European airlines

Joe Sullivan and Mark Holland, members of the top management at EuAir, an European airlines, were preparing for a meeting to discuss strategies to combat the recent rise in fuel prices. Before the meeting began, Joe and Mark were discussing how oil prices significantly impact the health of the world economy. Joe spoke of how higher oil prices since 1999, partly the result of OPEC supply management policies, contributed to the global economic downturn in 2000-2001. Mark agreed but added that the right kind of strategy can help them overcome and even profitably use this opportunity for hiking fares. Which of the following statements, if true, would weaken the argument that Mark experienced groupshift in the meeting?
A. Mark was of the opinion that oil suppliers were going to pressure them even more in the future and the company had to resort to alternatives like bio fuels.
B. Mark recommended that the company should establish a fuel hedging contract with its key suppliers to ensure protection from fuel price rises.
C. Mark believed that most of their clientele was not price sensitive.
D. Mark stated that the company should increase operations but at lower fares so they can regain control over the market share.
E. Mark felt that implementing a price rise was necessary to recover the costs in operating the flights.
Question 17
Which of the following statements is true regarding brainstorming?
A. Brainstorming fails to develop group cohesiveness.
B. Brainstorming overcomes the problem of “production blocking.”
C. Brainstorming encourages criticizing an idea as early as possible.
D. Brainstorming can overcome the pressures for conformity.
E. Research consistently shows that a group in a brainstorming session generates more ideas than an individual working alone.
Question 18
Similarity is a characteristic under the social identity theory that manifests itself in the ________.
A. tendency of people to use the group as a means of understanding who they are and how they fit into the world
B. tendency of people who have greater uniformity in values and characteristics to have greater group identification as well
C. tendency of people to link themselves to high-status groups in an attempt to define themselves favorably
D. tendency of in-group members to prefer and endorse the products, ideas, and aspects of someone else’s culture over their own
E. tendency of in-group members to notice and emphasize identities that reflect how different they are from other groups
Question 19
Uncertainty reduction is a dimension of the social identity theory that manifests itself in the ________.
A. tendency of people to use the group as a means of understanding who they are and how they fit into the world
B. tendency of in-group members to prefer and endorse the products, ideas, and aspects of someone else’s culture over their own
C. tendency of people who have greater uniformity in values and characteristics to have greater identification as well
D. tendency of in-group members to notice and emphasize identities that reflect how different they are from other groups
E. tendency of people to link themselves to groups of higher social standing in an attempt to define themselves favorably
Question 20
Janice Cooper has recently joined a hospital as a part of the internship program prescribed by the nursing school she attends. Janice, who was inspired to take up this profession by the story of Florence Nightingale, had very strong ideals about how she should behave as a nurse. She felt that as a nurse, she must be gentle, pleasant, and caring at all times so she could serve her patients well, and she often went to great lengths as an intern by putting in extra hours at the hospital and so on. The scenario reflects Janice’s ________.
A. role fuzziness
B. role status
C. role conflict
D. role ambiguity
E. role perception
Question 21
When the group energy is focused on the task at hand and the group is fully functional, it is said to be in the stage of ________.
A. inertia
B. storming
C. norming
D. forming
E. performing
Question 22
During the third stage of group development ________.
A. conflicts over leadership are common
B. members resist the constraints the group places on them
C. the group demonstrates cohesiveness
D. intragroup conflicts occur
E. groups disband
Question 23
________ is defined as the tendency to see members of the group of which we are a part of as better than other people.
A. Black sheep effect
B. In-group homogeneity
C. In-group favoritism
D. Xenocentrism
E. Hindsight bias
Question 24
Which of the following represents the acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the group’s members?
A. dyads
B. goals
C. norms
D. status
E. cliques
Question 25
The ________ norms dictate behavior such as with whom group members eat lunch and friendships on and off the job.
A. performance
B. organizational
C. appearance
D. reference
E. social arrangement
Question 26
Joe Sullivan and Mark Holland, members of the top management at EuAir, an European airlines, were preparing for a meeting to discuss strategies to combat the recent rise in fuel prices. Before the meeting began, Joe and Mark were discussing how oil prices significantly impact the health of the world economy. Joe spoke of how higher oil prices since 1999, partly the result of OPEC supply management policies, contributed to the global economic downturn in 2000-2001. Mark agreed but added that the right kind of strategy can help them overcome, and even profitably use, this opportunity for hiking fares. Which of the following statements, if true, would denote the occurrence of groupshift in Mark’s opinions during the meeting?
A. Mark proposed that the prices be hiked and additional customer service measures be included so costumers have the best experience flying with EuAir.
B. Mark felt that EuAir should suspend some of its less profitable flights in the short run in favor of the routes that have greater demand among consumers.
C. Mark agreed with Joe’s opinion that providing the best service possible, even if it meant incurring a loss in the short run, would be the best strategy.
D. Mark proposed that this was an opportunity for EuAir to use its brand name effectively and diversify into other products and services.
E. Mark encouraged the top-management team to consider laying off surplus employees and rightsizing EuAir to enhance its efficiency and lower costs.
Question 27
Aaron Dias was working on the last shift for the day at All Needs, a retail store owned by an Asian man, when he opened the cash register and stole some money thinking that nobody would witness him stealing. However, one of the customer attendants watched him steal the money and reported it to the manager the next day, following which Aaron was terminated. Subsequently, the manager became extremely strict with all his Caucasian employees and was often heard abusing them saying “you guys are all the same.” This scenario depicts ________.
A. in-group favoritism
B. social exchange
C. contrast bias
D. social loafing
E. groupthink
Question 28