Deck 18: Managing Change and Stress

Question 1

Benchmarking is a process by which a company compares its performance with that of high-performing organizations.

Answer 1

True
Explanation: Benchmarking is a technique that can be used to help unfreeze an organization. Benchmarking "describes the overall process by which a company compares its performance with that of other companies, then learns how the strongest performing companies achieve their results."

Question 2

Among the three types of change, innovative change is highest in complexity, cost, and uncertainty.

Answer 2

False
Explanation: Innovative changes fall midway on the continuum of complexity, cost, and uncertainty.

Question 3

Technological advancements and market changes are external forces for change.

Answer 3

True
Explanation: External forces for change originate outside the organization. Technological advancements and market changes are external forces for change.

Question 4

Among the three types of change, adaptive change is lowest in complexity, cost, and uncertainty.

Question 5

The systems model of change is helpful as a diagnostic framework to determine the causes of an organizational problem and to propose solutions.

Question 6

Telepresence represents an advanced form of videoconferencing and robotics.

Question 7

External forces have global effects that may cause an organization to question the essence of what business it is in and the process by which products and services are produced.

Question 8

In Lewin's change model, the unfreezing stage involves providing employees with new information, new behavioral models, or new ways of looking at things.

Question 9

Internal forces for change come from both human resource problems and managerial behavior/decisions.

Question 10

All organizational changes need not be consistent with an organization's strategic mission statement and strategic plan.

Question 11

Employees' unmet needs and absenteeism are external forces for change.

Question 12

In Lewin's change model, the changing stage involves providing employees with new information, new behavioral models, or new ways of looking at things.

Question 13

Among the three types of organizational change, resistance is greatest to innovative change.

Question 14

Excessive interpersonal conflict between managers and their subordinates is a sign that change is needed.

Question 15

According to Lewin's Change Model, there are four targeted elements of change: organizational arrangements, social factors, methods, and people.

Question 16

Change efforts are more complicated and difficult at the individual level than at the organizational level.

Question 17

Shareholders have become less involved with pressing for organizational change in response to ethical lapses from senior management.

Question 18

According to the systems model of change, any change, no matter how large or small, has a cascading effect throughout an organization.

Question 19

According to research by John Kotter, organizational change typically fails because senior management makes a host of implementation errors.

Question 20

In Lewin's change model, the goal of the changing stage is to support and reinforce the change

Question 21

Managers should not assume that people are consciously resisting change when they are trying to implement change.

Question 22

Stress can only have negative consequences.

Question 23

Stress triggers the fight-or-flight response.

Question 24

Organizational change is more likely to succeed when top management is truly committed to the change process and the desired goals of the change program.

Question 25

Resilience is reduced when change agents and recipients have a positive, trusting relationship.

Question 26

Negotiation + agreement is the recommended approach for overcoming resistance to change when people are resisting because of adjustment problems.

Question 27

Organization development consists of planned efforts to help persons work and live together more effectively, over time, in their organizations.

Question 28

Organization development does not entail a structured sequence as proposed by Lewin and Kotter, but it does possess the same diagnostic focus associated with the systems model of change.

Question 29

Resistance to change is an emotional/behavioral response to real or imagined threats to an established work routine.

Question 30

Resistance is a function of the change agent's perceptions of why employees are behaving the way they are in the face of organizational change.

Question 31

Like the systems model of change, Kotter's eight-step process for leading organizational change is diagnostic in orientation.

Question 32

Change programs are more successful when they are geared toward meeting long-term results rather than short-term results.

Question 33

A drawback to the manipulation + co-optation approach to overcoming resistance to change is that it can be very time consuming.

Question 34

Stress that is positive or produces a positive outcome is referred to as eustress.

Question 35

An individual's predisposition toward change is an outgrowth of how one learns to handle change and ambiguity as a child.

Question 36

Stress is something that should be avoided at all costs and efforts need to be directed at somehow escaping it altogether.

Question 37

Resilience to change is a composite personal characteristic reflecting low self-esteem, pessimism, and an external locus of control.

Question 38

Both positive and negative events can cause an identical stress response.

Question 39

Personality conflicts are one reason employees resist change.

Question 40

Kotter's research reveals that because managers most often make mistakes at the end, it is ineffective to skip steps.

Question 41

Reintroducing a familiar practice is an example of _____ change.

A)adaptive
B)strategic
C)radical
D)innovative
E)functional

Question 42

The four most frequently used stress-reduction techniques are muscle relaxation, biofeedback, meditation, and cognitive restructuring.

Question 43

Introducing a practice new to the industry is an example of _____ change.

A)adaptive
B)strategic
C)radically innovative
D)planned
E)functional

Question 44

Religuard is a pharmaceutical company that has factories in Taiwan. Due to strict environmental regulations in the country, Religuard has had to shut operations at three of its five manufacturing units. Which of the following external forces of change had a role to play in the shutting down of these units?

A)Market changes
B)Social and political pressures
C)Managerial behavior
D)Technological advancements
E)Demographic characteristics

Question 45

According to Lewin's change model, the _____ stage involves providing employees with new information, new behavioral models, or new ways of looking at things.

A)refreezing
B)changing
C)settling
D)unfreezing
E)converting

Question 46

Introducing a practice new to the organization is an example of _____ change.

A)adaptive
B)strategic
C)radically innovative
D)innovative
E)functional

Question 47

Which of the following is true about the unfreezing stage of Lewin's Change Model?

A)This stage in the model enforces organizational changes.
B)The change in this stage is undertaken to improve the process of management.
C)The goal of this stage is achieved by giving employees the chance to exhibit new behaviors or attitudes.
D)The focus of this stage is to create the motivation to change.
E)This stage entails providing employees with new information and new behavioral models.

Question 48

Research indicates that Type A employees are more productive than Type B co-workers.

Question 49

Which of the following is an external force for change?

A)Job dissatisfaction
B)Absenteeism
C)Manager behavior
D)Unmet needs
E)Social pressures

Question 50

A secondary appraisal occurs only in response to a stressful primary appraisal and results in categorizing a situation or stressor as irrelevant, positive, or stressful.

Question 51

Which of the following is an assumption of Lewin's change model?

A)Effective change requires proper reinforcement of new behaviors and attitudes.
B)The change process involves adapting something previously learned.
C)People can be made to change even when they are not motivated to do so.
D)If the goals of change are highly desirable, resistance will be virtually nonexistent.
E)Organizing arrangements are the hub of all organizational changes.

Question 52

According to Lewin's change model, the _____ stage involves creating the motivation to change by encouraging people to replace old behaviors with those desired by management.

A)refreezing
B)changing
C)settling
D)converting
E)unfreezing

Question 53

Which of the following is a major internal force for change?

A)Demographic characteristics
B)Market changes
C)Managerial behavior
D)Social and political pressures
E)Technological advancements

Question 54

Reward systems and structural reorganization are examples of _____ that constitute a major internal force for change.

A)demographic characteristics
B)customer and market changes
C)human resource problems
D)managerial behavior
E)social and political pressures

Question 55

Education and skill level are examples of _____ that constitute a major external force for change.

A)technological advancements
B)demographic characteristics
C)social and political pressures
D)human resource problems
E)market changes

Question 56

Control strategy consists of using methods such as relaxation, meditation, medication, or exercise to manage the symptoms of occupational stress.

Question 57

_____ changes fall midway on the continuum of complexity, cost, and uncertainty.

A)Adaptive
B)Strategic
C)Radically innovative
D)Innovative
E)Functional

Question 58

Hardiness represents a collection of personality characteristics including commitment, locus of control, and challenge.

Question 59

Stressors are environmental factors that produce stress.

Question 60

_____ change is lowest in complexity, cost, and uncertainty.

A)Strategic
B)Innovative
C)Adaptive
D)Radical
E)Functional

Question 61

Stress triggers a(n) _____ response.

A)defensive
B)fight-or-flight
C)cognitive
D)nervous
E)delayed

Question 62

Which of the following recipient characteristics is an outgrowth of how one learns to handle change and ambiguity as a child?

A)Surprise and fear of the unknown
B)Fear of failure
C)Peer pressure
D)Predisposition toward change
E)Loss of job security

Question 63

_____ of change are the components of an organization that may be changed.

A)External factors
B)Target elements
C)Inputs
D)Strategic plans
E)Outputs

Question 64

Which of the following is an advantage of education + communication as a strategy for overcoming resistance to change?

A)No other approach works as well with adjustment problems.
B)Once persuaded, people will often help with the implementation of the change.
C)Sometimes it is a relatively easy way to avoid major resistance.
D)It is a relatively quick and inexpensive solution to resistance problems.
E)Any relevant information people have will be integrated into the change plan.

Question 65

_____ is an emotional/behavioral response to real or imagined threats to an established work routine.

A)Groupthink
B)Resistance to change
C)Justification
D)The bandwagon effect
E)Planning

Question 66

Which of the following is true of organization development (OD)?

A)It involves a relatively minor restructuring of the current organizational culture.
B)OD consultants prefer institutional controls and autocratic management styles.
C)OD consultants focus on the content and not the form of behavioral dealings.
D)OD specialists focus solely on problem solving issues.
E)It possesses the same diagnostic focus associated with the systems model of change.

Question 67

Janis Parker is in charge of marketing for a department store sale. During previous sales, she has had success using only radio advertisements to draw customers into the store for a sale. A colleague suggests TV commercials as another approach to marketing. Janis is resistant to change because she knows that the radio advertisements have worked. What form of resistance to change is Janis exhibiting?

A)Climate of mistrust
B)Peer pressure
C)Lack of tact
D)Loss of job security
E)Past success

Question 68

According to John Kotter, when managers want to create a cross-functional, cross-level group of people with enough power to lead the change, they should:

A)communicate the change vision.
B)create a guiding coalition.
C)develop a vision and strategy.
D)generate short-term wins.
E)establish a sense of urgency.

Question 69

In which of the following situations is the facilitation + support strategy for overcoming resistance to change most commonly used?

A)Where there is a lack of information or inaccurate information and analysis
B)Where the initiators do not have all the information they need to design the change
C)Where other tactics will not work or are too expensive
D)Where people are resisting because of adjustment problems
E)Where speed is essential and where the change initiators possess considerable power

Question 70

In a situation where the initiators do not have all the information they need to design the change and where others have considerable power to resist, the _____ approach for overcoming resistance to change is commonly used.

A)negotiation and agreement
B)education and communication
C)facilitation and support
D)participation and involvement
E)manipulation and co-optation

Question 71

According to the systems model of change, all organizational changes should be consistent with an organization's:

A)internal forces for change.
B)organizing arrangements.
C)target elements of change.
D)mission statement.
E)external forces for change.

Question 72

According to John Kotter's steps for leading organizational change, when management unfreezes the organization by creating a compelling reason for why change is needed, it is:

A)generating short-term wins.
B)creating a guiding coalition.
C)developing a vision and strategy.
D)establishing a sense of urgency.
E)communicating the change vision.

Question 73

Which of the following is a disadvantage of the explicit + implicit coercion approach for overcoming resistance to change?

A)It can be too expensive in many cases if it alerts others to negotiate for compliance.
B)If participators design an inappropriate change, it can get too time-consuming.
C)It can be time-consuming, expensive and, still fail.
D)It can be risky if it leaves people mad at the initiators.
E)It can be an extremely lengthy process because too many people get involved.

Question 74

According to Lewin's change model, the _____ stage involves helping employees integrate the new behavior into their normal way of doing things.

A)changing
B)settling
C)refreezing
D)unfreezing
E)converting

Question 75

The four components of organizational development are:

A)diagnosis, intervention, evaluation, feedback.
B)mild change, value-loaded, diagnosis/prescription cycle, process-oriented.
C)evaluation, feedback, diagnosis/prescription cycle, goal-oriented.
D)profound change, objective, intervention, process-oriented.
E)evaluation, value-loaded, life cycle, process-oriented.

Question 76

Negotiation and agreement is the recommended approach for overcoming resistance to change when:

A)there is a lack of information or inaccurate analysis.
B)other tactics will not work or are too expensive.
C)speed is essential.
D)one group will clearly lose out in the change.
E)people are resisting because of adjustment problems.

Question 77

Which of the following is another generic approach for reducing resistance?

A)Employee role modeling
B)Education
C)Employee participation
D)Team negotiation
E)Self-efficacy training

Question 78

According to the systems model of change, structure and reward systems are examples of _____, which are target elements of change.

A)strategic plans
B)organizational arrangements
C)social factors
D)methods
E)goals

Question 79

Manipulation and co-optation are the recommended approach for overcoming resistance to change when:

A)there is a lack of information or inaccurate analysis.
B)other tactics will not work or are too expensive.
C)speed is essential.
D)one group will clearly lose out in the change.
E)people are resisting because of adjustment problems.

Question 80

According to the systems model of change, organization culture and group processes are examples of _____, which are target elements of change.

A)strategic plans
B)organizational arrangements
C)social factors
D)methods
E)goals