable
- Altruistic
- Realistic but stretching
- Time-bound
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- Murray`s manifest needs are three. Which of the below is not one of these?
- Need for Power
- Need for Meaning
- Need for Affiliation
- Need for Achievement
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- Joan Acker 's analytical approaches to examine how gender is done in organizations are four. Which of the following is not one of these?
- Routines
- Interactions
- Structure
- Culture
- Power
- Identity work
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Essay Questions (21-27)
Q21 - The four situational factors in conflict management
Which are the four situational factors that can be used to select the most appropriate conflict management approach? Is there anything else you, according to the textbook, are supposed to take into consideration when selecting the conflict management approach? (5p)
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Q22 - Strengths and weakness on the locus of control spectrum
Research indicates that an internal locus of control is not always a positive attribute. Compare and contrast both the advantages and disadvantages of an internal locus of control and an external locus of control. (5p)
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Q23 - Dimensions of Empowerment
Explain the core dimensions of empowerment. Provide an example for each dimension. (5p)
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Q24 - Model of team development
Define and shortly explain the model of team development. Which stage did you reach in your project team? Explain why you have chosen this stage and use at least one concrete example in your explanation. (5p)
Q25 - Define and explain Joan Acker’s approaches to how gender is done in organisations
Choose one of Joan Acker 's analytical approaches to examine how gender is done in organizations. Define and shortly explain the chosen approach. Give two examples of how the approach could be (or has been) used. (5p)
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Q26 - Summarize one of the key articles from the course
Chose one of the articles below and make a short summary (200 - 300 words) of the key points. What does the author(s) want to say? (6p)
- Making sense of sensemaking
- When working life becomes life – A study of investment banking
- The manager`s job
- Is there a “New managerial work”? A comparison with Henry Mintzberg ́s classic study 30 years later.
- Well then – What now
- Managing oneself
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Q27 - How will you take action from what you’ve learned in the course? 9p
You have got a new job and are now the manager of a group of 15 engineers. The group is recently put together. Your subordinates do not know each other - and they do not know you. The project you have been commissioned to deliver will run for three years and during that time the group needs to work closely together and use the skills of everyone. You have just completed a course in management and leadership and want to use what you have learned during the course: to create as effective a group as possible. Pick out the three things you think are most important to work on for you as a manager? In the answer, I want you to define and explain the theories and / or models you have based your answers on. You do not need to describe them in detail, just so I can see that you really know them. What I am interested in is that you clearly explain how you will concretely use them - what you will do – and how they will affect the way you work as a manager. I also want to know why you have chosen these particular theories and / or models, i.e. how you think that what you do will affect the effectiveness of the group. (9p)