Question 1

When an organization uses a ________ approach to knowledge management, it ensures that knowledge is carefully collected, analyzed, and stored in databases where it can be retrieved easily by users who input organization-specific commands and keywords.

Accepted Answer

A)   cognitive
B)   personalization
C)   codification
D)   systems thinking C

Question 2

The garbage-can approach to organizational decision-making is clearly the opposite of the approach described by the ________ model.

Accepted Answer

A)   rational
B)   unstructured
C)   Carnegie
D)   incremental A

Question 3

Programmed decision-making allows an organization to increase its efficiency and reduce the costs of making goods and services.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False  True

Question 4

In a circle configuration of a top-management team, organizational learning is decreased because managers from the different functions report separately to the CEO.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 5

When managers have an illusion of control bias, they often ________.

Accepted Answer

A)   centralize decision-making authority
B)   promote flat hierarchy of authority
C)   empower workers
D)   promote mutual adjustment

Question 6

Which of the following terms refers to the conformity that emerges when like-minded people reinforce one another's tendencies to interpret events and information in similar ways?

Accepted Answer

A)   groupthink
B)   devil's advocacy
C)   social loafing
D)   satisficing

Question 7

The Carnegie model assumes that managers' ability is restricted by bounded rationality.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 8

Programmed decisions are creative, novel, and unstructured.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 9

Which of the following organizational learning strategies, proposed by James March, involves organizational members searching for and experimenting with new kinds or forms of organizational activities and procedures to increase effectiveness?

Accepted Answer

A)   exploration
B)   exploitation
C)   reciprocation
D)   association

Question 10

The rational model of decision-making ignores the ambiguity, uncertainty, and chaos that is typically involved in decision-making.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 11

Senge has argued that for organizational learning to occur, each of its members needs to develop a sense of personal mastery, by which he means that organizations should ________.

Accepted Answer

A)   use centralized decision-making and ensure that only the top-management team has the decision-making authority
B)   increase the extent of division of labor so that all employees become efficient at the tasks allocated to them
C)   encourage managers to set ambitious goals for their subordinates
D)   empower all employees and allow them to experiment and create and explore what they want

Question 12

Inert cultures encourage risk taking by middle and lower-level managers.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 13

Which of the following statements is true regarding the incrementalist model?

Accepted Answer

A)   According to this model decision-making is a process that may evolve unpredictably in an unstructured way and it forces decision makers to think in a haphazard and intuitive way.
B)   This model works best in an environment that changes suddenly or abruptly.
C)   This model implies that managers rarely make major decisions that are radically different from decisions they have made before.
D)   According to this model, decision makers weigh every possible alternative course of action and choose the best solution.

Question 14

Dialectic inquiry involves ________.

Accepted Answer

A)   restructuring the organization in order to make it more formal and centralized
B)   diversifying the business of the organization into unrelated areas
C)   creating a final plan out of many plans proposed by various teams
D)   replacing the top-management team

Question 15

Cognitive dissonance is the state of discomfort or anxiety that a person feels when there is an inconsistency between his or her beliefs and actions.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 16

When an organization uses a personalization approach to knowledge management, information systems are designed to show employees who in the organization might possess the knowledge they might need or who might have confronted a similar problem in the past.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 17

By developing a knowledge management system, managers want to provide employees with a step by step procedure on how to solve problems. They want to do this because most of their problems are recurring events, and standard procedures work well. This information indicates that the organization is planning to implement a ________ approach to knowledge management.

Accepted Answer

A)   systems thinking
B)   codification
C)   personalization
D)   learning organization

Question 18

Which of the following statements is true regarding an adaptive culture?

Accepted Answer

A)   An adaptive culture is cautious and conservative.
B)   Organizations with adaptive cultures are less likely to survive in a changing environment than organizations with inert cultures.
C)   According to Kotter and Heskett, organizational learning is higher in organizations with adaptive cultures than that in organizations with inert culture.
D)   An adaptive culture discourages lower and middle level managers from taking risks.

Question 19

A top-management team in an organization is feeling threatened by a deteriorating economic situation and doubt their ability to manage it. Feeling threatened and powerless, the team accuses other lower-level managers of being unable to control the situation or of lacking the ability or desire to do so. Which of the following biases is being experienced by the top-management team?

Accepted Answer

A)   representativeness
B)   projection
C)   frequency
D)   cognitive dissonance

Question 20

As compared to organizations with mechanistic and inert cultures, organizations with organic and adaptive cultures are more likely to actively seek out new ways to manage linkages with other organizations.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Exam 12: Decision Making, Learning, Knowledge Management, and Information Technology

When an organization uses a ________ approach to knowledge management, it ensures that knowledge is carefully collected, analyzed, and stored in databases where it can be retrieved easily by users who input organization-specific commands and keywords.

The garbage-can approach to organizational decision-making is clearly the opposite of the approach described by the ________ model.

Programmed decision-making allows an organization to increase its efficiency and reduce the costs of making goods and services.

In a circle configuration of a top-management team, organizational learning is decreased because managers from the different functions report separately to the CEO.

When managers have an illusion of control bias, they often ________.

Which of the following terms refers to the conformity that emerges when like-minded people reinforce one another's tendencies to interpret events and information in similar ways?

The Carnegie model assumes that managers' ability is restricted by bounded rationality.

Programmed decisions are creative, novel, and unstructured.

Which of the following organizational learning strategies, proposed by James March, involves organizational members searching for and experimenting with new kinds or forms of organizational activities and procedures to increase effectiveness?

The rational model of decision-making ignores the ambiguity, uncertainty, and chaos that is typically involved in decision-making.

Senge has argued that for organizational learning to occur, each of its members needs to develop a sense of personal mastery, by which he means that organizations should ________.

Inert cultures encourage risk taking by middle and lower-level managers.

Which of the following statements is true regarding the incrementalist model?

Dialectic inquiry involves ________.

Cognitive dissonance is the state of discomfort or anxiety that a person feels when there is an inconsistency between his or her beliefs and actions.

When an organization uses a personalization approach to knowledge management, information systems are designed to show employees who in the organization might possess the knowledge they might need or who might have confronted a similar problem in the past.

Which of the following statements is true regarding an adaptive culture?

As compared to organizations with mechanistic and inert cultures, organizations with organic and adaptive cultures are more likely to actively seek out new ways to manage linkages with other organizations.