CSP Organizational Sociology & Development 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which concept describes the informal rules and expectations that govern behavior within an organization without being written down?
- Organizational culture (Correct answer)
- Bureaucratic procedure
- Formal hierarchy
- Statutory compliance
Correct answer: Organizational culture
Organizational culture encompasses the unwritten norms, values, and shared assumptions that shape behavior inside an organization.
Question 2: Etzioni's compliance theory classifies organizations primarily by which two dimensions?
- Type of power used and members' involvement (Correct answer)
- Size and geographic reach
- Profit motive and ownership structure
- Formalization level and technology used
Correct answer: Type of power used and members' involvement
Etzioni distinguished organizations by the kind of power leadership applies (coercive, remunerative, normative) and the kind of involvement members exhibit (alienative, calculative, moral).
Question 3: In organizational sociology, 'role conflict' most commonly refers to which situation?
- A person occupying multiple statuses with incompatible demands (Correct answer)
- Two employees competing for the same promotion
- A dispute between a union and management over wages
- An ambiguity about who holds formal authority
Correct answer: A person occupying multiple statuses with incompatible demands
Role conflict occurs when the expectations attached to two or more roles a person holds are mutually contradictory.
Question 4: Which organizational change model uses the three stages of 'unfreezing, changing, and refreezing'?
- Lewin's planned change model (Correct answer)
- Kotter's 8-step model
- McKinsey 7-S framework
- Appreciative inquiry
Correct answer: Lewin's planned change model
Kurt Lewin conceptualized change as a three-phase process: disrupting the status quo (unfreezing), making the change, then stabilizing the new state (refreezing).
Question 5: The concept of 'institutional isomorphism' explains why organizations in the same field tend to resemble one another through which primary forces?
- Coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures (Correct answer)
- Competition, regulation, and innovation cycles
- Supply, demand, and market saturation
- Hierarchy, specialization, and formalization
Correct answer: Coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures
DiMaggio and Powell identified coercive (mandates), mimetic (copying successful peers), and normative (professional standards) pressures as the main drivers of organizational similarity.
Question 6: A sociological practitioner conducting an organizational needs assessment would most likely begin with which step?
- Stakeholder identification and context mapping (Correct answer)
- Designing an intervention plan
- Measuring post-change outcomes
- Writing a final evaluation report
Correct answer: Stakeholder identification and context mapping
Needs assessment begins with identifying who the stakeholders are and understanding the organizational context before any intervention is planned.
Question 7: Which term describes the tendency for groups to make riskier decisions collectively than individuals would make alone?
- Risky shift (group polarization) (Correct answer)
- Groupthink
- Social loafing
- Deindividuation
Correct answer: Risky shift (group polarization)
The risky shift phenomenon, a form of group polarization, shows that group discussion often moves members toward more extreme (frequently riskier) positions than their initial individual views.
CSP Organizational Sociology & Development 2
Which concept describes the informal rules and expectations that govern behavior within an organization without being written down?