Case 1.1 ​John and Mabel's Company,High-Tech Solutions,is a Medium-Sized High-Tech Firm with High-Tech

question 60

Multiple Choice

Case 1.1
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John and Mabel's company,High-Tech Solutions,is a medium-sized high-tech firm with a core employee group of highly skilled professionals.Around this core is a group of twice as many part-time contract programmers and other computer professionals.As they win programming contracts,they hire contract workers.When work slows,they let the part-timers go but keep their core group.Their target industries are facing increasing government scrutiny and possible regulation due to the number of firms that are doing poor work and causing long-term problems for customers.
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John believes that,when hiring for either the core group or for the part-time work force,they must consider not only each candidate's technical work skills and competency but also several other factors as well: the candidate's emotional control,team orientation,self-awareness,and self-esteem,and what the company has to offer the candidate in terms of family support.Mabel agrees to a degree.She thinks that the key to productivity and quality is hiring the right people,but she wants to focus more on technical competencies and less on the other areas John mentions.
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High-Tech Solutions uses teams extensively.Employees are trained in how to work in teams,handle conflict,work cooperatively,etc.Joan,a five-year veteran at High-Tech,plays softball in a church league with several of her coworkers.She has asked for investment advice from a couple of the work-group members who are heavily into the stock market.She,in general,highly enjoys her work because of the relationships she has with her coworkers.In sharp contrast,one of the new employees is having a hard time with her supervisor.She wants greater independence and more affirming feedback.The supervisor wants to be sure the new employee can do her job,so he is supervising closely and is giving a lot of corrective feedback.
-Refer to Case 1.1.By focusing on the competencies of the worker,with which behavior-influencing force is Mabel concerned?​

• A) ​Family influence
• B) ​Personal characteristics
• C) ​Work group influence
• D) ​Job influence

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Definitions:

External Locus

A psychological concept referring to individuals who believe that external forces or events significantly influence their life outcomes.

Control

The practice of managing or directing the variables in an experiment or situation to ensure that its outcome can be reliably attributed to the tested variables.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

A psychological assessment tool consisting of a series of questions used to evaluate personality structure and psychopathology.

Psychic Determinism

The theory in Freudian psychology that all psychological events have an underlying cause, often unconscious.