Final answer:
The bedrock, unquestioned assumptions that define an organization's goals and products are best described as organizational culture, which encompasses the values, beliefs, and assumptions integral to how a company operates. These are different from vision statements and core values, which are more explicit articulations of a company's direction and principles. Thus, the correct option is C) Organizational culture.
Step-by-step explanation:
All organizations operate within a framework of organizational culture, which consists of deeply ingrained values, beliefs, and assumptions that define their goals and how they conduct business. Organizational culture includes the values, visions, norms, and interactions that exist among its members. Scholars identify three layers of organizational culture: observable artifacts, espoused values, and basic assumptions, with the latter being the unobservable and unquestioned elements that form the backbone of an organization's culture.
When it comes to the correct option from A) Vision statements, B) Core values, C) Organizational culture, the bedrock, unquestioned assumptions that define an organization's goals and products are most closely aligned with C) Organizational culture. Vision statements and core values are often expressions of these deeper assumptions but do not wholly constitute the foundational beliefs that operate at the subconscious level within an organization.
To illustrate, vision statements articulate the future direction of the organization, while core values are the principles the organization holds dear. However, the basic, often unexamined assumptions that influence behaviors and decision-making processes within the organization are encapsulated in its culture. As such, when addressing the initial question, the answer is that these bedrock, unquestioned assumptions are referred to as C) Organizational culture.