Exam 10: Leadership of Ethics, Diversity, and Culture

During a lunch conversation, employee A tells employee B, "I know that Jean Claude started this company, but he died 10 years ago. Do I have to keep hearing all these stories about him?" This may illustrate evidence that the company has which of the following types of organizational culture?

You have been hired as CEO of Lugar Industries and have been asked to change the organizational culture. Because your company operates in a quickly changing environment, you need to have a culture which encourages employees to respond quickly to changes, to take risks, innovate, and have the authority to make quick decisions to take advantage of opportunities and to avoid risks. Based on these conditions, you, as CEO, want a(n) ____ culture.

Describe the key indicators of a culture that supports diversity.

Describe Hofstede's value dimensions of national culture.

A strong culture by itself is not a guarantee of success unless it is also aligned to:

Diversity training is most likely to be successful when it is conducted by outside experts on diversity.

In high-performance cultures, emphasis is placed on individual goal setting, and in low-performance cultures, emphasis is place on linkages between reward systems and performance.

Abaco Corporation uses social events to reinforce examples of its values, sees employees as their top asset, have a strong link between performance and rewards and constructively encourages excellence. What type of culture do they have?

Explain the primary reasons for embracing diversity.

To assess ability to identify culture, have students complete Work Applications 1, 2, 3, and/or 5.

What potential problems could develop in a case where a leader is from a high-power-distance culture but his followers are from a low-power-distance culture?

Halgie Corporation took great efforts toe select a CEO whose personality traits and values fit the company's cultural values. A benefit of this approach is that it enhances successful outcomes.

Discuss which of the four mechanisms for advocating ethical behavior exist where you work or have worked.

A strong culture is one that offers a flexible values system that encourages employees' freedom of expression through a variety of behaviors.

Describe which of the four types of organizational cultures (Exhibit 10.5) exist where you work or have worked.

"Being a young Internet company, we go with the flow." Which of the following types of organizational culture is best described by this statement?

An organization with an external strategic focus and a high degree of environmental turbulence calls for a(n) ____ culture.

Does the organization you work or have worked for offer diversity awareness training and education? If you are not sure, contact the human resources department to find out. If it does, briefly describe the program.

Apecure Corporation is a company where managers, not employees are expected to know all of the answers to problems and is focused on primarily internal operations and ignoring changing external conditions and is an example of insular thinking.

Explain why diversity has been described by some as a "double-edged sword."