Exam 18: Organizational Change and Stress Management

Tescra Education is an educational publishing company that provides textbooks in the area of higher education. The company has been in business for almost 20 years now and has earned substantial profits during this period. Which of the following trends, if true, would drive the company to change its business strategy?

Using covert influence to overcome resistance to change is called ________.

As a result of changing technology and unstable environment, your company is planning to undertake restructuring of the business. The employees in your company are worried about this upcoming change and many of them are anxious due to a fear that they will lose their jobs as a result of this change. But that is not the case. The company only wants to restructure its business units, and it is not planning to cut down on jobs. In such a situation, which of the following techniques is most likely to be used by your company to deal with the employees' resistance to change?

Bart has a new idea for a way to cut costs in his department, but he is not willing to share his idea with his boss because the last department head that tried new cost cutting methods was recently fired because the new methods could not achieve expected results. Based on the example, how can Bart's company improve the culture to create innovation?

A learning organization is one that has developed the continuous capacity to adapt and change.

A(n) ________ resistance to change clouds the link between the change and the reaction to it and may surface weeks, months, or even years later.

Benny is stressed with the new corporate reorganization. He now reports to a foreign office that has usurped many of his responsibilities, including the contract labor for his projects. Therefore, he's working with new and less qualified contractors with whom he doesn't have a relationship. However, the managers of the other departments find themselves in the same boat, and every day they are able to laugh over lunch about their new managerial impotence. ________ is helping Benny handle his stress.

Which of the following reactions from employees is preferable as a response to change?

Innovative organizations offer high job security so employees don't fear getting fired for making mistakes.

Rather than looking for problems, ________ seeks to identify the unique qualities and special strengths of an organization, which can then be built upon to improve performance.

Which of the following resistances to change is implicit?

Which of the following is one of the three steps in the Lewin's three-step change model?

One of Carl's department employees was severely injured on the job. Carl has called in psychological counselors to talk to the other employees and scheduled a series of safety trainings for the department to be completed by the end of the week. He has also asked the HR personnel to talk to the department about the disability insurance that the company offers and make sure that his employees know what is available. Carl is using ________ to help cope with the stress caused by his employee's injury.

Who developed a three-step model for change that included unfreezing, movement, and refreezing?

Management of a company threatens to close a manufacturing plant in the company whose employees are resisting an across-the-board pay cut. But this threat is actually untrue. In this case, which of the following tactics of overcoming resistance to change is being used by the management?

Which of the following statements is true regarding innovation in organizations?

Which of the following stressors is likely to produce less strain than the other stressors?

Selective information processing is a major source of resistance to change. It indicates that ________.

Family issues, economic problems, and personality characteristics are examples of the ________ factor of potential stress.

People are more willing to accept changes if they trust the managers implementing them and see them as legitimate.