Deck 14: Change management

Question 1

___ and ___ organisations are best placed to be able to cope with the changes required:

A) decentralised, resourceful
B) creative, centralised
C) resilient, adaptable
D) small, diversified

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Implementing strategy clearly requires consideration of both content and process.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Hubbard,Rice and Galvin suggest that there are two quite different perspectives about what constitutes 'strategic change':

A) a context perspective (what to change) and a people perspective (who to change)
B) a content perspective (what to change) and a process perspective (how to change)
C) a timing perspective (when to change) and a content perspective (what to change)
D) a content perspective (what to change) and a rational perspective (why to change)

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The process of change management can be approached from three different theoretical perspectives:

A) ratio analysis approach, learning outcome, cognitive behaviour
B) cognitive therapy, rational perspective, learning by doing
C) learning perspective, cognitive perspective, rational approach
D) rationing perspective, cogwheel methodology, learning approach

Question 5

The rational approach assumes that change is either driven from the top or everyone agrees what should be done.

Question 6

Kotter's reasons why change fails do NOT include:

A) allowing too much complacency
B) permitting obstacles to block the vision
C) declaring victory too late
D) failing to create a sufficiently powerful guiding coalition

Question 7

Under a cognitive perspective,change requires no modification in managerial and employee cognition before any behavioural change will occur.

Question 8

Lawson and Price's set of conditions needed to overcome employee resistance to change does NOT include:

A) consistent role models whose desired behaviour can be copied
B) skills for the change
C) a purpose to believe in
D) systems that punish resistant behaviour

Question 9

A learning perspective views change as:

A) occurring through a series of leaps of faith
B) using feedback to inform previous actions
C) achieving only small results from large steps, due to resistance to change
D) using feedback to alter the organisation's behaviour

Question 10

Hubbard,Rice and Galvin describe 'transformational change' as a process that seeks to transform:

A) one aspect of how the organisation operates
B) some or all aspects of how the organisation operates
C) both of the above
D) none of the above

Question 11

Schein's argument for transformational change is described as:

A) unfreeze/change/refreeze
B) thaw/melt/solidify
C) warm/expand/contract
D) imagine/depict/realise

Question 12

Quinn developed a model of ___ ___ to explain the practical steps involved in introducing change:

A) logical incrementalism
B) systematic progression
C) random assessment
D) logical progression

Question 13

The change capability that Turner and Crawford found to be essential for success was the ability to:

A) delegate the process of change effectively
B) coerce people into supporting the change effort through fear of consequences
C) develop the skills and resources needed to effect change
D) visualise the changed organisation before it existed

Question 14

Hubbard,Rice and Galvin describe the 'punctuated equilibrium model' of change as:

A) the engagement, simultaneously, in both incremental and transformational processes
B) a choice, at any one time, between incremental and transformational processes
C) successful negotiation of periods of equilibrium that lead back into change
D) suggesting that incremental and transformational change are inimical

Question 15

Hubbard,Rice and Galvin suggest that a model for change needs to consider four variables:

A) how little, how widespread, what process is needed, what barriers to implementation
B) how much, how wide, what process is lacking, what resources for implementation
C) how little, how widespread, what process is lacking, what barriers to implementation
D) how much, how widespread, what process is needed, what time and resources for implementation

Question 16

Quinn's logical incrementalism model:

A) involves a change process based on objective and rational processes, using small steps to achieve the required change
B) involves a process of incrementally assessing changes in the strategic environment
C) does not involve analysis but rather involves incremental changes followed by incremental assessments
D) sees radical change as a sequences of incremental changes

Question 17

Hubbard,Rice and Galvin assert that a key problem in implementing change is that the change being proposed is:

A) transformational in nature
B) incremental in nature
C) not sufficiently far-reaching and radical
D) not necessarily accepted by the people in the organisation

Question 18

Pfeffer and Sutton noted the importance of action over the role of talking-what they called the:

A) 'doing-talking' trap
B) 'knowing-unknowing' trap
C) 'doing-knowing' trap
D) 'knowing-doing' trap

Question 19

The reasons why change might be resisted do NOT include:

A) the importance of work to individuals
B) change means extra efficiency gains
C) change is a surprise
D) lack of trust in management

Question 20

A rational approach to change sees it as:

A) based on previously defined organisational objectives
B) a random walk search for serendipitous solutions to emergent problems
C) implying that change comes first and strategy follows
D) implying that there is no 'one best way' or 'one best outcome'

Question 21

Briefly describe the variables that a general model of the process of change management needs to consider.

Question 22

A directive change management style is appropriate when most of the knowledge actually resides in the centre of the organisation.

Question 23

Do you agree that 'failing to create a sufficiently powerful guiding coalition' might lead to the failure of transformation change management? Provide an example to support your view.

Question 24

Directive change management does not support retrenchment of employees.

Question 25

Both organisational transformation and incremental change are important for achieving strategy.

Question 26

The cognitive perspective encompasses those who believe in a political perspective.

Question 27

Provide four reasons for resistance to change.Describe how you would address one of them.

Question 28

Change always involves more rewards to match extra work.

Question 29

Kotter considers declaring victory too soon to be one of the reasons for the failure of transformation change management.

Question 30

Hubbard,Rice,Galvin and Beamish suggest that most change in organisations should be incremental.