Deck 9: Change Management

Question 1

In order to lead change,researchers suggest that HR professionals must be trustworthy partners to the business in helping to understand how to solve business challenges.What is this HR competency?

A)systems thinker
B)strategic positioner
C)credible activist
D)paradox navigator

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which of the following pairs of elements defines a learning organization?

A)action learning and mental models
B)shared vision and personal mastery
C)team learning and organizational learning
D)systems thinking and psychological safety

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Organizational change occurs in response to multiple level developments.Retail stores are providing online shopping in response to the growing number of customers that are increasingly shopping and purchasing products online.What level of development are these retail stores attempting to adapt to?

A)individual level
B)societal level
C)industrial level
D)firm level

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following elements comprise organizational learning?

A)personal mastery and mental models
B)shared vision and action learning
C)team learning and organizational-level learning
D)systems thinking and sense of urgency

Question 5

Once the need for change has been identified,what would be the next step in the change process?

A)to plan and prepare for change
B)to implement the change
C)to sustain the change
D)to motivate the workforce

Question 6

What term best defines an organizational system that receives inputs from its external environment?

A)environmental system
B)strategic system
C)open system
D)integrated system

Question 7

Which element of a learning organization helps individual workers' knowledge structures to navigate the information in their work environment?

A)personal mastery
B)mental models
C)shared vision
D)systems thinking

Question 8

Many change models recognize that the change process comprises several critical periods of change.What is the first period?

A)diagnosing what is needed for organizational change
B)planning and preparing for the change
C)identifying the need for change and ensuring buy-in from all stakeholders
D)continuously managing and sustaining the change

Question 9

Shareholders might demand a different strategic direction for a business forcing change.What level of change is occurring?

A)industrial-level developments
B)firm-level developments
C)economic-level developments
D)societal-level developments

Question 10

When an organization attempts to solve a problem using a single strategy,without examining the validity of the problem itself,what type of learning is occurring?

A)organizational learning
B)open -system learning
C)single-loop learning
D)double-loop learning

Question 11

In order to lead change,researchers suggest that HR professionals must be able to understand and work from different points of view,and different mental models.What is this HR competency?

A)strategic positioner
B)communicator
C)paradox navigator
D)systems thinker

Question 12

Which element of organizational learning views change issues within the framework of the entire organization?

A)shared vision
B)systems thinking
C)team learning
D)mental models

Question 13

Economic and environmental issues are strong drivers of organizational change.What level of change are these drivers?

A)industry level
B)organization level
C)society level
D)economic level

Question 14

Organizational change occurs in response to three levels of developments.What are these three levels?

A)employee,supervisory and management
B)individual,group,and organizational
C)societal,industrial,and organizational
D)leadership,group,and individual

Question 15

What type of feedback would a technology company use to determine the number of laptops to produce?

A)negative feedback
B)performance feedback
C)production feedback
D)positive feedback

Question 16

An organization's change initiative is characterized by change in the organization's culture and in the attitudes and values of its employees.The goal is to reduce costs and enhance quality.Which type of change initiative is this?

A)downsizing
B)systematic change
C)restructuring
D)mergers

Question 17

What is the most difficult stage in the change process?

A)diagnosing what needs to change
B)recognizing the need for change
C)planning and preparing for change
D)implementing and sustaining the change

Question 18

What type of learning occurs when managers and employees examine and question their tacit assumptions around their decision making?

A)organizational learning
B)open-system learning
C)double-loop learning
D)single-loop learning

Question 19

In order to lead change,researchers suggest that HR professionals should be able to identify the activities,outcomes,and human capital necessary for a business to succeed in its market.What is this HR competency?

A)strategic positioner
B)credible activist
C)paradox navigator
D)communicator
E)systems thinker

Question 20

Which element of a learning organization combines individual ideas and team efforts to arrive at something that could not have been achieved by the individual on his or her own?

A)team learning
B)mental models
C)shared vision
D)systems thinking

Question 21

As people turn increasingly to online shopping,the big-box stores are becoming less relevant to shoppers.Big-box retailers are now developing smaller versions of their stores in an attempt to adapt to these changes.What level of change are the big-box retailers responding to?

A)economic-level developments
B)societal-level developments
C)industrial-level developments
D)firm-level developments

Question 22

Which type of learning can prevent a learner from developing an understanding of underlying or root issues of a workplace problem?

A)single-loop learning
B)open-system learning
C)organizational learning
D)double-loop learning

Question 23

What two aspects are critical to organizational change efforts and foundational to the HR function in managing change?

A)clarifying and communicating the policies and total reward systems
B)integrating business strategy with all human resource functions training and education
C)initiating and evaluating all human resource functions
D)clarifying and communicating the values and organizational learning

Question 24

Once the organization's need for change has been identified and has the buy-in from all stakeholders,what is the next step in the change process?

A)reviewing the need for change
B)diagnosing what needs to change
C)planning and preparing for change
D)implementing and sustaining the change

Question 25

In managing change,stakeholders must be convinced that the current modes of behaviour and way of doing things are no longer successful paths to achieving goals.What stage in the unfreezing process is this?

A)disconfirmation of the validity of the status quo
B)inducing survival anxiety
C)creating psychological safety
D)reliability of the status quo

Question 26

From which point of view does an open-system perspective view the organization?

A)from the point of view of an individual subsystem and its interaction with its environment
B)from the point of view of groups of subsystems and their interaction with their environment
C)from the point of view of the organization as a whole and its interaction with its environment
D)from the point of view of the organization's departments and their interaction with their environment

Question 27

Which of the following is one of the main benefits of action research?

A)it identifies the problems and action planning around methods of enhancing change
B)each of the successive steps taken to implement change is based on input from stakeholders and uses information from prior steps
C)to establishes new norms and modes of behaviour that are likely to reinforce the change that has taken place
D)each of the successive steps taken to implement change is based on enhancing the driving forces and reducing the restraining forces

Question 28

What term best defines a framework for analyzing a problem that seeks to identify all the relevant factors and stakeholders that are acting to either sustain the current state or to move away from the current state?

A)action research
B)organizational analysis
C)force-field analysis
D)stakeholder analysis

Question 29

In managing change,individuals and groups must develop a sense of pressure to change in order to overcome resistance and to move away from current behaviours and toward new learning and new behaviours.What stage of the unfreezing process is this?

A)disconfirmation of the validity of the status quo
B)inducing survival anxiety
C)creating psychological safety
D)reliability of the status quo

Question 30

What type of learning occurs when managers and employees examine the assumptions they used to arrive at a point of view?

A)organizational learning
B)double-loop learning
C)single-loop learning
D)open-system learning

Question 31

Change management interventions such as providing a strong organizational vision,consistent systems and structures,training,role models,and support groups can unfreeze people's behaviours.What do these initiatives aim to achieve?

A)reduced survival anxiety
B)reliability of the status quo
C)validity of the status quo
D)psychological safety

Question 32

There are three basic models that form the basis of most models of change.What are the three models?

A)planned change,emergent change,and cultural change
B)generic change,planned change,and emergent change
C)generic change,planned change,and cultural change
D)innovative change,emergent change,and cultural change

Question 33

A change initiative is undertaken to improve organizational efficiency,productivity,and/or competitiveness.This affects the size of the firm's workforce,its costs,and its work processes.Which type of change initiative is this?

A)outsourcing
B)acquisitions
C)downsizing
D)restructuring

Question 34

Organizational change has occurred in a company in response to new leadership directives and different strategic plans.What level of development is creating this change?

A)industrial level
B)firm level
C)individual level
D)societal level

Question 35

Which of the following is common to all models of planned change?

A)the assumption that action planning enhances change
B)the assumption that change is a process that can be segmented into discrete and necessary steps that organizations all pass through en route to successful change
C)the assumption that change is based on information from evidence-based research
D)the assumption that leadership commitment and behaviours reinforce the change process

Question 36

The interconnected nature of organizational structures,processes,practices,members,and the changing environment renders the prediction of change outcomes a practical impossibility.

Question 37

Once the organization's need for change has been identified,has the buy-in from all stakeholders,and has implemented the change,what is the final step in the change process?

A)reviewing the need for change
B)sustaining the change
C)planning future change
D)diagnosing past and future change

Question 38

Which type of learning is typified by encouraging participation in decision making and open expression of conflicting views,using valid information and widespread and open testing of evaluations?

A)systems thinking
B)double-loop learning
C)single-loop learning
D)team learning

Question 39

In order to lead change,researchers suggest that HR professionals must be able to understand all aspects of the business,including what customers value about the firm's products or services.What is this HR competency?

A)credible activist
B)communicator
C)strategic positioner
D)systems thinker

Question 40

What type of feedback would a small restaurant use to determine whether it has met its goals?

A)performance feedback
B)productivity feedback
C)negative feedback
D)positive feedback

Question 41

Force-field analysis is an approach to understanding and changing individual or group perceptions and behaviours by seeking to understand the interdependent forces that act on individuals or groups and that motivate them toward certain courses of action and restrain them from others.

Question 42

"Moving" is a stage in the change process that involves putting policies,practices,and structures in place to establish new norms around an organizational change.

Question 43

Organizational learning is an approach to learning that applies double-loop learning and an attempt to understand how the entire system may be affected by change.

Question 44

Positive feedback is the kind of information that tells whether the system is achieving its goal.

Question 45

Force-field analysis is a framework for analyzing a problem that seeks to identify all the relevant factors and stakeholders that are acting to either sustain the current state or to move away from the current state.

Question 46

Personal mastery learning is an attempt to solve a problem using a single strategy.

Question 47

Double-loop learning involves questioning the tacit assumptions and attributions that?people have around their decision making.

Question 48

Positive feedback can help an organization to determine if it should be producing 1 000 scarves a week and what styles of scarves it should be producing.

Question 49

Both single-loop and double-loop learning are methods of learning that involve questioning current assumptions,examining problems from different perspectives,and questioning the validity of the problems.

Question 50

"Freezing" is a stage in the change process that involves the development of a shared understanding among stakeholders that a particular change is necessary.

Question 51

When managers and employees examine the assumptions they have used to arrive at a point of view,they are using mental model learning that enables them to bypass the assumptions that may be locking them into a particular frame of mind.

Question 52

An open system refers to how organizational internal subsystems interact with one another.

Question 53

In organizational settings,single-loop learning involves questioning the extent to which the strategy itself and the systems and structures that implement the strategy support the underlying purpose of the organization.

Question 54

Negative feedback is the kind of information that a system uses to determine if its purpose is suited for its environment.

Question 55

"Unfreezing" is an initial stage in an organizational change process.

Question 56

Research suggests that up to 70 percent of organizational change efforts fail.

Question 57

Organizations are complex,closed systems that both influence and are influenced by?their environment.

Question 58

An open system receives inputs from its internal environment and the external subsystems that interact with one another.

Question 59

The most difficult stage in the change process is to achieve full buy-in from all stakeholders.

Question 60

"Freezing" is a stage in the change process that involves a trial-and-error process of taking action to move the firm through the intended change.

Question 61

Action research is typified by encouraging participation in decision making and open expression of conflicting views,using valid information,and widespread and open testing of evaluations.

Question 62

The most important aspects of the job of a general manager include implementing change initiatives.

Question 63

Personal mastery allows knowledge from any individual in the organization to become incorporated into the firm's culture and processes.

Question 64

In order to lead change,researchers suggest that HR professionals should be able to understand and work from different points of view and different mental models.

Question 65

The ability to manage change is such an important organizational competency that some scholars believe it is the only form of sustainable competitive advantage.

Question 66

The generic model of change is an iterative trial-and-error process of discovery that involves diagnosing a problem,planning a solution,acting on the solution,evaluating the results of the actions,learning from the outcomes,and asking new questions.

Question 67

Mental model is the understanding of one's purpose and the development of a personal vision.

Question 68

Organizational defensive routines can insulate an organization from examining its mental models.

Question 69

Organizational change occurs in response to economic-level developments.

Question 70

Senge suggests that our primary tasks in complex human systems are to become more reflective on the reasoning that guides our actions and to gradually improve our theories in use.

Question 71

Systems thinking views change issues within the framework of the entire organization.

Question 72

According to Lewin,efforts focused on changing individual behaviours alone would be insufficient to bring about effective and sustainable change.

Question 73

Lewin believed that organizational change could be achieved only by changing behaviours at the individual level.

Question 74

Clarifying and communicating the organization's values and building a culture of learning are the two critical areas for the HR function in managing change.

Question 75

Implementing change is one of the most difficult stages in the change process.

Question 76

Change efforts should be guided by a set of established values,and all change involves new learning.

Question 77

One of the main benefits of action research is that each of the successive steps taken to implement change is based on input from stakeholders and uses information from prior steps.

Question 78

Chaos theory refers to the idea that complex systems are based on some form of order but can behave in unpredictable ways.

Question 79

In order to lead change,HR professionals should have the competency of communicator-the ability to create an environment in which employees feel that they can speak up about what is working and what needs to be improved.

Question 80

The first step in force-field analysis is to describe the future state.