Test Bank for Organizational Communication

Balancing Creativity and Constraint 7th Edition

Eisenberg Goodall Trethewey 1457601923
9781457601927
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communication-balancing-creativity-and-constraint-7th-edition-
eisenberg-goodall-trethewey-1457601923-9781457601927/

1. Critical approaches to organizational communication are most concerned with

A) creating horizontal communication.
B) increasing efficiency and effectiveness.
C) the exercise and abuse of power.
D) promoting managerial sense making.

2. In French and Raven's typology of power, which type of power is based on the
perception that certain behaviors will lead to punishments?
A) Reward
B) Coercive
C) Legitimate
D) Referent

3. Our basic, unchallenged, and taken-for-granted assumptions about how things are or
how they should be stem from our
A) hegemony.
B) work-life narratives.
C) theoretical constructs.
D) ideology.

4. Which of the following concepts refers to the process of employees at all levels
willingly adopting and enforcing the legitimate power of the organization, society, or
system of capitalism?
A) Progressive capitalism
B) Manufactured consent
C) Hidden power
D) Hegemony

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 5. Which of the following systems of control was established to replace bureaucracy but is
often more stringent and less forgiving than bureaucratic controls?
A) Concertive control
B) Manufactured consent
C) Network control
D) Critical control

6. The critical organizational theory views power as

A) transparent and worthy of critique.
B) impossible to interrogate.
C) hidden and pervasive.
D) a sinister force.

7. Jeremy Bentham's panopticon is a design for an ideal

A) organization.
B) computer system.
C) highway system.
D) prison.

8. Critical theory first emerged in response to unfair working conditions during which of
the following eras of history?
A) The Renaissance
B) The Victorian period
C) Post–Industrial Revolution
D) Post-9/11

9. The narratives that contribute to the strength of a culture's ideology and often reveal the
beliefs and values of a culture as they discuss the stories of legendary heroes, of good
and evil, and of origins and exits are called
A) myths.
B) ethnographies.
C) metaphors.
D) work-life narratives.

10. A significant number of U.S. employees cite work as their biggest source of
A) creativity.
B) stress.
C) achievement.
D) security.

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11. The period of time between the Industrial Revolution and the early 1970s when both
individuals and corporations experienced significant increases in economic well-being is
often associated with which of the following economic strategies?
A) Marxism
B) Communism
C) Taylorism
D) Progressive capitalism

12. Which of the following concepts demonstrates the process of “forgetting” that socially
constructed meanings have actually been socially constructed?
A) Hegemony
B) Reification
C) Ideology
D) Progressive capitalism

13. An organizational myth about which of the following individuals suggests that anyone
can “make it” in the workplace, regardless of his or her background?
A) Karl Marx
B) Donald Trump
C) Horatio Alger
D) Michel Foucault

14. Most Americans believe that the old social contract has unraveled. Which of the
following do American workers want as part of a “new bargain”?
A) Government investments that create jobs that do not go offshore
B) Policies that reward hard work and boost the minimum wage
C) Government investments that create more public-works and energy-efficient
projects
D) All of the above

15. Even when individuals are given the chance to be creative and to self-organize, they
often reproduce systems where they police themselves through things such as arbitrary
rules and burdensome systems of accountability. Which of the following concepts best
illustrates this process?
A) Concertive control
B) Progressive capitalism
C) Critical organizational theorizing
D) Manufactured consent

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16. Borrowing heavily from French philosopher Michel Foucault, many critical scholars
now view power as operating primarily in and through
A) dialogue.
B) bureaucracy.
C) discourse.
D) discipline.

17. The Internet has become a valuable tool for organizing grassroots campaigns against
corporate domination. The Internet is an example of what Ganesh, Zoller, and Cheney
would call
A) global transformation.
B) resistance.
C) critical organizational theorizing.
D) employee dissent.

18. Which of the following is NOT a critical mode of being?

A) Being filled with care
B) Being filled with thought
C) Being filled with good humor
D) Being filled with community

19. When individuals distance themselves from organizational power, they are said to be
engaging in
A) ideologies.
B) resistance.
C) power plays.
D) storytelling.

20. Although individuals often uphold democratic principles when it comes to systems of
government, they are more than willing to leave those democratic ideals at the door
when it comes to the workplace. Which of the following functions of ideology helps
explain this point?
A) Ideology naturalizes the present through reification.
B) Ideology functions as a form of control.
C) Ideology denies system contradictions.
D) Ideology represents individual interests to be universal.

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21. Which of the following concepts do critical scholars believe has the most potential to
lead to increased exploitation of vulnerable populations?
A) Progressive capitalism
B) Organizational power
C) Unchecked globalization
D) Hegemony

22. Mentors and charismatic leaders are most likely to embody which of the following types
of power?
A) Expert
B) Legitimate
C) Reward
D) Referent

23. Which of the following concepts is NOT one of the four functions of ideology?
A) Representing sectional interests as universal
B) Reification
C) Making power transparent
D) Control

24. Most people think of a “real” job as one that involves

A) earning good wages.
B) producing something tangible.
C) doing something that makes a difference.
D) working somewhere long enough to get a raise.

25. Which of the following organizations is known for the “LUV story” that they have
created?
A) Bank of America
B) Hallmark Greeting Cards
C) Southwest Airlines
D) Google

26. Ideologies are always neutral.

A) True
B) False

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27. Over time, myths, stories, and metaphors can come to define appropriate behavior and
may suspend employees' critical thinking.
A) True
B) False

28. Resistance operates only through small-scale efforts.

A) True
B) False

29. Critical theorists gather interpretive data but refuse to comment on issues of race, class,
and gender to create a neutral speaking ground.
A) True
B) False

30. Critical theorists believe that employees must practice more personal responsibility in
order to avoid workplace accidents.
A) True
B) False

31. Critical approaches are often praised as taking a pro-profit approach.

A) True
B) False

32. Critical theorizing actively questions the status quo.

A) True
B) False

33. The concept of concertive control makes it increasingly difficult to hold on to the idea
that organizational elites (i.e., managers) shape organizational processes and practices to
support their own interests at the expense of other employees.
A) True
B) False

34. In 2009, the global economy began shrinking for the first time since World War II.
A) True
B) False

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35. Jeremy Bentham's panopticon was developed to reduce the need for the surveillance of
individuals.
A) True
B) False

36. Legitimate power is often characterized by one's ability to withhold benefits and
rewards from another individual.
A) True
B) False

37. Michael Jordan's “Be Like Mike” campaign for Gatorade capitalized on Jordan's
referent power.
A) True
B) False

38. Because critical theory focuses on power, the topic of discourse is not as important to
this perspective.
A) True
B) False

39. Workplace safety has become an increasingly important topic for organizational
communication theorists who use critical theory.
A) True
B) False

40. The Internet has become a very valuable tool for mobilizing grassroots organizers in
search of critiquing the status quo.
A) True
B) False

41. Offer a quick definition of power, and provide an example to illustrate your point. Why
is the study of power so central to critical approaches?

42. How is legitimate power determined? Provide an example of someone who has
legitimate power.

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43. Explain the roots of critical theory, paying particular attention to the ideas of Karl Marx.
How have these ideas been appropriated in the service of systems of government?

44. Describe the concept of progressive capitalism, and provide an example of how this
concept works. Are we currently in a period of progressive capitalism?

45. What does it mean to take a pro-profit approach, and why are critical approaches
critiqued for not taking one?

46. Explain the process of concertive control, and construct an example of the self-policing
that individuals do.

47. Connect the concepts of ideology and hegemony using an example about our current
economic conditions.

48. Chapter 6 argues that many organizational members and employees have realized that
the old social contract associated with work and job security no longer holds true. These
same employees also want to see a “new bargain.” What does this “new bargain” entail?

49. Define discourse, and offer two examples of different types/styles of discourse.

50. What are knowledge management (KM) systems, and what challenges do they bring to
contemporary workplaces?

51. The concept of power is central to critical theory. French and Raven further clarified
this focus by outlining five types of power. Identify and define these five types of
power, providing a detailed example of each type.

52. Chapter 6 calls attention to organizational stories. Outline a successful organizational

story, and explain its importance to critical organizational theory—especially the
concepts of power and ideology.

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53. Considering that power is such a key part of critical theory, develop an essay that
explains the reactions to power. In other words, what is resistance, and how is it
relevant to the study of organizational communication? Be sure to include specific
definitions and examples to demonstrate your points.

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Answer Key
1. C
2. B
3. D
4. B
5. A
6. C
7. D
8. B
9. A
10. B
11. D
12. B
13. C
14. D
15. A
16. C
17. A
18. D
19. B
20. C
21. C
22. D
23. C
24. A
25. C
26. B
27. A
28. B
29. B
30. B
31. B
32. A
33. A
34. A
35. B
36. B
37. A
38. B
39. A
40. A
41. • This answer may range from a quality that someone has (i.e., French and Raven's notions of
legitimate power, reward power, and the like) to the political stakes that anchor cultural
practices.

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 • Power is so central to critical approaches because the management and misuse of power can
often lead to exploitation and oppressions of certain groups of people.
42. • Another way to think about legitimate power is as “sanctioned” power. In other words,
individuals are born, elected, or selected into power.
o The Queen of England has legitimate power because she is born into her position.
o The President of the United States also has legitimate power because he (or, perhaps one
day, she) is elected by his (or her) constituents.
43. • This answer should consider the various ways in which Marxism and critical theory are
linked to the rights and treatment of workers.
• This answer could also consider how unions and social service programs are related to the
ethical treatment and empowerment of workers.
44. • Progressive capitalism is an economic strategy that states that in order to sell one's products
or services to one's employees, one has to pay those employees enough money to buy them.
• The text suggests that we are not in a period of progressive capitalism.
45. • This approach often values profits and bottom-line thinking over the well-being of the people
who work within the organization.
• Critical approaches sometimes underestimate the power that this position has in
contemporary organizations.
46. • Concertive control is the idea that, even when individuals are given an opportunity to self-
organize, they still construct rules to police themselves.
• Examples should include the ways in which groups construct policies or rules of order to
control their members' participation.
47. • An ideology refers to our basic, often unexamined, assumptions about how things are or
ought to be.
• Hegemony is the process whereby subordinate groups accept a dominant group's ideology
without questioning it.
o An example could be the notion that, as a result of the conditions of capitalism, most
American consumers are conditioned to believe that they should be able to buy whatever
they want whenever they want it, without thinking about the potential negative
consequences of their consumption.
48. • The “new bargain” includes government investments to create jobs that stay inside the
United States—public-works and energy-efficient projects, in particular—and policies that
reward hard work, including a boost in the minimum wage, employer-paid family leave, and
affordable child care.
49. • In its simplest sense, discourses are instances of talk and text.
• Examples should consider things such as policies and training manuals as well as everyday
talk and gossip.
50. • More contemporary studies of knowledge management turn our attention to the use of
technology, including smartphones and laptops, and how they have created both benefits and
burdens for managing the knowledge within a social system.
• KM systems, such as searchable databases and interactive expert systems, are used to
“count” an employee's contribution to the workplace.
• These programs don't always captures the nuances of some jobs, such as the “care” work
involved in the health industry.
51. 1. Reward power. Power that an individual has because of his or her ability to offer some
formal or informal reward.

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 o An example of someone with reward power is a teacher awarding grades to hard-working
students at the end of the semester.

2. Coercive power. Power that an individual possesses because of his or her ability to threaten
punishment.
o An example of someone with coercive power is a prison guard who coerces inmates to
act in certain ways to avoid punishment.

3. Referent power. Power that an individual gives to another person by doing whatever he or
she asks in order to be like that person.
o An example of someone with referent power is a mentor training an employee.

4. Legitimate power. Power that has been granted by birth or formal selection project.
o An example of someone with legitimate power is the President of the United States.

5. Expert power. Power that is embodied by an individual because of some specialized

knowledge that he or she possesses.
o An example of someone with expert power is a doctor, because of the respect given to
him or her due to their expert knowledge of the human body.
52. • This answer should consider how the stories that construct an organization are powerful,
because they provide a vision and a script for how to interpret and interrogate organizational
goings-on.
o The stories can come from the students' personal experiences or from an example
constructed in class.
53. • Resistance is often seen as the ways in which individuals distance and defend themselves
from organizational power.
• This answer could link this concept to others from the chapter including ideology, hegemony,
global transformation, and/or employee dissent.

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