Organisational Culture and Values Practice Quiz (20 questions)

All questions and answers

1. What best describes organisational culture in Schein’s framework?

Individual preferences that employees bring with them and keep separate from organisational life
Observable routines and structures that fully explain how members understand their organisation
Explicit policies and procedures that formally prescribe how members should perform their work
Shared basic assumptions and beliefs that unconsciously shape members’ taken-for-granted view of the organisation and its environment

Shared basic assumptions and beliefs that unconsciously shape members’ taken-for-granted view of the organisation and its environment

Explanation

Schein describes organisational culture as shared assumptions and beliefs that operate unconsciously and shape members’ taken-for-granted views. Observable routines may express culture, but they do not fully define its underlying assumptions.

2. Which set names Schein’s four layers of organisational culture?

Symbols, rituals, rules, and organisational structures
Beliefs, routines, leadership styles, and performance outcomes
Values, goals, communication, and employee attitudes
Values, beliefs, behaviours, and taken-for-granted assumptions

Values, beliefs, behaviours, and taken-for-granted assumptions

Explanation

Schein’s four layers are values, beliefs, behaviours, and taken-for-granted assumptions. Symbols and rituals may be observable cultural expressions, but they are not the four layers listed in this framework.

3. An organisation states a broad commitment to innovation, while employees’ discussions suggest they believe failed experiments are punished. Which distinction best describes these ideas?

The commitment is an explicit value, while the inferred expectation is a more specific belief
The commitment is a specific belief, while the inferred expectation is an explicitly stated value
The commitment is a behaviour, while the inferred expectation is a prescribed routine
The commitment is a taken-for-granted assumption, while the inferred expectation is a broad value

The commitment is an explicit value, while the inferred expectation is a more specific belief

Explanation

Values are often broad and explicitly stated, whereas beliefs are more specific and can be inferred from how members discuss organisational issues. Treating the inferred expectation as an explicit value reverses this distinction.

4. What does socialisation into an organisation involve for a newcomer?

Learning less obvious rules about which behaviours are acceptable or unacceptable
Adopting the organisation’s publicly stated values without learning informal expectations
Receiving formal instruction in every technical skill required for the job
Becoming familiar with the organisation’s reporting structure and assigned responsibilities

Learning less obvious rules about which behaviours are acceptable or unacceptable

Explanation

Organisational socialisation is the process by which newcomers learn less obvious rules about acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. Technical training may accompany it, but learning job skills alone does not capture the definition.

5. A newcomer receives little formal guidance and learns workplace expectations by watching colleagues. What kind of culture does this illustrate?

A strict culture, where newcomers are explicitly inducted into expected behaviours
A weak culture, where newcomers are formally assessed against written behavioural rules
A loose culture, where newcomers observe and adopt others’ behaviour
A strong culture, where employees receive detailed training on every workplace norm

A loose culture, where newcomers observe and adopt others’ behaviour

Explanation

In a loose culture, newcomers are largely left to observe and adopt others’ behaviour. Explicit induction into expected behaviours instead characterises a strict culture.

6. A highly cohesive organisational culture gives some employees comfort and structure but leaves others feeling controlled. What does this show about culture strength?

A strong culture has the same effect on employees who hold similar roles
A strong culture can benefit some employees and feel stifling to others
A strong culture harms employees when informal expectations shape daily work
A strong culture benefits employees when its expectations are widely shared

A strong culture can benefit some employees and feel stifling to others

Explanation

A strong culture can provide structure and comfort for some employees while feeling stifling or controlling to others, so strength alone does not determine whether it is beneficial or harmful. Widespread agreement does not guarantee that every employee experiences the culture positively.

7. What is an organisational subculture?

A temporary project team whose members follow assigned procedures
A culture held by a group within an organisation that differs from the organisation’s main culture
A formal department whose practices reproduce the organisation’s main culture
A collection of personal preferences shared by employees across several organisations

A culture held by a group within an organisation that differs from the organisation’s main culture

Explanation

A subculture is held by a group within an organisation and differs from the organisation’s main culture. A formal department may have a subculture, but its existence as a department alone does not define one.

8. Which group of examples consists of common organisational subcultures?

Canteen cultures, elites and cliques, and informal norming
Training programmes, performance reviews, and promotion criteria
Regional offices, formal committees, and job descriptions
Professional standards, reporting lines, and customer segments

Canteen cultures, elites and cliques, and informal norming

Explanation

Common organisational subcultures include canteen cultures, elites and cliques, and informal norming. Formal committees and job descriptions are organisational arrangements, not the listed examples of subcultures.

9. Which set contains factors Drennan identified as shaping organisational culture?

Leadership, business history, technology, competition, customers, and organisational goals and beliefs
Marketing strategy, stock prices, recruitment tests, employee friendships, and seasonal demand
Leadership style, employee age, national holidays, office location, and personal hobbies
Product design, individual personality, social media trends, office architecture, and customer income

Leadership, business history, technology, competition, customers, and organisational goals and beliefs

Explanation

Drennan’s factors include leadership, business history, technology, industry competition, customers, and goals, values, and beliefs. Employee age and personal hobbies may affect individuals, but they are not the listed set of organisational culture factors.

10. A company reviews its reward arrangements, performance measures, procedures, and information systems to understand its culture. Why are these relevant to Drennan’s framework?

They are outcomes of industry competition, not factors that shape organisational culture.
They are personal values that employees bring independently of the organisation.
They are organisational systems and practices that can shape how the culture operates.
They describe external customer expectations rather than internal organisational influences.

They are organisational systems and practices that can shape how the culture operates.

Explanation

Drennan includes information and control systems, procedures and policies, and reward systems and performance measurement among the factors shaping culture. Customer expectations are another factor, but they do not describe these internal systems and practices.

11. Which description best captures what values are?

Enduring normative beliefs about proper conduct and preferred outcomes
Temporary preferences about how to complete a particular task
Formal rules imposed by an organisation to regulate employee behaviour
Observable actions that reveal how a person responds in one situation

Enduring normative beliefs about proper conduct and preferred outcomes

Explanation

Values are enduring beliefs about standards of conduct and desired outcomes. Formal organisational rules may influence behaviour, but they are not the same as an individual’s or group’s values.

12. Which combination best characterises values?

They are generally temporary, concern personal identity, and relate to past experiences.
They are generally enduring, concern organisational structure, and relate to available resources.
They are generally temporary, concern behaviour, and relate to achieved outcomes.
They are generally enduring, concern behaviour, and relate to desired outcomes.

They are generally enduring, concern behaviour, and relate to desired outcomes.

Explanation

Values generally endure, relate to how people behave, and concern outcomes they desire. Past experiences can influence values, but values are not defined as temporary reflections of those experiences.

13. An employee who values both teamwork and personal achievement behaves differently when a project places those priorities in conflict. What best explains this apparent inconsistency?

Different situations can activate competing values, affecting which one guides behaviour.
Stated values directly determine behaviour, so the employee must have changed their beliefs.
Values concern desired outcomes but do not influence how people behave.
The employee’s behaviour shows that values cannot be held in combination.

Different situations can activate competing values, affecting which one guides behaviour.

Explanation

People can hold multiple values that come into tension, and a situation can make one value more salient than another. This does not mean stated values directly and invariably determine behaviour, as the second choice suggests.

14. A business claims to be value-free because it avoids discussing ethics, yet it prioritises wealth and competition. How should this claim be understood?

The business’s values are limited to formal policies rather than everyday priorities.
The business has goals but no values, since wealth and competition are outcomes.
The business is still guided by values, including wealth and competition.
The business is value-free because it does not explicitly discuss ethical principles.

The business is still guided by values, including wealth and competition.

Explanation

No organisation or activity is value-free; a business may be guided by values such as wealth, economic growth, power, or competition. Avoiding explicit ethical discussion does not make an organisation free of values.

15. What does the Schwartz Value System represent?

A sequence in which people adopt one value type and then replace it with another
A fixed ranking in which every value type supports every other value type
A dynamic, interdependent system in which value types can be compatible or opposed
A set of independent preferences that do not interact across situations

A dynamic, interdependent system in which value types can be compatible or opposed

Explanation

The system treats values as dynamic and interdependent, with some types compatible and others in opposition. It is not a fixed ranking in which all value types reinforce one another.

16. Which option lists the 10 broad value types identified by the Schwartz Value System?

Power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and security
Power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, self-direction, equality, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and security
Power, status, hedonism, stimulation, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and security
Power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and loyalty

Power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and security

Explanation

The 10 types are power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and security. Status is a plausible related idea, but it is not one of the 10 listed value types.

17. Which value belongs to both self-enhancement and openness to change in the Schwartz groupings?

Hedonism
Conformity
Benevolence
Universalism

Hedonism

Explanation

Hedonism appears in both self-enhancement and openness to change. Universalism and benevolence belong to self-transcendence, while conformity belongs to conservation.

18. Which pair names the two opposing dimensions in the Schwartz Value System?

Self-direction versus stimulation, and conformity versus universalism
Self-enhancement versus self-transcendence, and openness to change versus conservation
Achievement versus security, and power versus universalism
Hedonism versus benevolence, and tradition versus self-direction

Self-enhancement versus self-transcendence, and openness to change versus conservation

Explanation

The system’s opposing dimensions are self-enhancement versus self-transcendence, and openness to change versus conservation. Pairs such as achievement versus security are individual value types, not the names of the two broad dimensions.

19. What makes a value an organisational value?

It is shared by enough people to help characterise the organisation, though not every member must share it.
It is held by the organisation’s founders and remains unchanged as the organisation grows.
It is formally stated by senior leaders and adopted by every member of the organisation.
It is shared by most employees because it directly improves the organisation’s financial results.

It is shared by enough people to help characterise the organisation, though not every member must share it.

Explanation

A value is organisational when enough people share it for it to characterise the organisation, even if some members do not. Formal adoption by every member is not required.

20. An employee strives to produce excellent work and values recognition for that performance, but is not chiefly motivated by money or social standing. Which motivation best fits this employee?

Achievement, because performing well and being recognised are central motives.
Power, because gaining authority and influence is central to the employee’s effort.
Tradition, because preserving inherited practices is central to the employee’s effort.
Self-direction, because independence and shaping one’s destiny are central motives.

Achievement, because performing well and being recognised are central motives.

Explanation

Achievement motivation involves wanting to perform well and receive recognition, without making money or social status the chief concern. Power motivation is a plausible alternative, but it focuses on wealth, social status, or authority.

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According to Schein (2004), what is organisational culture?

Shared basic assumptions and beliefs that unconsciously shape members’ taken-for-granted view of their organisation and its environment.

According to Schein (2004), what are the four layers of organisational culture?

Values, beliefs, behaviours, and taken-for-granted assumptions.

How do organisational values differ from beliefs in how they are expressed?

Values are often broad and explicitly stated, while beliefs are more specific and inferred from members’ discussions of organisational issues.

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