Web viewMaximising coercion to change. b.

TOPIC 14: ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

Section A: MCQChoose the most appropriate answer.

1. Driving forces and restraining forces are important constituents of: a. Being happy about change

b. Resistance of change

c. Introducing interventions

d. Lewin's force field analysis model

2. Employee resistance to change is: a. A common and natural human response

b. Difficult to overcome

c. A political strategy

d. None of the options listed here are correct

3. Fear of the unknown as a factor of resistance to change increases: a. Breaking routines

b. Alignment in employee behaviours

c. Risk of personal loss

d. Breaking routines and alignment in employee behaviours

4. Stress management is a strategy for: a. Maximising coercion to change

b. Engaging employees in the change process

c. Minimising resistance to change

d. Engaging employees in the change process and minimising resistance to change

5. Dissatisfied customers:

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a. Reflect employee behaviour patterns in changeb. Reflect incongruent organisational systems

c. Reflect adverse consequences in change

d. Represent a driving force for change

6 The force field analysis model includes all of the following EXCEPT: a. Process forcesb. Driving forces

c. Unfreezing

d. Refreezing

7. Unfreezing refers to: a. Getting one's own way in organisational politics

b. A management practice used to discourage newcomers from staying with the organisation

c. Ensuring that the change effort is diffused to others within the organisation

d. Producing a disequilibrium between the driving and restraining forces of change

8. Which model of organisational change explicitly refers to unfreezing the current situation and refreezing the desired state? a. Parallel learning structuresb. Future search

c. Force field analysis

d. Quantum change



9. Decreasing the driving forces and increasing the restraining forces: a. Are the main recommendations of appreciative inquiryb. Makes the change process easier to implement

c. Represents the first step in the change process

d. Are related to none of the options listed here

10. Increasing the restraining forces and reducing or removing the driving forces would: a. Make the change process more difficult to implement

b. Remove any resistance to change

c. Have no effect on the change process

d. Give the change agent more power in the change process

11. 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 unknownd. Breaking routines

12. Creating an urgency to 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 forcesd. The process of increasing the driving forces

13. Which of these statements about managing change is FALSE?



a. Employees are less likely to resist change when change agents mainly increase the driving forces for change

b. Employees who develop an urgency for change tend to increase their motivation to change

c. Change is more successful when the restraining forces are reduced

d. Unfreezing the status quo occurs when change agents create a disequilibrium between the driving and restraining forces

14. To reduce the restraining forces, which of the following should be applied in the order presented? a. Communicate, negotiate, involve

b. Coerce, negotiate, manage stressc. Learning, involve, communicate

d. Communicate, learning, involve

15. The highest priority and first strategy required for any organisational change is to: a. Fire several senior executives in the organisation

b. Introduce stress management counselling

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

16. One problem that communication, learning and employee involvement have in minimising resistance to change is that: a. They tend to change people too quickly

b. They are rarely effective at minimising resistance to change

c. They create compliance but not commitment to the change processd. They are time-consuming

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



b. Employee involvement

c. Learning

d. Stress management

18. In organisational change, employee involvement should be used: a. When other strategies are ineffective and the company needs to change

quicklyb. When employees need to break old routines and learn new

role patternsc. When the company needs more employee commitment to the change and

has sufficient timed. When employees will clearly lose something of value and the company must

change quickly

19. Which of the following organisational change activities is identified with 'bringing the entire system into the room'? a. Search conferencesb. Action research

c. Appreciative inquiry

d. Force field analysis

20. In the organisational change process, a strategic vision: a. Tends to confuse employees and increase resistance to change

b. Should be applied only when all other change management approaches have failed

c. Minimises fear of the unknown and clarifies which behaviours are requiredd. Represent the second stage of action research

21. Action research is a highly _______ process. a. Dangerous

b. Appreciative



c. Participative

d. Coercive

22. The four stages of appreciative inquiry, in order, are: a. Problem identification, envisioning, choosing the best solution, appreciatingb. Dialoguing, innovating, creating, appreciating

c. Problem identification, causal analysis, recommended solutions, choosing the best solution

d. Discovery, dreaming, designing, delivering

23. The chief executive of a large telecommunications company wanted to restructure the Organization,so product leaders would have more power than the executives in charge of each region. The regional executives tried to prevent this restructuring because it would weaken their power and possibly reduce their salaries in the long term. This action by the regional executives is mainly an example of resistance due to: a. Direct costs

b. Saving face

c. Fear of the unknownd. Breaking routines

24. Fear of the unknown as a factor of resistance to change increases: a. Breaking routines

b. Alignment in employee behaviours

c. Risk of personal loss

d. Breaking routines and alignment in employee behaviours

25. According to force field analysis, organisational change is more likely to occur by: a. Increasing the driving forces and decreasing the restraining forcesb. Decreasing the process forces and increasing the driving forces



c. Increasing the driving forces and increasing the restraining forces

d. Increasing both the driving forces and the restraining forces

Section B: EssaysQuestion 1

Discuss the role of external forces in creating urgency for change. Exposing employees to external forces strengthens the urgency for change. However this process needs to start before the organisation starts facing problems. This challenge is greatest when the organisation is performing well, which makes decision makers less vigilant of threats and more resistant to change. Such complacency may result in risk-aversion, or it may simply show up as a lack of urgency for the organisation. Creating urgency for change when the organisation is riding high requires a lot of persuasive influence that helps employees visualise future competitive threats and environmental shifts. This urgency for change could also be viewed as the burning-platform strategy for employees and a manipulative view that produces cynicism about change and undermines trust in the change agent. Also, the urgency for change does not always need to be initiated from a problem-oriented perspective. Effective change agents can adopt a positive orientation by championing a vision of a more appealing future state. By creating a future vision of a better organisation, leaders effectively make the current situation less appealing. When the vision connects to employee values and needs, it becomes a motivating force for change even when external problems are not strong.

Question 2

Outline the organisational change process based on the action research approach. The action research process begins by establishing the client-consultant relationship. This includes having the consultant determine the client's readiness for change, establishing their power base in the relationship and forming the most appropriate role relationship with the client.Next, the parties diagnose the need for change. Action research is a problem-oriented activity that carefully diagnoses the problem through systematic analysis of the situation. Organisational diagnosis identifies the appropriate direction for the change effort by gathering and analysing data about an ongoing system, such as through interviews and surveys of employees and other stakeholders. Organisational diagnosis also includes employee involvement in agreeing on the appropriate change method, the schedule for these actions, and the expected standards of successful change.Next, the parties introduce the intervention. This is followed by an evaluation and stabilisation of the change effort. Through various data collection and feedback methods, the parties determine the effectiveness of the intervention, then refreeze the new conditions.



Question 3

A large hotel is experiencing conflict and organisational politics among its managers. The hotel's customer service ratings are suffering, so 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 hotel wants to apply the appreciative inquiry process to improve this situation. Describe the four stages of appreciative inquiry and describe what should happen in each stage. Be sure that your answer describes the appreciative inquiry process in the context of this hotel. Appreciative inquiry takes the view that organisations are creative entities where people are capable of building synergy beyond their individual capabilities. To avoid dwelling on the group's own shortcomings, the process usually directs its inquiry towards a successful organisation with similar characteristics. This external focus becomes a form of behavioural modelling, but it also increases open dialogue by redirecting the group's attention away from its own problems. There are four steps in appreciative inquiry.(1) Discovery. The process begins by identifying the positive elements of the observed organisation. For instance, participants at the hotel might interview members of a successful hotel in another city to discover its fundamental strengths.(2) Dreaming. As participants discuss their findings, they shift into the envisioning stage by considering what might be possible in an ideal organisation. By directing their attention to another organisation and its ideal state, participants feel safer revealing their hopes and aspirations than if they were discussing their own organisation.(3) Designing. As participants make their private thoughts public to the group, the process shifts into this third stage. This is a long-term process where participants listen with selfless receptivity to each other's models and assumptions and eventually form a collective model for thinking within the team.(4) Delivering. As a common mental model takes shape, group members shift the focus back to their own organisation. Participants then establish specific objectives and direction for their own organisation based on their model of what should be.


Web viewMaximising coercion to change. b.

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