Deck 14: Organizational Change

Question 1

Senior management of a large multinational corporation is planning to restructure the organization. Currently, the organization is decentralized around geographical areas so that the executive responsible for each area has considerable autonomy over manufacturing and sales. The new structure will transfer power to the executives responsible for different product groups; the executives responsible for each geographic area will no longer be responsible for manufacturing in their area but will retain control over sales activities. Describe two types of resistance senior management might encounter from this organizational change.

Answer 1

The answer to this question should include direct costs as one type of resistance to change among the geographic executives. They will lose status, power, and responsibility from the change effort. The other type of resistance to change might be incongruent organizational systems, incongruent team dynamics, or breaking routines. Unless the company has taken specific steps to alter organizational systems, these systems might still support the decentralized organizational structure. For example, communication patterns and physical structures might still be configured around the geographic rather than product structure.
Regarding team dynamics, departmental norms might support the geographic executive. For example, employees might have developed a "we-they" attitude toward product leaders in headquarters. Although the restructuring placed regional product groups under product executives, these antagonistic norms may continue.
Finally, some students might argue that resistance will occur because employees will be breaking routines. For instance, geographic executives and their employees may have formed habits regarding relations between sales and production units. Now that production units are no longer under the executives' control, these habits must be altered and perhaps sales practices changed to fit the new reporting structure.

Question 2

Indirect costs, rather than direct costs, cause employee resistance.

Answer 2

False
Direct costs act as a source of employee resistance. People tend to oppose changes that they believe will put them in a worse situation.

Question 3

Coercion should never be used to manage change in organizations.

Answer 3

False
If all else fails, leaders rely on coercion to change organizations.

Question 4

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 5

Refreezing refers to:

A) getting one's own way in organizational politics.
B) a management practice used to discourage newcomers from engaging in organizational politics.
C) aligning the organization's systems with the desired behaviors to support and reinforce the new role patterns.
D) repeating the change process to obtain better organizational outcomes and employee performance.
E) producing disequilibrium between the driving and restraining forces of change.

Question 6

In the organizational change process, strategic vision:

A) could increase or decrease the resistance to change.
B) should be suppressed as the change process might require an alternate strategy.
C) could minimize fear of the unknown.
D) forms the second stage of action research.
E) leads to negotiations between management and employees.

Question 7

Scenario: BusCorp
BusCorp wants to introduce a new procedure to improve how customer requests are handled. This change will require employees to break old routines and adopt new role patterns. They decide to adopt two new programs, one in which employees learn how to work as teams as the company changes. The other involves forming task forces within the company to help determine ne customer service practices.
The team based approach strategy to minimizing resistance to change is known as:

A) communication.
B) learning.
C) stress management.
D) negotiation.
E) coercion.

Question 8

Discuss the reasons why people resist organizational change and how change agents should view this resistance.

Question 9

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

Question 10

Organizational rewards are powerful systems that refreeze behaviors.

Question 11

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

Question 12

Some organizational scholars suggest that 'resistance to change' actually represents the:

A) symptoms of underlying restraining forces that need to be removed.
B) fact that employees are happy with the status quo and can perform well only in the status quo.
C) change agent's distorted perceptions of employee behavior based on their own doubts about the success of the change process.
D) indications that change is not required in the organization.
E) performance of the change agent has been very ineffective and a new change agent has to be introduced.

Question 13

The leader and the people who assist him or her in achieving the initiative are called the:

A) Social network.
B) Viral team.
C) Guiding coalition.
D) Strategic planning team.
E) Pilot project.

Question 14

Scenario: BusCorp
BusCorp wants to introduce a new procedure to improve how customer requests are handled. This change will require employees to break old routines and adopt new role patterns. They decide to adopt two new programs, one in which employees learn how to work as teams as the company changes. The other involves forming task forces within the company to help determine ne customer service practices.
The formation of task forces to minimize resistance to change is known as:

A) communication.
B) learning.
C) stress management.
D) negotiation.
E) employee involvement.

Question 15

Lewin's force field analysis model is widely respected in the field of management.

Question 16

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

Question 17

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

Question 18

How we perceive and understand the change process depends on the questions we ask and language we use throughout that process. This is called the constructionist principle.

Question 19

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
E) Incongruent organizational systems

Question 20

Which of the following is NOT a strategy for diffusing experience from a pilot project?

A) Be extremely detailed in describing the pilot project
B) Reassign some pilot project employees to other work units
C) Give employees relevant technical training
D) Address resistance to change
E) Reward people who work at transferring the pilot project change to other parts of the organization.

Question 21

Scenario: Trendy Fashions
Trendy Fashions, a large retail chain, is experiencing conflict and organizational politics amongst its managers. The company's customer service ratings are suffering and managers are pointing to other departments as the cause of the problem. The conflicts and politics are further contributing to the customer service problems. The CEO of this chain just heard about the appreciative inquiry process and thinks this might be a good technique to improve this situation. He needs more information on this process.
The CEO of Trendy Fashions should know that the four stages of appreciative inquiry, in order, are:

A) problem identification, envisioning, choosing the best solution, appreciating.
B) dialoguing, innovating, creating, appreciating.
C) problem identification, causal analysis, recommended solutions, choosing the best solution.
D) discovery, dreaming, designing, delivering.
E) problem identification, envisioning, performing, and evaluating.

Question 22

Web Circuits is a Malaysian-based custom manufacturer for high-technology companies. Senior management wants to introduce lean management practices to reduce production costs and remain competitive. A consultant has recommended that the company start with a pilot project in one department and, when successful, diffuse these practices to other areas of the organization. Discuss the advantages of this recommendation and identify three ways (other than the pilot project's success) to make diffusion of the change effort more successful.

Question 23

Unfreezing occurs when the driving forces are weaker than the restraining forces.

Question 24

Transformational leaders act as agents of organizational change.

Question 25

The positive principle emphasizes the importance of a positive collective vision of the future state.

Question 26

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

A) give the change agent more power in the change process.
B) remove the resistances to change.
C) have no effect on the change process.
D) make the change process more difficult to implement.
E) reduce the resistances to change.

Question 27

Action research is:

A) the theoretical foundation for appreciative inquiry.
B) a form of teambuilding activity.
C) a highly participative process of planned change.
D) a social structure created alongside the formal organization for the purpose of refreezing the desired conditions.
E) a process with very high level of people orientation.

Question 28

Scenario: Trendy Fashions
Trendy Fashions, a large retail chain, is experiencing conflict and organizational politics amongst its managers. The company's customer service ratings are suffering and managers are pointing to other departments as the cause of the problem. The conflicts and politics are further contributing to the customer service problems. The CEO of this chain just heard about the appreciative inquiry process and thinks this might be a good technique to improve this situation. He needs more information on this process.
The CEO will need to know that the first step in his appreciative inquiry change effort will begin by:

A) determining the cause of the problem.
B) determining whether there exists a problem that needs to be fixed.
C) involving employees in the process of unfreezing.
D) identifying the positive elements of the organization or work unit that is performing well.
E) creating a common image among participants of what should be in their own organization.

Question 29

Outline six strategies for minimizing resistance to change and debate ways to effectively create an urgency to change.

Question 30

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

Question 31

Change agents lead their initiatives alone.

Question 32

The poetic principle states that organizations are open books.

Question 33

Creating urgency for 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.
E) refreezing the desired conditions.

Question 34

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

A) Establishing the client-consultant relationship.
B) Evaluating the effectiveness of the change effort.
C) Disengagement of the consultant's services.
D) Stabilization of the change effort.
E) Introduction of the intervention.

Question 35

Scenario: Trendy Fashions
Trendy Fashions, a large retail chain, is experiencing conflict and organizational politics amongst its managers. The company's customer service ratings are suffering and managers are pointing to other departments as the cause of the problem. The conflicts and politics are further contributing to the customer service problems. The CEO of this chain just heard about the appreciative inquiry process and thinks this might be a good technique to improve this situation. He needs more information on this process.
One reason the CEO's idea of using an appreciative inquiry approach might be successful is that this approach takes the organization from "what is" to ultimately:

A) "what should be."
B) "what could be."
C) "what might be."
D) "what cannot be."
E) "what will be."

Question 36

Refreezing involves producing disequilibrium between the driving and restraining forces.

Question 37

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 38

Membership in the guiding coalition extends beyond the executive team, ideally involving a diagonal swath of employees from different functions and levels in the organization.

Question 39

The first step in the Four-D model of appreciative inquiry is dreaming, in which participants envision what might be possible in an ideal organization.

Question 40

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

A) alter the responsibilities of senior executives in the organization.
B) introduce stress management counseling to the employees.
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.
E) negotiate a new set of relations among those who will clearly lose out from the change.

Question 41

According to the action research model, which of the following occurs during the "diagnose need for change" step?

A) Analysis of data
B) Establishment of the client-consultant relationship
C) Determination of the change effectiveness
D) Establishment of new conditions
E) Selection of external consultant

Question 42

Identify and briefly describe the three stages of Lewin's Force Field Analysis model.

Question 43

Suppose that you are vice-president of branch services at the Bank of East Lansing. You notice that several branches have consistently low customer service ratings even though there are no apparent differences in resources or staff characteristics. Describe an appreciative inquiry process in one of these branches that might help to overcome these problems.

Question 44

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

Question 45

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

Question 46

Practices such as action research avoid the use of management's power to induce compliance and conformity and is less likely to create ethical issues.

Question 47

One way that communication minimizes resistance to change is by:

A) generating an urgency to change.
B) discouraging negotiation.
C) eliminating organizational politics.
D) promoting speedy refreezing.
E) encouraging stress management.

Question 48

Which organizational change intervention is best known for its affirmation rather than problem-solving approach to change?

A) Parallel learning structures
B) Large group interventions
C) Force field analysis
D) Action research
E) Appreciative inquiry

Question 49

Employee resistance can be used as a resource for change. Comment.

Question 50

Discuss how leadership, coalitions, social networks, and pilot projects influence organizational change.

Question 51

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

Question 52

Diffusion of change is more likely to succeed if some people who have worked under the new system are moved to other areas of the organization.

Question 53

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

Question 54

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

A) can lead to more subtle forms of resistance.
B) are rarely effective at minimizing resistance to change.
C) create compliance but not commitment to the change process.
D) are time-consuming.
E) cannot effectively reduce the restraining forces.

Question 55

The four stages of appreciative inquiry, in order, are:

A) problem identification, envisioning, choosing the best solution, and appreciating.
B) discovery, dreaming, designing, and delivering.
C) problem identification, causal analysis, recommended solutions, and choosing the best solution.
D) dialoguing, innovating, creating, and appreciating.
E) problem identification, envisioning, performing, and evaluating.

Question 56

Briefly explain the various reasons due to which employees resist change.

Question 57

According to experts, the subtle forms of resistance create the greatest obstacles to change.

Question 58

The communication strategy should be applied to reduce resistance to change when the change must occur quickly with little financial cost.

Question 59

Pilot projects get diffused fast when employees are devoid of preconceived role perceptions.

Question 60

By using the action research mode, an organization is able to eliminate the threat of violating individual privacy rights.

Question 61

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

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

Question 62

Discovery, dreaming, designing and delivering are the four stages of:

A) parallel learning structures.
B) force field analysis.
C) action research.
D) process consultation.
E) appreciative inquiry.

Question 63

Comment on the following statement: "Rewards, information technology and other organizational systems may be both a friend and foe of organizational change."

Question 64

Describe and compare action research and appreciative inquiry as formal approaches to organizational change.

Question 65

You realize that in order to bring about a change in your organization, employees need to break old routines and adopt new role patterns. Stress management strategy is best suited in this situation.

Question 66

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

Question 67

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

A) identify ways to force employees to change their behavior.
B) find ways to increase the driving forces for change.
C) diagnose a situation better by understanding the driving and constraining forces for change.
D) determine whether change is necessary in the organization or not.
E) determine and single out the force that cause organizational resistance for change.

Question 68

Employee involvement is almost an essential part of the change process unless:

A) the benefits of change are unknown to the employee.
B) the organization is looking for a gradual change.
C) the change must occur quickly in the organization.
D) the employee strength of the organization is huge.
E) the organization is planning to introduce continuous changes.

Question 69

According to the Four-D Model, appreciative inquiry begins by:

A) determining the cause of the problem.
B) identifying the positive elements of an organization or work unit that is performing well.
C) determining whether there is a problem that needs to be fixed.
D) involving employees in the process of refreezing.
E) creating a common image among participants of what should be in their own organization.

Question 70

List the five ways of reducing the restraining forces.

Question 71

An emerging view of employee resistance to change is that it is a resource rather than impediment to change in modern organizations.

Question 72

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

Question 73

Action research involves diagnosing current problems and applying interventions that resolve those problems.

Question 74

Which of these forces pushes organizations toward a new state of affairs?

A) Process forces
B) Driving forces
C) Parallel learning structures
D) Restraining forces
E) Vertical learning structures

Question 75

Suppose that a coalition of employees will clearly lose out from a proposed change and they have enough power to cause the change effort to fail. Assuming that the change effort can proceed slowly, the preferred strategy for dealing with this resistance to change is:

A) communication.
B) employee involvement.
C) stress management.
D) coercion.
E) negotiation.

Question 76

Which of the following statements is true concerning Lewin's Force Field model in the context of changes in other cultures?

A) Lewin's model is equally applicable in any cultural setting.
B) Lewin's model, like the Western perspective on change, views change as linear.
C) Lewin's model decreases the presence of ethical concerns often associated with change in other cultures.
D) Lewin's model views change as a harmonious process revolving around equilibrium.
E) Lewin's model cannot be applied to cultures with a collectivist orientation.

Question 77

What are the major advantages of using a pilot project?

Question 78

Discuss two cross-cultural and three ethical issues in organizational change.

Question 79

Negotiation and coercion are necessary for people who will clearly lose something from the change and in cases where the speed of change is critical.

Question 80

Action research maintains the view that having a research orientation is less important than having an action orientation.