Crafting and executive strategy – Corporate Culture and Leadership

1
The character of a company’s culture is manifested in
A)
the types of competitive strategy it employs, its financial and strategic objectives, and its strategic vision.
B)
the core values and business principles that management preaches and practices, the traditions the company maintains, its policies and its ethical standards, and the character of its internal work environment.
C)
the kind of organization structure it has and the kinds of internal support systems it has installed.
D)
the demographic makeup of its work force and the particular countries and geographic areas where it operates.
E)
All of the above are part of a company’s culture.

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2
Which of the following is not a factor of some importance in helping to define the character of a company’s corporate culture?
A)
The core values and business principles that management preaches and practices
B)
The company’s internal politics
C)
The company’s approach to people management
D)
The behaviors that define “how we do things around here”
E)
The strategic vision that management has committed to achieving

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3
Once a company’s culture becomes ingrained, then one way to perpetuate the culture is by
A)
establishing a code of ethics and encouraging company personnel to practice the advocated ethical standards in conducting company operations.
B)
deliberately avoiding diversification or acquisition so as not to upset the internal cultural balance or risk a cultural clash with a newly-acquired company.
C)
continuing with the same organization structure.
D)
continuity of long-term direction (strategic vision and financial and strategic objectives).
E)
carefully screening and selecting new employees according to how well their values, attitudes, and personality fit the culture.

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4
Which of the following is not particularly important in helping to perpetuate a company’s culture?
A)
Systematic indoctrination of new employees in the culture’s fundamentals
B)
Telling and retelling of company legends
C)
Continuing with the same strategy, core competencies, and competitive capabilities
D)
Constant management reiteration of core values and “the way we do things around here” in daily conversations and pronouncements
E)
Visibly rewarding people who display cultural ideals and follow cultural norms and penalizing those who don’t

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5
Companies with multinational operations or that have recently made new acquisitions typically have
A)
splintered cultures.
B)
multiple cultures or subcultures.
C)
weak cultures.
D)
adaptive cultures.
E)
cultures that clash in one or more respects.

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6
A culture grounded in values, practices, and behavioral norms that match the behaviors required for good strategy execution
A)
is a powerful ally in managerial efforts to execute the chosen strategy.
B)
is a strong culture.
C)
promotes strong employee efforts to identify and adopt new best practices.
D)
has less need for strategy-supportive policies and procedures.
E)
is generally a culture in which employees are empowered and there is considerable emphasis on teamwork.

7
In strong culture companies, a tight strategy-culture alignment promotes management’s strategy execution effort because
A)
there’s a built-in system of informal rules and peer pressures conducive to good strategy execution.
B)
no changes in organization structure will be needed and no new policies and procedures will have to be put in place.
C)
the culture promotes the very kinds of work habits, behaviors, values, and practices needed for proficient strategy execution.
D)
management does not have to contend with weeding out unwanted subcultures.
E)
Both A and C.

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8
Strong company cultures are preferable to weak company cultures because
A)
in weak-culture companies there is less likelihood of a tight culture-strategy fit.
B)
they tend to be more ethical and more reflective of the right kinds of values.
C)
weak cultures are more likely to possess unhealthy cultural characteristics.
D)
strong cultures are a potent ally in executing strategy provided the behavioral norms ingrained in a strong culture are well-matched to the behaviors needed for good strategy execution.
E)
strong cultures take less time to fix if they are out-of-sync with the requirements for good strategy execution.

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9
Which of the following is usually not a part of managerial efforts to root out unwanted cultural norms and behaviors and replace them with norms and behaviors that will help promote better strategy execution?
A)
Instituting employee recognition programs (such as employee of the month awards and individual achievement awards) to call everyone’s attention to behaviors that reflect the desired cultural norms
B)
Developing a values statement
C)
Preparing a detailed rules and procedure manual that all managers and employees can refer to in trying to practice the desired cultural norms and behavior
D)
Replacing managers who insist on displaying old-culture behavior with managers who will act and function as new-culture role models.
E)
Insisting that top managers lead by example; for instance, if the strategy entails being the low-cost producer, top managers might have inexpensive office decor, be given few if any executive perks, and be expected to visibly lead cost-cutting moves within their own areas of responsibility.

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10
A company’s culture can be said to be strong and cohesive when
A)
the company conducts its business according to a clear and explicit set of principles and values, management devotes considerable time to communicating these principles and values to organizational members and explaining how they relate to the company’s business environment, and the principles and values are widely shared by company personnel.
B)
employee turnover rates are low, most all employees are familiar with the company’s values and ways of operating, and the organization structure has undergone no major changes for a number of years.
C)
the CEO has exercised effective leadership for a number of years.
D)
the company makes a conscious and ongoing effort to dismiss employees who disavow the company’s values, principles, and cultural beliefs.
E)
All of the above are signals of a strong-culture company.

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11
The characteristics of a strong culture company include
A)
deeply rooted values and behavioral norms.
B)
a strong managerial commitment to conducting the company’s business according to established traditions.
C)
frequent and dedicated efforts on the part of management to communicating values and business principles to organization members and explaining how they relate to the company’s business environment.
D)
using core values and business principles as the basis for making decisions.
E)
All of these.

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12
Which one of the following is the most typical characteristic of a weak company culture?
A)
A highly centralized managerial hierarchy and a big corporate bureacracy
B)
A low commitment to high ethical standards and behaving in a socially responsible manner
C)
Few strong traditions and few values and behavioral norms that are widely shared
D)
Low employee morale and considerable employee skepticism about the merits of the company’s strategy
E)
Dissatisfaction on the part of company personnel with the core values that senior management is advocating.

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13
Adaptive cultures are characterized by such traits as
A)
leaders who are more strongly committed to timeless business principles and the well-being of organizational stakeholders than to any specific business strategy or operating practice.
B)
personnel who are receptive to risk-taking, experimentation, innovation, and changing to new strategies and operating practices whenever necessary to serve the legitimate interests of stakeholders.
C)
a proactive approach to identifying issues, evaluating the implications and options, and implementing workable solutions and strong adherence to promoting people from within the company.
D)
encouraging and rewarding entrepreneurship and openly supporting managers and employees at all ranks who propose or help initiate useful change.
E)
All of these.

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14
Which one of the following is not accurate as concerns changing a company’s culture and aligning it with the requirements for strategic success?
A)
Changing a company’s culture and trying to align it with the requirements for strategic success are among the toughest management tasks and requires visible actions, both symbolic and substantive, to modify the culture.
B)
Changing a company’s culture and aligning it with the requirements for strategic success entails diagnosing which facets of the present culture are strategy-supportive and which are not.
C)
Changing a company’s culture and aligning it with the requirements for strategic success involves open and candid communication among all concerned about those aspects of the culture that have to be changed.
D)
Changing a company’s culture and trying to align it with the requirements for strategic success generally requires instituting a new values statement, adopting most of the traits of an adaptive culture, and retraining managers in the ways and means of convincing employees to adopt new behaviors.
E)
Changing a company’s culture and trying to align it with the requirements for strategic success nearly always requires that senior executives personally lead the culture-changing effort and may require replacing old-culture traditionalist managers with “new breed” managers.

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15
A corporate culture founded on ethical business principles and socially approved values
A)
virtually guarantees that the company will have a highly favorable public image and reputation.
B)
has a favorable impact on a company’s long-term strategic success.
C)
does more to detract from a company’s chances for strategic success and market leadership than to help it.
D)
gives validity to a company’s core values and helps ingrain them in the company’s culture.
E)
is generally viewed as irrelevant window dressing and a nice public relations gesture by both customers and suppliers.

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16
Instilling and ingraining a company’s values statement and code of ethics in company policies, practices, and actual conduct does not generally entail such actions as
A)
promptly dismissing any employee who violates the ethics code or disavows company values.
B)
requiring all employees to sign a statement annually certifying that they have complied with the company’s code of ethics.
C)
communicating the values and ethics code to all employees, explaining compliance procedures, and making the values statement and the code of ethics an integral part of employee training and educational programs.
D)
the CEO openly and unequivocally endorsing the values and ethics code and leading the enforcement of ethical standards.
E)
screening out job applicants who do not exhibit compatible character traits.

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17
Exercising strategic leadership does not include which one of the following?
A)
Pushing ive actions to improve strategy execution and achieve the targeted results
B)
Displaying ethical integrity and leading social responsibility initiatives
C)
Keeping the organization focused on operating excellence
D)
Steering resources into strategy-critical activities and making sure that policies and procedures are supportive of effective strategy execution
E)
Staying on top of what is happening, monitoring progress, ferreting out issues, and learning what obstacles lay in the path of good strategy execution

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18
Managers who are successful in exercising good strategic leadership
A)
are wise decision-makers and very effective communicators.
B)
spend a lot of time coaching others how to be good company role models.
C)
typically practice MBWA and are good at deciding when ive adjustments are needed and what ive adjustments to make.
D)
are good at delegating authority and responsibility to subordinates.
E)
are good at knowing what policies and procedures it will take to promote good strategy execution.

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19
The strategic leadership task of keeping the internal organization focused on operating excellence
A)
requires regularly reminding and exhorting employees to “be creative and come up with new ideas for improvement.”
B)
requires forceful top management actions to implement benchmarking, TQM or Six Sigma programs, and continuous change efforts.
C)
usually requires supporting people who are eager for a chance to try turning their ideas into better ways of operating.
D)
making sure that would-be champions of change do not pursue maverick ideas that would be disruptive to the organization or troublesome to implement.
E)
empowering a cadre of culture-change champions to promote constant change and adaptation as a cultural norm.

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20
Which of the following is not a part of top management’s job (especially the CEO) of leading the effort to operate the company’s business in an ethically-principled fashion?
A)
The CEO and other senior executives must set an excellent example in their own ethical behavior and demonstrating integrity in their actions and decisions.
B)
The company’s CEO should strongly encourage board members to develop a social responsibility strategy for the company to pursue.
C)
The CEO and those around the CEO must visibly and frequent declare unequivocal support of the company’s ethics code and take an uncompromising stand on expecting all company personnel to conduct themselves in an ethical fashion at all times.
D)
The CEO and other senior executives must be prepared to make the hard call by removing people from key positions or terminating them when they are guilty of ethics violations and by reprimanding those who are lax in monitoring and enforcing ethics compliance.
E)
Top management must insist that company personnel be educated about what is ethical and what is not

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