Download Midterm - Professor Isler

Technigues of Supervision Fall Midterm 2007
Professor Steven Isler
October 31, 2007
True/False
Indicate whether the sentence or statement is true or false.
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1. Managers accomplish useful work by planning, directing, and coordinating the work of others.
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2. The systematic approach is almost always a good way to attack any management problem.
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3. According to Fayol's principles of management, the supervisor of a word processing department is not directly
responsible if a report is sent out that is full of errors and omissions.
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4. When Bob makes careful measurements of the physical movements that the people in his department make
while carrying out their jobs, he is applying the behavioral approach to management.
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5. Most people work not only for the money the job provides but for the satisfaction they derive from the work
itself.
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6. Laura gives all work instructions and other direction in crisp, written form. This practice should make the
workplace less threatening and more satisfying for most employees.
____
7. A majority of U.S. workers, particularly blacks and other minorities, express great dissatisfaction with their
work.
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8. Carl and his friends at work are all about 50 years old and have been working for 30 or more years. This group
is far more likely to be dissatisfied with its work than are young employees who have worked only a year or
two.
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9. "Improve the department's quality record" is a well-stated goal because it is precise and quantitative.
____ 10. The only relationship a supervisor has to an MIS is as an end user.
____ 11. A good general definition of a problem is a difference between expected and actual conditions.
____ 12. Clark is convinced that intuition and hunches are very destructive when making decisions; Clark is probably an
outstanding decision maker.
____ 13. A supervisor with "limited authority" for a particular type of decision must advise her or his superior after
taking action of that type.
____ 14. The chain of command requires a supervisor to inform all managers who are in a direct line above his or her
position of any decisions or actions.
____ 15. In general, any member of management can delegate responsibility and authority.
____ 16. Being honest with an applicant about the undesirable aspects of a job can help reduce turnover.
____ 17. The application form must not include information about an applicant's education.
____ 18. Physical examinations for job applicants are illegal.
Multiple Choice
Identify the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
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____ 19. One thing that the supervisor of the office maintenance crew and the chief executive officer of a market
research firm have in common is the need to:
a. Decide on corporate strategy.
b. Take over actual hands-on work when the need arises.
c. Learn and use technical quantitative management tools.
d. Make decisions and solve problems.
____ 20. Which of the following statements is most true of the behavioral approach to management?
a. It is rarely applicable to practical management problems.
b. Its use is almost certain to reduce productivity even though it may provide other benefits.
c. It consists mainly of giving employees psychological counseling so their personal
problems will not interfere with their work.
d. It can provide useful assistance to the supervisor in nearly any management situation.
____ 21. Which of the following situations faced by the supervisor of an airline reservations staff would probably be the
best candidate for use of the quantitative approach?
a. The staff is not adequately skilled because employee turnover is too great.
b. The work load varies at different times of the day and it is hard to know how to schedule
the clerks' work hours.
c. Clerks find it hard to use written air schedules while they are working at the supplied
computer terminals.
d. The department equipment is not very reliable and probably needs to be replaced.
____ 22. An industrial belting manufacturer has set a policy that employees are not supposed to pass certain kinds of
information directly between departments without going through their bosses. This policy relates most directly
to which of Fayol's principles?
a. Chain of command.
c. Unity of direction.
b. Unity of command.
d. Division of work.
____ 23. Bill has an independent income and has no need for extra money, and yet he works 10—and 12-hour days as
an investment counselor. This case shows that:
a. Even the well-to-do always want more money.
b. Money is unimportant in producing job satisfaction.
c. There are sources of satisfaction in work other than the paycheck it produces.
d. The motivations for working are so complex that supervisors are unlikely to be able to do
anything to increase job satisfaction.
____ 24. Which of the following is not typical of a bureaucracy?
a. It uses extensive written records.
b. It places organization interests before personal interests.
c. It excuses lower-level employees from the chain of authority.
d. It always requires a certain conformity from employees.
____ 25. Which of the following is a true statement about worker satisfaction in the United States?
a. Most workers express little satisfaction in their work.
b. Factory workers are fairly well satisfied with their work, but white-collar workers are less
satisfied.
c. Since the taking of the earliest records in the United States, worker satisfaction has
consistently declined.
d. The majority of workers are fairly well satisfied with their work, including women and
blacks and other minorities.
____ 26. Jackie is proud of the fact that as a supervisor, she is a "facilitator." By this she probably means that she:
a. Is excellent at scheduling and blocking work time.
b. Helps her employees do their best work rather than strictly directing them.
c. Always accurately reflects company policies and goals in the department.
d. Does everything she can to make life easy for her employees.
____ 27. In the next ten years the composition of the work force will change in which of the following ways?
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a. The number of women working will start to decline.
b. Fewer applicants will have the necessary technical skills.
c. There will be fewer middle-aged workers.
d. None of the above.
Which of the following would normally be established last when planning?
a. Policies.
c. Standards.
b. Objectives.
d. Regulations.
Clara is showing Bob the prescribed way to keep the records for the jobs he will run on the computer he
operates. She is explaining:
a. Policies.
c. Procedures.
b. Objectives.
d. Programs.
Plans for routine employee discipline would usually be:
a. Thoroughly revised and rewritten every planning period.
b. A standing plan that remains relatively unchanged for fairly long periods.
c. Short-range plans.
d. Prepared in detail by top-level managers and never included in departmental plans.
Which of the following statements would be most suitable for a supervisor's interpretation of a company policy
on using safety clothing and equipment?
a. "Our policy is that management and workers must cooperate to achieve a safe workplace."
b. "The policy is that managers must be sure that appropriate safety measures are available
and that employees use them."
c. "The policy is that anyone who fails to use required safety equipment will be suspended
for one day without pay."
d. "Our safety requirements are described in this engineer's report; it's up to you to see that
they're followed."
Supervisors are generally responsible for developing:
a. Long-range plans.
c. Short-range plans.
b. Strategic plans.
d. None of the above.
All of the following are scheduling techniques except the:
a. Fayol chart.
c. PERT chart.
b. Gantt chart.
d. Work distribution chart.
Which of the following comments about goals is a key guideline for making your objectives more effective:
a. A statement of output.
c. Time focused.
b. Clearly stated.
d. All of the above.
Carol has to suspend an employee because he has been caught gambling while on the job. Of the following
statements, her best approach would be:
a. "I know you weren't doing any harm, but the book says you have to be suspended."
b. "I have to suspend you; if the boss heard about your gambling, he'd be furious."
c. "Gambling is illegal and immoral; if the company would allow it, I'd see that you got
worse treatment than just a suspension."
d. "You know the rules; anyone found gambling faces an automatic suspension."
____ 36. Of the following, the best example of a goal is:
a. Employees will maintain and sharpen their own hand equipment during regular work
hours.
b. Our company will exercise fair and reasonable controls to regulate the conduct of
employees.
c. The department will produce 15,000 units during the next month.
d. No equipment or material may be set inside the areas in the plant marked with yellow
striping.
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____ 37. Of the following, the best example of a rule is:
a. Everyone who enters the construction area must wear protective headgear.
b. Employees may each decide whether faulty products should be scrapped or reworked.
c. The waste of materials should be reduced by 5 percent.
d. All of the above.
____ 38. In most companies, general employment practices would follow a:
a. Single-use plan.
c. Long-term plan.
b. Short-term plan.
d. Standing plan.
____ 39. The general rule about company policies is that they:
a. Apply mostly to personnel matters and are set and used only by supervisors.
b. Have little to do with supervisors, since they are set and used mainly by highermanagement levels.
c. Are set at higher-management levels but are actually turned into action by supervisors.
d. Should be communicated to workers by supervisors but will have little practical effect on
operations.
____ 40. In nearly any company, what will a supervisor's employees be most interested in knowing about policy?
a. What is written in the policy manual.
b. The company's reasons for setting top-level policies.
c. How policies support department-level operating goals.
d. The specific and concrete effects on employees of policies.
____ 41. The basic means of solving operating problems is to:
a. Reorganize the department.
b. Find some way to motivate employees to greater productivity.
c. Find and remove the cause of the problem.
d. Make effective decisions routinely and automatically.
____ 42. Kelly has great faith in the use of hunches and intuition in management. She might best apply these abilities in:
a. Problem solving.
c. Controlling.
b. Decision making.
d. Scheduling and routing.
____ 43. The greatest advantage of simple mathematical decision-making tools is that they:
a. Arrange numerical information in such a way that it can be solved mathematically.
b. Dramatically speed up the decision-making process.
c. Reduce the number of decisions that supervisors must make.
d. Help decision makers focus on decisions rather than problems.
____ 44. The final step of the problem-solving process is:
a. Choosing a solution.
c. Planning and carrying out actions.
b. Decision making.
d. Evaluating solutions.
____ 45. The day's production output for a bicycle factory is:
a. Primary data.
c. Secondary data.
b. Information.
d. MIS.
____ 46. Programmed decisions:
a. Can save the supervisor time and effort.
b. Can only be used when the present situation has also occurred in the past.
c. Still require the supervisor to develop a clear understanding of the problem.
d. All of the above.
____ 47. In problem solving and decision making, the supervisor must:
a. Achieve a very high level of successful decisions, at least 90 to 95 percent.
b. Not be particularly concerned about the outcome of decisions; keeping things moving is
the key.
c. Plan to win some and lose some; many solutions will achieve only moderate success.
d. Be certain not to put a solution into effect unless it is sure to succeed.
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____ 48. One thing that a supervisor must learn about solving problems is to:
a. Look at the whole picture before deciding whether to seek help or find a solution alone.
b. Always get help before making decisions.
c. Take full responsibility for making all decisions; no one else is likely to be able to
contribute.
d. Pass all decisions of any importance on to the boss.
____ 49. Alice wants to establish effective goals for her gift card shop. Which of the following goals would be
appropriate to her organization?
a. Competitive wages for employees.
b. Supplying valued goods and services to the public.
c. Her own personal satisfaction.
d. All of the above.
____ 50. Centralized organizations:
a. Have few levels of management.
c. Give employees much freedom to act.
b. Exert tight controls.
d. All of the above.
____ 51. ABC Foods Inc. has divided its restaurant businesses into three separate chains reporting to headquarters:
Japanese Gardens, Western Family Dining, and Quick and Good Burgers. This is an example of what kind of
organizational structure?
a. Product (or divisional).
c. Customer.
b. Geographic.
d. Matrix.
____ 52. Which of the following statements is true?
a. Authority and accountability are the same thing.
b. You must delegate accountability if you have delegated responsibility.
c. Authority should not be reinforced by personal influence or charm.
d. If you delegate responsibility, you should also delegate authority.
____ 53. Staff departments with functional authority:
a. May specify policies and procedures to be followed in matters within their specialties.
b. Will have reduced ability to advise line departments.
c. Have exceeded the proper role of staff departments.
d. Get that authority from the informal organization.
____ 54. The poorest reason stated below for a supervisor to delegate work is:
a. You can't keep up with everything you feel you should do.
b. You want to free yourself from the boring, trivial, dirty work.
c. You want to provide job satisfaction for your employees.
d. You will be absent from work.
____ 55. As Maddy redesigns her business, she should try to avoid:
a. Asking one person to report to two bosses.
b. Writing job assignments that discourage overlap and duplication of effort.
c. Putting an organizational chart in writing.
d. All of the above.
____ 56. Responsibility without ____ in effect makes the supervisor powerless.
a. Delegation.
c. Authority.
b. A job description.
d. Accountability.
____ 57. To be successful the supervisor must be good at:
a. Staffing.
c. Planning.
b. Delegation.
d. All of the above.
____ 58. Balancing the work force refers to:
a. Making sure that the number of employees on hand just matches the work load.
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b. Making sure that there are an adequate number of females and minorities in an
organization.
c. Having a similar number of workers on each shift.
d. None of the above.
Which of the following is not an acceptable question to ask a job candidate?
a. Can you describe your last job?
b. What kind of an attendance record have you had in the last year?
c. Have you ever been arrested?
d. Do you have the legal right to work in the United States?
The best single measure of morale is generally considered to be:
a. Absenteeism.
c. Production levels.
b. Employee turnover.
d. Promotion rates.
Harold has been provided a list of qualified applicants for an opening in his department. Which of the
following considerations will probably not be of much value?
a. Physical examination.
c. Personal references.
b. Employment references.
d. All of the above.
The objectives of job interviews include each of the following, except:
a. To give information.
c. To make a friend.
b. To get information.
d. To clarify your job description.
Each of the following should be taken into consideration when estimating the cost of keeping an employee on
the payroll except:
a. Wages.
c. Overhead.
b. Fringe benefits.
d. Product cost.
Nancy telling Tom about the hours of work is an example of:
a. Reliability.
b. Self-fulfilling prophecy.
c. Key point training.
d. Orientation training
Phil has assessed training needs formally if he has:
a. Conducted a skills test.
c. Seen too much scrap or rework.
b. Noticed operating costs are out of line.
d. All of the above.
Which of the following provides the clearest indication that employee training is appropriate:
a. Poor equipment.
b. A new employee in the department.
c. Unclear performance standards
d. Inadequate supervisory support.
An example of the informal approach to assessing training needs is:
a. High accident rate.
c. Observations of employees at work.
b. Skills tests.
d. Surveys.
When breaking a job down for training purposes, you should:
a. Begin with the most difficult step.
b. Divide the job into logical steps.
c. Involve the manufacturer's sales representative.
d. All of the above.
It has been estimated that an extra year of high school adds about this much to a typical worker's lifetime
earnings.
a. Nothing.
c. $10,000.
b. $100,000.
d. $50,000.
To be fair to all employees, training should:
a. Occur at the same speed for all employees.
b. Take place off the job.
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c. Never involve a coworker as a trainer.
d. Take place at different speeds depending on the situation.
A secretary's delivering the boss's interoffice mail is an example of:
a. Job enrichment.
c. Work simplification.
b. Job enlargement.
d. Work design.
Franklin Imports is looking for a new supervisor. Which of the following people, all of whom are technically
competent, would McClelland say is most likely to be the best supervisor?
a. Sybil, who has a high need for achievement.
b. Louise, who has a need for power.
c. Elaine, who has a high need for affiliation.
d. Anna, who has traveled abroad extensively.
The human need that serves as the strongest motivator is:
a. The one that has not yet been satisfied.
b. The one that is the highest in the needs hierarchy, that is, the self-actualization need.
c. The one that comes first in the hierarchy, that is, the survival need.
d. The one that is the easiest to satisfy in a given situation.
According to the expectancy view, which of the following questions would most directly and generally affect
an employee's motivation?
a. "Does my supervisor have any chance of being promoted?"
b. "Do my coworkers respect me and like me?"
c. "Can I really do the work that my supervisor is asking me to do?"
d. "Can I stick on this job long enough to get any retirement pay?"
According to Herzberg, adequate paid holidays and vacations can be expected to:
a. Provide real worker satisfaction.
b. Serve as strong motivators toward good performance.
c. Help prevent employee dissatisfaction.
d. Make employees less concerned with whether the work itself is interesting.
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Technigues of Supervision Fall Midterm 2007
Answer Section
TRUE/FALSE
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MULTIPLE CHOICE
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D
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D
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9
C
B
A
C
A
D
C
A
D
B
A
D
A
B
A
C
D
A
C
B
C
D
D
D
A
B
A
B
B
D
B
A
A
C
C