Deck 15: Organisational Change

Question 1

In a time of critical challenge,the use of processes such as discovery,dreaming,designing and delivering requires leaders who are prepared to take control.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

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

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Unfreezing occurs by making the driving forces stronger,weakening the restraining forces,or a combination of both.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

During six months as CEO,you have been relentless in bringing radical change to the organisation.You have put all your energy into the job and great progress has been made.But you are beginning to feel tired.Then today,you were informed that your biggest competitor is launching a new product that will make your current best seller look out of date.Your best option is to shift to an incremental change process to address this issue.

Question 5

The best change processes keep inquiry and change quite separate and sequential,not simultaneous,processes.

Question 6

Resistance to change occurs when employees are worried about the consequences of change,not with the change process itself.

Question 7

The principles of viral and word of mouth marketing are adapted to organisational change processes when information is transmitted through social networks on the basis of friendship.

Question 8

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

Question 9

Direct confrontation is an integral aspect of change across all cultures.

Question 10

A contingency oriented perspective of organisational change is required for change to work effectively in a globalised world.

Question 11

Parallel learning structures mean ideas for change can be developed and implemented by staff groups at any level of the organisation.

Question 12

Making our private thoughts public is an important part of any effective participatory process.It involves two-way interactive skills that are natural to most people.

Question 13

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

Question 14

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

Question 15

Pilot projects are usually inflexible and involve considerable cost and risk even before the diffusion process begins.

Question 16

People sometimes resist change because the situation undermines their attempts to change.

Question 17

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

Question 18

The unfreezing of beliefs which may be required of some employees in the change process,needs to be conducted in an ethical,i.e.respectful,way.

Question 19

Fear of the unknown usually motivates employees to support organisational change.

Question 20

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

Question 21

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

Question 22

Successful change requires a well-articulated and appealing vision of the desired future state.

Question 23

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

Question 24

Training reduces resistance to change mainly by helping employees to break previous routines and develop new role patterns.

Question 25

Quantum change is most commonly applied in conjunction with employee involvement.

Question 26

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

Question 27

Appreciative inquiry tries to break away from the approach to change advocated by action research.

Question 28

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 29

Change experts recommend introducing quantum change when the organisation wants to overhaul the system quickly and decisively.

Question 30

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

Question 31

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 32

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

Question 33

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

Question 34

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

Question 35

Compared with quantum change,incremental change interventions involve less risk to the organisation and tend to produce less resistance among affected employees.

Question 36

Most change agents are external consultants rather than corporate executives.

Question 37

Action research is a problem-oriented process of organisational change.

Question 38

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 39

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

Question 40

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

Question 41

Stress management is a strategy for:

A) Maximising coercion to change
B) Engaging employees in the change process
C) Minimising resistance to change
D) Engaging employees in the change process and minimising resistance to change

Question 42

The challenge of change lies in:

A) Deciding which way to go
B) Execution of change strategy
C) Convincing others
D) Stabilising desired behaviours

Question 43

According to force field analysis,organisational change is more likely to occur by:

A) Increasing the driving forces and decreasing the restraining forces
B) Decreasing the process forces and increasing the driving forces
C) Increasing the driving forces and increasing the restraining forces
D) Increasing both the driving forces and the restraining forces

Question 44

Fear of the unknown as a factor of resistance to change increases:

A) Breaking routines
B) Alignment in employee behaviours
C) Risk of personal loss
D) Breaking routines and alignment in employee behaviours

Question 45

Increasing the restraining forces and reducing or removing the driving forces would:

A) Make the change process more difficult to implement
B) Remove any resistance to change
C) Have no effect on the change process
D) Give the change agent more power in the change process

Question 46

Dissatisfied customers:

A) Reflect employee behaviour patterns in change
B) Reflect incongruent organisational systems
C) Reflect adverse consequences in change
D) Represent a driving force for change

Question 47

Which of the following is NOT an effective strategy to unfreeze the status quo?

A) Educating employees about the change effort
B) Strengthening existing team norms and organisational systems
C) Encouraging employees to participate in the change process
D) Providing formal stress management programs to help employees to cope with the change

Question 48

A corporate leader's hard push for change threatens the process by:

A) Creating an urgency for change
B) Producing tension and conflict within the organisation
C) Increasing the driving forces
D) Removing the restraining forces

Question 49

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

A) Process forces
B) Driving forces
C) Unfreezing
D) Refreezing

Question 50

Employee resistance to change is:

A) A common and natural human response
B) Difficult to overcome
C) A political strategy
D) None of the options listed here are correct

Question 51

In organisational change,unfreezing may occur by:

A) Increasing the restraining forces
B) Increasing the driving forces
C) Reducing the restraining forces
D) Both increasing the driving forces AND reducing the restraining forces

Question 52

Unfreezing refers to:

A) Getting one's own way in organisational politics
B) A management practice used to discourage newcomers from staying with the organisation
C) Ensuring that the change effort is diffused to others within the organisation
D) Producing a disequilibrium between the driving and restraining forces of change

Question 53

The textbook suggests that 'resistance to change' represents:

A) Symptoms of underlying restraining forces that need to be removed
B) Incidents in which employees are happy with the status quo and do not want any change in their organisation
C) The change agent's distorted perceptions of employee behaviour based on their own doubts about the success of the change process
D) Indications that change is not required in the organisation

Question 54

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

A) Parallel learning structures
B) Future search
C) Force field analysis
D) Quantum change

Question 55

Which of the following types of resistance to change is often a deliberate strategy to 'prove' that the decision is wrong or that the change agent is incompetent?

A) Direct costs
B) Saving face
C) Fear of the unknown
D) Breaking routines

Question 56

Decreasing the driving forces and increasing the restraining forces:

A) Are the main recommendations of appreciative inquiry
B) Makes the change process easier to implement
C) Represents the first step in the change process
D) Are related to none of the options listed here

Question 57

Creating an urgency to change is most closely associated with:

A) The delivering stage of appreciative inquiry
B) The final stage of a search conference
C) The process of reducing the restraining forces
D) The process of increasing the driving forces

Question 58

Action research is a problem-oriented activity that:

A) Is the best approach to organisational change
B) Diagnoses the need for change
C) Helps employees resist change
D) Is a parallel learning structure approach

Question 59

Driving forces and restraining forces are important constituents of:

A) Being happy about change
B) Resistance of change
C) Introducing interventions
D) Lewin's force field analysis model

Question 60

The chief executive of a large telecommunications company wanted to restructure the organisation so product leaders would have more power than the executives in charge of each region.The regional executives tried to prevent this restructuring because it would weaken their power and possibly reduce their salaries in the long term.This action by the regional executives is mainly an example of resistance due to:

A) Direct costs
B) Saving face
C) Fear of the unknown
D) Breaking routines

Question 61

What do action research and future search events have in common?

A) Both focus on opportunities,not problems
B) Both are unethical practices
C) Both encourage employee involvement in the change process
D) Both rely on technology to facilitate change through an external consultant

Question 62

One problem that communication,learning and employee involvement have in minimising resistance to change is that:

A) They tend to change people too quickly
B) They are rarely effective at minimising resistance to change
C) They create compliance but not commitment to the change process
D) They are time-consuming

Question 63

In the organisational change process,a strategic vision:

A) Tends to confuse employees and increase resistance to change
B) Should be applied only when all other change management approaches have failed
C) Minimises fear of the unknown and clarifies which behaviours are required
D) Represent the second stage of action research

Question 64

To reduce the restraining forces,which of the following should be applied in the order presented?

A) Communicate,negotiate,involve
B) Coerce,negotiate,manage stress
C) Learning,involve,communicate
D) Communicate,learning,involve

Question 65

Which of the following helps to refreeze the desired change?

A) Altering reward systems to reinforce the new behaviours and attitudes rather than previous practices
B) Recalibrating feedback systems so that they focus on the new priorities and performance goals
C) Providing information and support to reaffirm the new practices and establishing team norms that are compatible with the change
D) All of the options listed here are correct

Question 66

Which of the following organisational change activities is identified with 'bringing the entire system into the room'?

A) Search conferences
B) Action research
C) Appreciative inquiry
D) Force field analysis

Question 67

In the context of organisational change,transformational leaders:

A) Prefer using coercion to reduce resistance to change
B) Rely on appreciative inquiry rather than action research as the blueprint for change
C) Are usually ineffective change agents
D) None of the options listed here is correct

Question 68

The highest priority and first strategy required for any organisational change is to:

A) Fire several senior executives in the organisation
B) Introduce stress management counselling
C) Train employees who do not possess the skills required under the new conditions
D) Communicate the need for change and keep employees informed about what they can expect from the change effort

Question 69

According to the action research model,what occurs before diagnosing the need for change?

A) Establish the client-consultant relationship
B) Evaluate the effectiveness of the change effort
C) Disengage the consultant's services
D) Stabilise the change effort so that employees do not revert to their old ways of working

Question 70

Which change management practice encourages employee involvement?

A) Future search
B) Action research
C) Parallel learning structures
D) All of the options listed here are correct

Question 71

What change management strategy should be a priority when employees need to break old routines and adopt new role patterns?

A) Coercion
B) Employee involvement
C) Learning
D) Stress management

Question 72

Action research is a highly _______ process.

A) Dangerous
B) Appreciative
C) Participative
D) Coercive

Question 73

Of what value are future search events in organisational change?

A) They are an effective form of coercion so that employees agree to abide by the change process
B) They mainly select the best person to serve as the change agent for the process
C) They build commitment to the change process by involving as many employees as possible
D) They interfere with the change process and therefore should be avoided whenever possible

Question 74

BusCorp wants to introduce a new procedure for processing customer requests.If this change will require employees to break old routines and adopt new role patterns,the preferred strategy for dealing with resistance to this change is:

A) Communication
B) Learning
C) Stress management
D) Negotiation

Question 75

Which of these statements about managing change is FALSE?

A) Employees are less likely to resist change when change agents mainly increase the driving forces for change
B) Employees who develop an urgency for change tend to increase their motivation to change
C) Change is more successful when the restraining forces are reduced
D) Unfreezing the status quo occurs when change agents create a disequilibrium between the driving and restraining forces

Question 76

Which of the following practices tend to make it more difficult to bring about organisational change?

A) Appreciative inquiry
B) Search conferences
C) Action research
D) None of the options listed here is correct

Question 77

Action research is __________ activity.

A) A coercive
B) A problem-focused
C) An autocratic
D) A parallel organisation

Question 78

In organisational change,employee involvement should be used:

A) When other strategies are ineffective and the company needs to change quickly
B) When employees need to break old routines and learn new role patterns
C) When the company needs more employee commitment to the change and has sufficient time
D) When employees will clearly lose something of value and the company must change quickly

Question 79

Which of these conditions LIMITS the diffusion of change to other parts of the organisation?

A) The pilot project is successful within the first couple of years
B) Top management is committed to the change
C) Every employee involved in the pilot project stays with the pilot project rather than being moved to other areas of the organisation
D) The union leadership supports the change effort

Question 80

Which of the following strategies for minimising resistance to change should occur when all other strategies are ineffective?

A) Coercion
B) Negotiation
C) Stress management
D) Communication