IIA IIA Certifications IIA-CIA-PART3 Questions & Answers

• Question 541:

  Communication plays an important role in the successful operation of all organizations. Which of the following statements concerning organizational communications is false?

  A. Communication involves at least two people:a sender and a receiver.

  B. Communication is what the sender says, not what the receiver understands.

  C. Every act of communication influences the organization in some way.

  D. Management spends the majority of its time communicating with other members of the organization.

  Correct Answer: B

  The communication process has five elements:the sender, the symbols in which the message is encoded, the medium through which the message flows, the receiver, and feedback. Because the effectiveness of communication can be known only by its impact on the receiver and the perceived change in the receiver's behavior, the received message must govern the definition. The sent message may be garbled in encoding, in transmission, or in the receiver's decoding.

• Question 542:

  Which one of the following is not an example of formal internal communication?

  A. Input for the yearly budget provided by the Purchasing Department to the director of budgeting.

  B. Environmental impact statements.

  C. Expense account reports.

  D. Safety bulletins.

  Correct Answer: B

  A formal communication is conducted through the formal structure of the organization. Informal communication operates outside of officially established channels. An internal communication is one that is both generated and received within the organization. An environmental impact statement is generated within the organization, but the recipient a governmental body) is outside the organization.

• Question 543:

  The basic purposes of an organization's internal communications network include all of the following except:

  A. Obtaining a common focus among employees.

  B. Informing potential investors about company operations and financial results.

  C. Aiding high-quality decision making.

  D. Integrating the efforts of specialists.

  Correct Answer: B

  Because all managerial functions require communication, it is the secret to the success of any manager. A manager's ability to understand other people, and their ability to understand the manager, are crucial to accomplishing organizational objectives. Communication is the link that ties an organization together and transforms a diverse group of people into a cohesive whole. An organization's internal communications network is designed to facilitate decision making among managers, to promote goal congruence among employees, integrate the efforts of all employees, and build high morale and mutual trust. Informing potential investors about company operations is a purpose of the external, not internal, communications network.

• Question 544:

  Which of the following conditions would motivate employees to improve performance under a merit pay system?

  A. Ideal goals are stressed.

  B. The company's culture emphasizes outstanding performance.

  C. Different levels of performance have minimal differences in pay.

  D. Job descriptions are invariably set with the required tasks clearly outlined.

  Correct Answer: B

  A merit pay system rewards good conduct or behavior with salary increases. To motivate employees under this system, management should be visibly committed to the system, develop a culture that emphasizes above-average performance, implement a policy of following up on unacceptable performance reviews, and establish an employee appeal process for unfavorable reviews.

• Question 545:

  Victor Vroom's expectancy theory is based on the intuitively appealing idea that people have expectations of rewards derived from their unique personal motive structure, from their beliefs as to what are important rewards to them, and from their expectations of getting these incentives if they exert effort. The perceived equity of rewards leads to satisfaction or dissatisfaction and thus feeds into the next cycle's expectancies. For example, an employeewho believes s)he is compensated less well than another worker performing the same task with the same degree of skill may become dissatisfied. An important concept in the expectancy theory is:

  A. Theory C and Theory Y.

  B. Motivation = Valence x Expectancy.

  C. The two-factor theory of behavior.

  D. The management grid.

  Correct Answer: B

  Victor Vroom's expectancy theory holds that the force with which an individual is motivated is a function of the valence of a motivator whether it has a positive or negative value to the individual) and the expectancy, which is that individual's estimation of the probability that a particular action will lead to a desired outcome. Thus, motivation equals the valence times the expectancy.

• Question 546:

  Job design involves not only the intentional planning of the characteristics of a job but also of the work environment. The purpose is to increase workers' intrinsic job motivation so as to improve performance. It is an approach that explicitly considers workers' ego and social needs. The aspect of job design that should have the greatest motivational effect is:

  A. Job enlargement.

  B. Job rotation.

  C. Job enrichment.

  D. Job simplification.

  Correct Answer: C

  Job enrichment is an attempt to apply the findings of Herzberg two-factor theory of behavior), Maslow hierarchy of human needs), Likert participation), and McGregor Theories X and Y) by structuring the job so that each worker participates in the planning and controlling so as to maximize the satisfaction of both social and ego needs and avoid the disadvantages of routine, highly specialized work. Job enrichment includes allowing and encouraging more worker discretion in deciding work methods, work sequence, and work pace. It encourages interactions between workers, gives workers a feeling of personal responsibility for their tasks, makes sure workers understand how their tasks contribute to the finished product, provides feedback on job performance, and involves workers in changes in the physical aspects of the work environment.

• Question 547:

  Frederick Taylor's scientific approach to motivation concluded that workers are best motivated by:

  A. Psychic income.

  B. Money.

  C. Fear of punishment.

  D. Knowledge of a job well done.

  Correct Answer: B

  Taylor felt that employees responded best to the extrinsic motivator of monetary incentives.

• Question 548:

  Which of the following motivation theories is based on Japanese management practices?

  A. Theory X.

  B. Theory Y.

  C. Theory Z.

  D. Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory.

  Correct Answer: C

  Ouchi's Theory Z is based on the Japanese practice of providing long-term employment to workers. This

  creates job loyalty with a goal of achieving a long-range orientation among workers.

• Question 549:

  A Theory X manager most likely believes that employees:

  A. Require little supervision.

  B. Are creative and imaginative.

  C. Need direction and security.

  D. Solve problems outside their immediate control.

  Correct Answer: C

  In the 1960s, Douglas McGregor developed two theories to describe the extremes of managers' views of human nature. Theory X is a negative view of people and the way they interact with the organization. Theory X assumes that people dislike work, must be threatened with punishment to work toward organizational objectives, require close supervision, avoid responsibility, and crave security.

• Question 550:

  People with a high need for achievement usually do not:

  A. Perform best when they perceive risks are high.

  B. Seek situations in which they can attain personal responsibility for problem solving.

  C. Function effectively as salespeople.

  D. Prefer frequent and unambiguous feedback.

  Correct Answer: A

  People with a high need for achievement prefer tasks of intermediate difficulty. They want success or failure to be the result of their own actions. High achievers avoid easy tasks because of the lack of challenge and difficult tasks because of the low probability of success.