Leadership Communication In The New – Test Bank Docx – Ch.11

CHAPTER ELEVEN: LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION IN THE NEW WORKPLACE

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. Management scholar Simon Western claims that packaging leadership ideas into simple solutions are easier to sell in the “leadership industry,” what is his argument?
   1. Managers and employees working in postmodern organizations are too time-bound to be able to read in-depth studies of leadership.
   2. Leadership research needs to establish a body of scientific evidence so that managers and followers know the “one best way” to lead organizations.
   3. Leadership research creates a culture where everyone is convinced that leadership is a cure-all.
   4. There aren’t enough studies on leadership and we need to produce more to help people become leaders.

Answer Location: Traditional Perspective on Leadership

1. Tall, handsome, white, and privileged, Robert was also, from a young age, very intelligent. His mother told him he almost had “all the right stuff,” but needed to work on becoming more extroverted and social. His teachers thought that he needed to bolster his self-confidence and, occasionally, learn how to explain concepts more simply so that his classmates wouldn’t perceive that there was too much of a difference between him and them. What assumptions about leadership did these adults most likely have?
   1. Most visionary leaders are able to communicate a grand vision to others; Robert needed to make sure he practice sharing his grand visions with friends.
   2. All powerful leaders possess certain qualities or traits that make them successful; to be successful, Robert needed to emulate them.
   3. Transformational leaders become their better selves through working with others; Robert needed to become his “better self” by attending to his athletic, social, and physical potential.
   4. Organizational stories shape employees’ understandings of leaders and leadership; Robert needed to ensure that stories about his athletic and social prowess could be told (to construct the idea of his leadership capacity).

Answer Location: The Trait Approach

1. Most of the leadership traits that have been studied are desirable however the trait leadership approach is not a useful tool for assessing leadership because ______.
   1. inconsistent studies revealed the difficulty of identifying a particular formula for leadership
   2. the approach focused on leaders as the dominant instrument for achievement
   3. it assumes that decision-making style is more important than external appearance as a leadership trait
   4. the approach relies heavily on perception rather than a foundation in authoritarian leadership

Answer Location: The Trait Approach

1. Julio is a consultant hired by the CEO of a company to provide feedback on productivity and morale. Julio has observed through his work that worker productivity and morale are highly correlated with the leadership style of management. Which of the following might Julio most likely recommend to the CEO?
   1. Show a lot of consideration for workers so that workers feel like their needs are met.
   2. Provide a clear initiating structure so that workers know precisely what they are to do at all times.
   3. Adopt a “hands off” approach, so that workers can use their creativity and initiative to figure out their own best ways of working.
   4. Provide both consideration for workers and a clear initiating structure, so their needs are met and they know what to do.

Answer Location: The Style Approach

1. When Reagan became the philanthropy chair of her sorority, none of her “sisters” cared about philanthropy (and the community did not have a favorable perception of the sorority). For the first six months she had the position, Reagan talked with everyone in the sorority and many community stakeholders, convincing all to come on board with her new idea: supporting a women’s organization that supported women (and children) who were survivors of intimate partner violence. Now, everyone is on board, but Reagan has not accomplished any other pragmatic tasks related to the philanthropy, including planning the large fundraising event that is supposed to bring in the majority of the money the sorority will donate to the women’s organization. Which of Blake and Mouton’s managerial style did Reagan most closely embody?
   1. impoverished
   2. country club
   3. middle of the road
   4. team leader

Answer Location: The Style Approach

1. Which of the following of Blake and Mouton’s managerial styles shows high concern for production, yet low concern for people?
   1. impoverished
   2. middle of the road
   3. authority compliance
   4. team leader

Answer Location: The Style Approach

1. Fiedler asserts that leadership is a(n)______.
   1. control process rather than a style process
   2. spontaneous growth process
   3. organizationally controlled process
   4. psychological process rather than a social process

Answer Location: The Situational Approach

1. “New leadership” focuses primarily on a view of leadership as a(n) ______.
   1. social phenomena where team members manage meaning
   2. objectively existing set of behaviors rather than a socially constructed phenomenon
   3. greater emphasis on followership, where the role of the follower in leadership is thoroughly examined
   4. focus on formalities that help to shape the work environment

Answer Location: New Approaches to Leadership

1. At a staff retreat, Ingrid tells a story about employees being fired for misuse of company technology and makes specific reference to former employees who used company computers to process orders for their online business. Ingrid’s story helps to ______.
   1. shift the focus from individual to group norms within the organization
   2. control the amount of time employees spend on their computers
   3. covertly make members aware of the fact that they are being monitored
   4. shape organizational reality and influence the action of members

Answer Location: Leadership as Symbolic Action

1. Followership research generally assumes that leaders and followers exist in a(n) ______ relationship.
   1. antagonistic
   2. paternalistic
   3. dialectic
   4. symbiotic

Answer Location: Followership

1. Alexa has been a camp counselor with Mason Leadership Camps (MLC) for the last seven years. During that time, the organization has changed directors three times, entirely re-branded itself twice, and moved to two different locations. Other than the current director, Alexa is the only person who has been with MLC for this many years; the others couldn’t adapt to all of the changes, left with their favorite director(s), or just dropped away in the upheaval. Alexa has just kind of plugged away this whole time, riding out the storm by taking on little projects under the radar but never staking a great deal of claim in any of the new changes. Which kind of followership does Alexa most likely perform at MLC?
   1. sheep
   2. conformist
   3. pragmatic follower
   4. ideal follower

Answer Location: Followership

1. Ryan is now the director of Mason Leadership Camp (MLC). He worked there for 10 years; the last seven were particularly rough. He has been steadfastly dedicated to the organization and has often offered honest, insightful, and constructive critique. Even when the leaders couldn’t provide a clear message or direction about MLC, Ryan held himself to a high ideal and even initiated some projects (to fill gaps) with his fellow staff. Which kind of followership does Ryan most likely perform at MLC?
   1. alienated follower
   2. conformist
   3. pragmatic follower
   4. ideal follower

Answer Location: Followership

1. D’Shawn recently read a new book on leadership studies and now believes that the idea of leadership rests almost entirely on followers; her influence only really comes from the extent to which organizational members interact with one another and “construct” her as the leader. Which approach to leadership studies did the author most likely take?
   1. trait leadership
   2. romance leadership
   3. charismatic leadership
   4. transformational leadership

Answer Location: Followership

1. Which of the following best represents the perspective of leadership from a critical communication perspective?
   1. Leaders are the heart of organization.
   2. Followers determine the success of the organization and the meaning of the leader.
   3. Leadership is co-produced among organizational members.
   4. The essence of leadership can be learned through critical organizational studies.

Answer Location: A Critical Communication Perspective on Leadership

1. Alvesson and Spicer look at leadership as something that is used in different ways by different people, referring to this as a(n) ______ approach.
   1. decentered
   2. power and control
   3. best practices
   4. ambiguity-centered

Answer Location: A Critical Communication Perspective on Leadership

1. The use of 360-degree feedback evaluation and Meyers-Briggs Type Indicators (which measures personality and decision-making style) enables people to “see” themselves through their own and others’ eyes by constructing a huge body of knowledge about one’s own communication and leadership in an organization. Melvin has a lot of past, successful leadership experience in organizations, yet his results from these tests show that he has some areas for potential growth. He is nervous that when he applies for his first job, potential employers might use this information against him (instead of paying attention to all of the good things he’s already done). This could be an example of ______.
   1. disciplinary power and leadership
   2. resistance power and leadership
   3. romance leadership
   4. narrative and leadership

Answer Location: Leadership and Disciplinary Power

1. For years, John witnessed employees assembling auto parts with the wrong screws (the screws were a surplus that the company did not want to waste). He contemplated telling someone but was afraid of being labeled a whistle-blower. After an incident on the assembly line, John realized he needed to say something. Two middle-level managers were demoted, the company implemented new policies to address the assembly problem, and the company issued a national recall to replace the screws. John’s actions were a form of ______.
   1. organizational leadership
   2. narrative leadership
   3. resistance leadership
   4. romance leadership

Answer Location: Resistance Leadership

1. Dave was a switchboard operator at a power company in a small Pennsylvania town. In the 1970s, there was a massive blackout in New York City. Without the instant communication we have today, the blackout spread quickly because the power companies couldn’t speak to one another quickly enough for them to shut down their breakers (which would actually stop further damage). Dave started to notice some strange surges in the far reaches of his company’s power grid and made an instant (and unauthorized) decision to “shut it all down.” They threw all the breakers and, by opening all of the circuits, basically stopped the blackout from causing damage to power grids all over the company. Dave became an “everyday hero” in power companies across the Northeast for his action. His careful attention and quick decision saved the company a lot of money (and a lot of people a lot of hassle). His quick rise to “hero” status illustrates ______.
   1. disciplinary power and leadership
   2. narrative leadership
   3. resistance leadership
   4. gender and leadership

Answer Location: Narrative Leadership

1. Followership research grew out of the need to ______.
   1. tell more stories about how successful leaders are able to shape culture
   2. show how much followers depended on the dominant power of the leader
   3. undermine the continued dominance of the leader in the media and popular culture
   4. reaffirm the fact that most of us are followers rather than leaders

Answer Location: Followership

1. ______ have been the driving forces behind much of leadership research.
   1. Physical labor and incentive pay systems
   2. Politics, economic climate, and culture
   3. Working class management and worker exploitation
   4. Diversity, inclusion, and gender

Answer Location: Conclusion

True/False

1. We know leaders when we see them because leadership has clearly identifiable features and leaders have clearly identifiable characteristics.

Answer Location: Traditional Perspectives on Leadership

1. The style approach of the 1940s-1960s focused on who had “the right stuff” to be a great leader.

Answer Location: The Style Approach

1. Of Lewin’s three styles of leadership (autocratic, laissez-faire, and democratic), the democratic leadership style is most likely to increase productivity.

Answer Location: The Style Approach

1. Relationship-oriented leaders will deal with uncertainty by first addressing the task at hand and second gathering support from those around them.

Answer Location: The Situational Approach

1. Transformational leadership and neo-charismatic leadership signal the return of the heroic “great leader,” but different organizational contexts.

Answer Location: New Approaches to Leadership

1. Leadership is more symbolic action than prescribed behavior.

Answer Location: Leadership as Symbolic Action

1. Charismatic leadership and transformational leadership are basically the same kind of process, using different names.

Answer Location: Transformational Leadership

1. An “alienated follower” tend to adapt themselves to the prevailing conditions of the organization, without claiming any real opinions or stakes in how things unfold.

Answer Location: Followership

1. As the knowledge industry around leadership grows bigger and bigger, managers still place more emphasis on a leader’s experience and interpersonal charisma than on the data produced about that person.

Answer Location: Leadership and Disciplinary Power

1. You cannot be both a leader and a good follower at the same time.

Answer Location: Conclusion

Fill-in-the-Blank

1. Early industry leaders like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and J.P. Morgan displayed ______ associated with strong leadership.

Answer Location: The Trait Approach

1. ______ is a critical approach to leadership studies that disconnects leadership from management and looks, instead, at the ways in which leadership is a political act that contributes to the wellbeing of a community.

Answer Location: Resistance Leadership

1. Stories about low-level employees saving corporations, standing up to CEOs, or displaying exemplary service or dedication are often examples of ______.

Answer Location: Narrative Leadership

1. ______ is an approach to leadership that distinguishes between managers and leaders – leaders promote shared meanings about the organization and how it will develop while managers concern themselves primarily with the here and now of the organization.

Answer Location: Transformational Leadership

1. Too much writing and talk about “leaders” and “leadership” can become psychic ______ for people who seek control in their lives.

Answer Location: Followership

1. A ______ perspective on leadership is less interested in heroic leaders than the way in which leadership is distributed throughout the organization.

Answer Location: The Trait Approach

1. The notion that business schools should focus on training enlightened followers stems from the fact that more of us are ______ than leaders.

Answer Location: Followership

1. People who score low on Fiedler’s “Least Preferred Coworker” scale can actually be highly ______ leaders.

Answer Location: The Situational Approach

1. The ______ leadership approach utilizes a psychological understanding of leadership.

Answer Location: The Situational Approach

1. Stories not only help to illustrate guiding principles and morals within an organizational setting but they also make abstract ideas more ______.

Answer Location: Narrative Leadership