Chapter 8 - Managing Change and Innovation

The traditional organizational development model applies to: a. environmental changes b. a specific problem or group c. rapid transformations d. an entire system

B

A company has strong ____ if it continuously seeks new ideas from customers and from looks for ways to use new technologies. a. idea incubators b. idea champions c. internal coordination d. external coordination

D

A company that offers $1,000 for the best idea an employee submits each quarter is running _______ a. a new venture team b. a skunkworks c. an idea incubator d. an internal innovation contest

D

Managers are concerned that moving to a team-based structure will mean that decisions will be made mostly by their subordinates, reducing the value of the manager job. a. uncertainty b. different viewpoint c. distrust d. self-interest

D

The Google X Lab is a secretive ______ , where employees work on technologies that sound like science fiction. a. technology change group b. organizational development group c. product change group d. skunkworks

D

Employees do not trust the company to listen respectfully to their ideas or provide them with growth opportunities. a. training b. organizational development

B

Which of the following organizational characteristics would not help a company to be more creative? Check all that apply. a. run the company like a tight ship. Create rules about how much creativity is expected and ensure that people follow them. b. allow employees to make mistakes and even reward mistakes when they are made, if they stem from very creative ideas. c. hire only recognized experts, and don't hire anyone who is eccentric. d. set up a reward system that encourages success. Pay people only for doing things that make the company more profitable.

A C D

Taco Bell and McDonald's are considering adding kiosks in restaurants for customers to place their orders. This ______ will hopefully make the ordering process more efficient and increase accuracy. a. product change b. technology change

B

The large-group intervention organizational development model applies to _______. a. a specific problem or group b. an entire system

B

The lead singer of the Painted Rozez and the band's agent think the band should tour more, and they have booked a number of gigs across the country. However, the other band members think they would reach a wider audience and make more money by staying in town and recording another album. a. uncertainty b. different viewpoint c. distrust d. self-interest

B

Which of the following would likely result from implementing the horizontal linkage model? Check all that apply. a. new ideas will be generated by lower-level employees as they interact with people in other departments and people outside the organization. b. new products will incorporate most or all of the relevant information, such as the latest research on dyslexia, to make them successful in the market. c. new products will be brought to market more quickly and efficiently, lowering costs and making this company a market leader. d. once generated, new ideas will be handed off to the software development department to be brought to fruition, with no further involvement of research or marketing.

A B C

An organization invests in _____ to help certain employees improve a given skill or set of skills. a. training b. organizational development

A

Dayonara, a highly talented engineer, is part of a small, autonomous, and secretive creative team in a software development company. The objective of the team is to focus on breakthrough ideas and develop innovative technologies such as microbots. While the company's headquarters is located in Chicago, this team works in a private facility in Simi Valley, California. Dayonara is most likely part of a(n) _____. a. skunkworks b. remote team c. charter school d. corporate university

A

Employees adopt new behaviors and attitudes during the ____ stage, although they will need training and practice before the new ways of doing things become automatic. a. changing b. refreezing c. unfreezing

A

Employees in the accounts payable department have difficulty communicating with people who submit and approve invoices. a. training b. organizational development

A

Flare, an electronics company, created a low-cost, handheld washer that could run on solar-powered battery. The product was also portable and could clean clothes with minimal water. Washing machine manufacturers did not initially see this product as a threat, but the product slowly attracted their customers and gained a dominant share in the market. As a result, the traditional washing machine manufacturing companies underwent huge losses and most of them went out of business. In this scenario, the handheld washer is an example of a(n) _____. a. disruptive innovation b. incremental innovation c. revolutionary innovation d. architectural innovation

A

Force-field analysis grew from the work of Kurt Lewin, who proposed that change was a result of the competition between driving and restraining forces. a. True b. False

A

One approach to innovation involves established companies buying small start-up companies in order to obtain their products, services, and talent. a. True b. False

A

Examine the following scenarios, and select the one that best illustrates people change within an organization. a. Gianol, a pharmaceutical company, has an open door policy, and the managers value the opinions and ideas of their subordinates. b. Finrow Inc., a law firm, undertakes several pro bono cases besides its regular client cases to help the underprivileged and enhance the firm's public image. c. Ethox, an advertising company, provides its HR staff with training opportunities so that they can learn new recruitment strategies and strengthen their networking skills. d. Dex Inc., an investment firm, establishes offices in four different locations to widen its reach and appoints employees from within the company to head these offices.

C

Organizations often use surveys to determine how their employees feel about proposed changes before they happen. These surveys are distributed in the ____ part of the change process. a. changing b. refreezing c. unfreezing

C

Plymouth Machinery and Tools, a hardware company, has installed a new product management software program in its factories. The intent of the company is to streamline the supply and distribution processes for increased efficiency and lower costs. The software is meant to be used by inventory managers who work on the shop floor and in the logistics department. However, the managers need more information to understand the change. Which of the following change implementation tactics should be used in this scenario? a. Negotiation b. Coercion and extortion c. Appeasement d. Communication and education

D

More and more work has been moved into Katie's job, and she has kept up with the workload. During her last two performance evaluations, her manager said she deserved to be in a higher pay grade because her responsibilities had grown, but her manager never followed through. Now another position has been eliminated, and her manager is giving Katie most of that person's work. Katie has decided to give her new tasks a very low priority. a. uncertainty b. different viewpoint c. distrust d. self-interest

C

Sometimes when an organization first starts horizontal coordination efforts to promote innovation, _____ is needed to help employees communicate with each other and constructively deal with conflict. a. large group innovation b. survey feedback c. team building

C

The _____ shows that the research, manufacturing, and sales and marketing departments within an organization simultaneously contribute to new products and technologies. a. crowdsourcing model b. innovation by acquisition strategy c. horizontal linkage model d. bottom-up approach to innovation

C

Waze, a navigation and traffic app, utilizes to power the information on the app. Users share real time traffic reports, road conditions, and gas prices. a. innovation by acquisition b. open innovation c. crowdsourcing d. closed innovation

C

The launch of a team to prepare the newspaper to go 100 percent online is what kind of initiative? a. ambidextrous, because some employees will be focused on Internet publication while other employees will work on print publication b. reverse innovation, because the new team will come up with ideas that then will be used to guide the entire company c. disruptive innovation, because the new team will be remaking the way newspapers publish content d. ambidextrous, because a separate part of the company will be dedicated to innovation while the rest of the company will continue business as usual

D

Last week, a gift shop's employees heard their longtime store manager announce that she is leaving. Now they've read an announcement on the bulletin board that a manager of a store in another state, whom they know nothing about, will be their new manager. They are wondering whether the new manager will be as respectful, empowering, and fun as their old manager. a. uncertainty b. different viewpoint c. distrust d. self-interest

A

Several cable companies, including Time Warner Cable, are under tremendous pressure to identify new strategies that will help them stay relevant and competitive in the market. Cable companies have to compete not only with each other but also with the Internet, because customers are now able to watch their favorite shows online through companies such as Netflix and Hulu, which provide video-on-demand services. If online streaming expands to the point where it annihilates the cable industry, it would be an example of a(n): a. disruptive innovation. b. architectural innovation. c. incremental innovation. d. revolutionary innovation.

A

The first stage in achieving behavioral and attitudinal change is: a. unfreezing. b. intervention. c. implementation. d. refreezing.

A

The president of Digital Girls Inc., a start-up committed to teaching young girls from rural areas how to code and develop computer programs and applications, wants to restructure the organization and refocus the organization's mission to ensure that the most underprivileged segments of its target population are able to access its services for free. To discuss the change, the president meets all the managers, board members, and employees of the organization because the change would impact them as well. For several days, they work with an organization development professional to identify the best ways to deliver the organization's services. The given scenario illustrates _____. a. a large-group intervention b. open innovation c. a skunkworks d. groupthink

A

Which of the following is a characteristic of creative organizations? a. They have reward systems that encourage innovation. b. They have high power distance. c. They have closed channels of communication. d. They have a short time horizon.

A

Engaging in innovation requires a looser structure, while implementing new ideas requires a more rigid structure. Organizations can meet both needs by using a. disruptive innovation b. an ambidextrous approach c. reverse innovation

B

In the context of organizational change, _____ means incorporating structures and processes that are appropriate for both the creative impulse and for the systematic implementation of innovations. a. crowdsourcing b. an ambidextrous approach c. a bottom-up approach d. open innovation

B

Managers conduct _____ when they consider the problems and opportunities that drive change and the factors that restrain change. a. conflict management b. a force-field analysis c. a refreezing d. a large-group intervention

B

Organizational change and innovation are prompted solely by external forces such as customer demands or new government legislation. a. True b. False

B

The chief advantage of bottom-up approaches and internal innovation contests is that both of these techniques. Check all that apply. a. prevent senior managers from interfering with the implementation of employee ideas b. broadly increase the diversity of ideas available to a company c. solicit new ideas from existing employees d. provide employees with a physical space where they can develop new ideas

C

To reduce the power distance in the company, the CEO of Plated Inc., a publication house, decides to implement some changes at the managerial level within each department of the company. He feels that restructuring each of the departments will drive growth and increase profits. However, the employees doubt the legitimacy of the change. Which of the following tactics would be the most effective in implementing the change? a. Education and training b. Coercion and extortion c. Top management support d. Negotiation

C

Which of the following implementation tactics is most likely to be used in crisis situations when a rapid response is required? a. Education b. Top management support c. Participation d. Coercion

D

Shanice, an employee at a firm, usually foresees the need for change in her workplace before anyone else. She can also visualize the benefits of new ventures accurately and has a knack for supporting these ventures politically within the firm. Shanice is most likely a(n) _____. a. change agent b. idea champion c. boomerang employee d. whistle-blower

B

The team in charge of innovation in a game development company holds a brainstorming session. The team uses Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats technique to promote broader thinking. Zachary, a team member, wears a figurative red hat and acts accordingly during the session. Which of the following is a correct description of Zachary's behavior? a. He provides new possibilities, alternatives, and unique solutions for better problem solving. b. He is pessimistic and points out the flaws and false assumptions in the ideas given by others. c. He is neutral and concerned with just the objective information pertaining to the problem at hand. d. He gives emotional responses based on feelings, intuitions, instincts, and hunches

D

Until recently, The Wisdom Den, a national chain of libraries, hired employees to manually manage annual subscriptions and keep a track of the books issued to customers. However, the management has now decided to replace the old method and upgrade to a database software program that is fairly simple to use. Although the librarians know that the implementation of the computerized system will to make their job easier, they are resistant to the change. Which of the following is most likely to be the reason behind the resistance? a. Lack of understanding b. Dissimilar assessments c. Different goals d. Uncertainty

D

Which of the following examples involve an innovation roles strategy? Check all that apply. a. Nissan's CEO, Carlos Ghosn, stubbornly insisted on investing in an all-electric car, even when his 350,000 employees were against it. The result was the Leaf, the first mass-market, zero-emission car. b. Mozilla (creators of Web browser Firefox and e-mail client Thunderbird) has an online store selling crowdsourced T-shirts. These shirts, designed by people who don't work for Mozilla, advertise Mozilla products in new and creative ways. c. in 1943, a small team of Lockheed Martin engineers designed and built a new fighter jet in only 143 days. One of the rules for the team encouraged them to allow vendors to do basic inspections, thus allowing the team (known as the SKUNK WORKS) to spend more of their time on creating the product. d. IBM moved Rod Atkins, then the head of IBM's Unix Computing Division, into a new assignment, "pervasive computing," where he was supposed to find an entirely new area for IBM to grow into.

A and C

LEGO is well-known for embracing _____ in its product development. The company partnered with software developers and engineers at MIT to develop their MindStorms product. a. an ambidextrous approach b. internal coordination c. open innovation d. a new-venture group

C