Deck 15: Organizational Change

Question 1

Unfreezing occurs by making the driving forces stronger than the restraining forces.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

From a task conflict perspective,resistance to change is dysfunctional and irrational.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Resistance is a form of voice.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

In Lewin's force field analysis model,refreezing occurs when the organization's systems and structures are aligned with the desired behaviours.

Question 5

In some situations,resistance to change occurs when employees are worried that it will make them worse off.

Question 6

The force field analysis model states that stability is achieved only when the driving forces for change subside and are replaced by restraining forces acting in the same direction.

Question 7

In Lewin's force field analysis model,refreezing involves producing disequilibrium between the current and unfrozen state.

Question 8

One reason why employees resist change is that they dislike predictable role patterns.

Question 9

Negative valence of change,fear of the unknown,and incongruent organizational systems are all sources of resistance to change.

Question 10

Resistance to change potentially engages people to think about the change strategy and process.

Question 11

The preferred strategy for unfreezing the current situation is to increase the restraining forces and reduce or remove the driving forces.

Question 12

Employee resistance to change most often takes the form of overt work behaviours.

Question 13

In one survey,71 percent of Canadian human resource managers said employees resist changes put forward by management.

Question 14

To minimize resistance to change,change agents need to reduce the restraining forces and increase the driving forces.

Question 15

Employee resistance to change is a dysfunctional and irrational response to a desirable initiative which should be eliminated in modern organizations.

Question 16

If change agents adopted the view that resistance is a resource and harnessed its motivational force,they could strengthen commitment to change initiatives.

Question 17

In force field analysis,stability occurs when the driving forces and restraining forces are roughly of equal strength in opposite directions.

Question 18

Fear of the unknown usually motivates employees to support organizational change,because maintaining the status quo would be worse.

Question 19

People sometimes resist change because they lack confidence.

Question 20

Organizational systems such as,rewards,patterns of authority,career paths,and selection criteria are not reasons why employees resist change,because the choice to resist is internal rather than externally-based.

Question 21

The urgency for change must always be initiated from a problem-oriented perspective in order to be effective.

Question 22

A key element of leading change is a strategic vision.

Question 23

The best way to manage resistance to change among those who will clearly lose out from the change is to introduce coercion practices.

Question 24

A minimalist communication strategy should always be used to facilitate organizational change,because it minimizes the potential for misunderstandings.

Question 25

Learning reduces resistance to change mainly by helping employees develop stronger self-efficacy.

Question 26

By creating a sense of urgency for change,change agents are motivating employees to change towards the new conditions.

Question 27

Pilot projects are usually more flexible and less risky than centralized,organization-wide programs.

Question 28

One drawback with increased communication during the change process is that it also increases the level and sources of resistance.

Question 29

Ideally,a guiding coalition is made up of senior executives at the top level of the organization.

Question 30

Information systems and reward systems can help to refreeze the desired conditions in organizational change.

Question 31

One problem with negotiation is that it tends to produce compliance rather than commitment to the change process.

Question 32

Customer feedback provides a human element that energizes employees to change their current behaviour patterns.

Question 33

Viral change is an increasingly respected way to support the organizational change process.

Question 34

Firing people and other forms of coercion are sometimes necessary to achieve change.

Question 35

Refreezing requires the establishment of organizational systems that are compatible with the desired changes.

Question 36

A leader's strategic vision minimizes employee fear of the unknown.

Question 37

Coercion should never be used to manage change in organizations.

Question 38

Communication should be applied to reduce resistance to change where the change must occur quickly with little financial cost.

Question 39

Negotiation is the highest priority and first strategy required for any organizational change.

Question 40

To bring about effective change,leaders must create an urgency to change internally rather than rely on forces outside the organization to create that urgency.

Question 41

The fourth principle of appreciative inquiry is called the poetic principle.

Question 42

Diffusion of change is more likely to succeed if people involved in the pilot project receive recognition and rewards for changing their previous work practices.

Question 43

Action research is a highly participative process.

Question 44

Appreciative inquiry typically examines unsuccessful events,organizations,and work units,to determine what pitfalls to avoid.

Question 45

Action research takes the view that organizational change is all about bringing about real change,not testing theory.

Question 46

One of the main advantages of rapid change is that it is less risky than incremental change.

Question 47

A unique feature of appreciative inquiry is that it breaks away from the problem-solving mentality by reframing relationships around what is positive and possible.

Question 48

The first step in appreciative inquiry is dreaming,in which participants envision what might be possible in an ideal organization.

Question 49

The constructionist principle of appreciative inquiry takes the position that conversations don't describe reality.

Question 50

Action research usually assumes that the change agent originates outside the system.

Question 51

The action research approach was first introduced in the 1960s.

Question 52

The simultaneity principle in appreciative inquiry states that inquiry and change are simultaneous.

Question 53

Some change experts claim that rapid change is usually better than incremental change.

Question 54

Appreciative inquiry is deeply grounded in the emerging philosophy of positive organizational behaviour.

Question 55

Diffusion of change is more likely to occur when employees are confused about their roles.

Question 56

Action research adopts the emerging philosophy of positive organizational behaviour.

Question 57

Action research is the process of determining whether the change process is ethical or not.

Question 58

Organizational change is more successful if the change agent prevents its diffusion from one part of the organization to other parts.

Question 59

Organizational diagnosis involves collecting and interpreting data about an ongoing system and feeding this data back to the client.

Question 60

Action research is a problem-focused process of organizational change.

Question 61

One of the concerns with future search meetings is that they generate high expectations about an ideal future state that are difficult to satisfy in practice.

Question 62

The main objective of force field analysis is to help change agents to:

A)identify ways to force employees to change their behaviour.
B)find ways to increase the driving forces for change.
C)diagnose the situation better by understanding the drive and restrain proposed organizational change.
D)determine whether change is necessary at all.
E)do none of these things.

Question 63

The parallel learning approach model,built on the idea of collecting information from organizational members,raises concerns about the risk of violating individual privacy rights.

Question 64

The concepts of unfreezing and refreezing the system are mainly represented in:

A)Lewis's reaction research model.
B)Lewin's force field model.
C)appreciative inquiry.
D)customer-driven change.
E)the diffusion of change process.

Question 65

The force field analysis model includes all of the following EXCEPT:

A)constraining forces.
B)driving forces.
C)unfreezing.
D)refreezing.
E)restraining forces.

Question 66

Future search conferences are meetings among a small task force of senior executives who have been given the mandate to look for a change agent on a particular corporate strategy.

Question 67

A parallel learning structure is an organizational change intervention in which a social structure is constructed alongside the formal hierarchy to increase the organization's learning.

Question 68

Which model of organizational change explicitly refers to unfreezing the current situation and refreezing the desired state?

A)Parallel learning structures
B)Future search analysis
C)Appreciative inquiry
D)Transformational analysis
E)Force field analysis

Question 69

Parallel learning structures are structures that primarily help employees learn on the job rather than in the classroom.

Question 70

Western organizational change models assume that change is a cyclical phenomenon.

Question 71

Unfreezing refers to:

A)getting one's own way in organizational politics.
B)a management practice used to discourage newcomers from staying with the organization.
C)ensuring that the change effort is diffused to others within the organization.
D)improving organizational communication.
E)producing disequilibrium between the driving and restraining forces of changE.

Question 72

Some organizational change practices run the risk of violating individual privacy rights.

Question 73

One ethical concern with some organizational change programs is that they may threaten the employee's self-esteem.

Question 74

An important feature of parallel learning structures is that they are social structures developed alongside the formal hierarchy with the purpose of increasing the organization's learning.

Question 75

Large group interventions minimize resistance to change mainly as a form of employee involvement.

Question 76

Large group interventions tend to be less participative because too many people are involved.

Question 77

Discovery,dreaming,and delivering are the first three stages of appreciative inquiry.

Question 78

Future search conferences are large group sessions,usually lasting a few days,in which participants identify the environmental trends and establish strategic solutions for those conditions.

Question 79

Many organizational change practices are built around Western cultural assumptions and values.

Question 80

An ethical problem with many organizational change programs is that management tends to lose power in the process.