Chapter 8: Socializing, Orienting and Developing Employees
1. Socialization is a process of adaptation that takes place as individuals attempt to learn the values and norms of work roles.
Ans: True
2. Employee training focuses on an employee’s future personal growth.
Ans: False
Response: Employee training is an activity that enhances employees’ specific skills and abilities so that they can immediately perform their jobs. See page 209.
3. An organizational culture is the system of sharing meaning within the organization that determines how employees act.
Ans: True
4. Research shows that very few individuals new to an organization go through the outsider-insider passage.
Ans: False
Response: This is the opposite. Research shows that every individual new to an organization goes through the outsider-insider passage.
5. In OD, intergroup development is used to build cohesion within work groups.
Ans: False
Response: See page 217. This is to build between group relationships. Intragroup is within.
Multiple Choice
6. Which of the following is not an assumption that underlies the socialization process?
a) Socialization influences employee performance and organizational stability.
b) Although possible, loneliness and a feeling of isolation are unusual for new employees.
c) New members suffer from anxiety.
d) Socialization does not occur in a vacuum.
e) Individuals tend to adjust to new situations in similar ways.
Ans: b
Response A: True.
Response B: Correct!
Response C: True.
Response D: True.
Response E: True.
7. Lydia quit her new job on the second day, saying that the job was not at all what she was willing to do. Which socialization stage is completed?
a) This is not socialization.
b) Encounter.
c) Prearrival.
d) Metamorphosis.
e) Reality.
Ans: d
Response A: It is a stage!
Response B: No. That’s initial organizational entry, before decisions are really made.
Response C: No. That is an earlier stage.
Response D: Correct!
Response E: No. Not a socialization stage.
8. Melisa is the HR manager at ABC, Inc. She is trying to determine the training needs of her company. What is the first question she should consider?
a) How much does training cost?
b) Is there a need for training?
c) What are the financial goals at ABC, Inc.?
d) What tasks must be completed to achieve the organizational goals?
e) What are the most effective training methods?
Ans: b
Response A: No.
Response B: Correct!
Response C: No.
Response D: No.
Response E: No.
9. Which of the following is a type of on-the-job training method?
a) Vestibule training
b) Simulation exercise
c) Case-study analysis
d) Role-playing exercise
e) Job rotation
Ans: e
Response A: Off-the-job training method.
Response B: Off-the-job training method.
Response C: Off-the-job training method.
Response D: Off-the-job training method.
Response E: Correct!
10. Which of the following best describes the socialization stage where individuals confront the possible dichotomy between their organizational expectations and reality?
a) Prearrival stage
b) Metamorphosis stage
c) Crisis stage
d) Encounter stage
e) Orientation stage
Ans: d
Response A: Individuals arrive in an organization with a set of values, attitudes, and expectations.
Response B: Stage during which the new employee must work inconsistencies discovered during the encounter stage.
Response C: Not a stage of the socialization process as described in the text.
Response D: Correct!
Response E: Not a stage of the socialization process as described in the text.
11. Matt owns a Boston investment house. He just dropped 5 of senior managers off in the Appalachian foothills with camping gear and food and told them to meet him in 5 days at a designated spot. What kind of employee development is this?
a) Survival training
b) Vestibule
c) Packing
d) Simulation
e) Job rotation
Ans: a
Response A: Correct!
Response B: No. That’s where you do the work in an area adjacent to the real work area.
Response C: Not an employee development technique.
Response D: Not for investment managers.
Response E: Not for investment managers unless he plans to move them to a different business altogether.
12. Your text describes OD based on an organizational reality that includes rapid and uncertain change as which of the following?
a) White-water rapids
b) Garbage can
c) Washing machine
d) Worm hole
e) Job morphing
Ans: a
Response A: Correct!
Response B: No. That’s a different metaphor.
Response C: That would work, but that is not a real choice here.
Response D: No.
Response E: This is a term from a previous chapter.
13. Which of the following is true regarding employee development?
a) It focuses on future jobs in the organization.
b) It is present-day oriented.
c) It focuses on individuals’ current jobs.
d) It focuses on past learning experiences.
e) It aims at enhancing the skills and abilities that employees need to immediately perform their jobs.
Ans: a
Response A: Correct!
Response B: Characteristic of employee training.
Response C: No.
Response D: Characteristic of employee training.
Response E: Characteristic of employee training.
14. Just suppose you took your “final exam” for a course the day before the semester started. Then you took it again as the final at the end of the semester. Then, the department chair compared the scores to see how much you learned. This activity would be an example of what kind of training evaluation method?
a) Student-teacher interaction opinions
b) Testing
c) Pre-post training performance with control group
d) Outcome assessment
e) Pre-post training performance
Ans: e
Response A: No.
Response B: Not the best answer. Be more specific.
Response C: No. There is no control group.
Response D: Not the best answer.
Response E: Correct!
15. Which of the following is not a type of simulation exercises?
a) Case analyses
b) Experiential exercises
c) Role playing
d) Vestibule training
e) Group interaction
Ans: d
Response A: A type of simulation exercises.
Response B: A type of simulation exercises.
Response C: A type of simulation exercises.
Response D: Correct! Not a type of simulation exercises. Vestibule training refers to learning tasks on the same equipment that one actually will use on the job but in a simulated work environment.
Response E: A type of simulation exercises.