MGMT OB Ch 18

________ are persons who act as catalysts and assume the responsibility for managing refinement activities.

Change agents

Which of the following is the first step in Kotter's eight-step plan for implementing change?

Establish a sense of urgency by creating a compelling reason for why change is needed.

Appreciative inquiry involves identifying and fixing problems.

False

Companies with dominant market share are less susceptible to the forces of change than smaller businesses.

False

Experience on the job tends to be positively related to work stress.

False

________ is one way to achieve unfreezing of an organization's status quo.

Increasing the driving forces directing behavior away from the status quo

Who built on Lewin's three-step model to create a more detailed eight-step plan for implementing change?

John Kotter

Which of the following steps in Kotter's eight-step plan for implementing change represents the movement stage in Lewin's three-step model?

Plan for, create, and reward short-term "wins" that propel the organization toward the new vision.

Which of the following is the last step in Kotter's eight-step plan for implementing change?

Reinforce the changes by demonstrating the relationship between new behaviors and organizational success.

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.

Social support

Organizational development (OD) is a collection of change methods that try to improve organizational effectiveness and employee well-being.

True

Fony Corp., headquartered in China, is a leading manufacturer of electronic devices and solutions intended for professional markets. The company is considering upgrading the technology currently being used at Fony's manufacturing facility, located in Guangdong, that specializes in producing lithium-ion batteries, which are used to power laptops, cameras, cell phones, and other similar gadgets. The new technology is expected to increase efficiency levels and will also allow for greater adherence to quality standards.

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument that Fony Corp. should upgrade its technology? Answer. - The technology which the company is considering adopting was recently developed and has not yet been successfully implemented in a real business context. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument that Fony Corp. should upgrade its technology? Answer. - Fony's main client account is at risk after the client had to recall nearly 2 million notebooks owing to defective batteries.

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?

a need for learning environments where students feel safe to apply the knowledge they've acquired in the classroom to real-life situations

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.

appreciative inquiry

The application of direct threats or force upon resisters is called ________.

coercion

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

individuals hear what they want to hear and they ignore information that challenges the world they've created

Your company, Johnson Farm Products, has decided to expand its traditional business serving farm owners in order to include home gardeners in its customer base. This change is not met with enthusiasm by the sales personnel who have had good long-term relationships with area farmers. You know that the change will be difficult to implement if you cannot overcome the resistance of the sales personnel and obtain their cooperation. You have decided to involve the sales personnel in planning for the change and in stocking appropriate new items to sell to gardeners. The method for overcoming resistance that you have chosen is ________.

participation

In order to make their firm a learning organization, managers should ________.

redesign the organizational structure

Procedural fairness while implementing changes is especially important when ________.

the employees perceive the outcome as negative