Deck 15: Organizational Change

Question 1

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

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Resistance is a form of voice.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

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

Answer 3

True

Question 4

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 5

People sometimes resist change because they lack confidence.

Question 6

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

Question 7

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 8

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

Question 9

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

Question 10

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

Question 11

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

Question 12

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

Question 13

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

Question 14

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

Question 15

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

Question 16

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

Question 17

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

Question 18

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

Question 19

Employees sometimes oppose or even discreetly undermine organizational change initiatives that originate elsewhere.

Question 20

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

Question 21

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

Question 22

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

Question 23

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

Question 24

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

Question 25

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

Question 26

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

Question 27

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

Question 28

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 29

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

Question 30

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

Question 31

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

Question 32

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

Question 33

Coercion should never be used to manage change in organizations

Question 34

A low level of employee involvement may be necessary when organizational change must occur quickly.

Question 35

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

Question 36

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

Question 37

A key element of leading change is a strategic vision.

Question 38

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

Question 39

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

Question 40

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

Question 41

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

Question 42

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

Question 43

Action research is a highly participative process.

Question 44

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

Question 45

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 46

Action research adopts the emerging philosophy of positive organizational behaviour.

Question 47

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

Question 48

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

Question 49

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

Question 50

Action research is a problem-focused process of organizational change

Question 51

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

Question 52

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

Question 53

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

Question 54

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

Question 55

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

Question 56

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 57

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

Question 58

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

Question 59

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

Question 60

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

Question 61

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

Question 62

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 63

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

Question 64

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)determine whether change is necessary at all.
D)diagnose the situation better by understanding the drive and restrain proposed organizational change.
E)do none of these things.

Question 65

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

Question 66

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

Question 67

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 68

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

Question 69

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 70

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 71

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

Question 72

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

Question 73

The final stage of appreciative inquiry is known as delivering, but is also called destiny.

Question 74

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 75

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

Question 76

Appreciative inquiry begins with dreaming-identifying the positive elements of the observed events or organization.

Question 77

Western organizational change models assume that change is a cyclical phenomenon

Question 78

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 79

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

Question 80

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