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A. there is an issue that is being avoided that is pivotal to making the necessary change
B. the holding environment is yet to be established
C. the determination of technical versus adaptive challenge has yet to be made
D. people want to solve problems on their own
51. People like leaders to provide some direction and structure to their work but also
want to solve problems without too much directive leadership. Leaders should use
which adaptive behavior with these people?
A. identify adaptive challenges
B. regulate distress
C. give the work back to the people
D. maintain disciplined attention
52. Our team has been working on a difficult problem for the past week. As the team
leader, I sense that the group has a pretty good idea of the issues surrounding the
problem. I share with them that I know they can solve it, and I encourage them to keep
thinking about good solutions. I am using primarily which adaptive leadership behavior?
A. identify adaptive challenges
B. regulate distress
C. give the work back to the people
D. maintain disciplined attention
53. I try to listen to and be open to ideas from people on the fringe of the organization.
What adaptive behavior am I using?
A. protect leadership voices from below
B. regulate distress
C. give the work back to the people
D. maintain disciplined attention
54. There is just one person in our group, Silvia, who seems to have radically different
ideas about how to complete our project. She seems to purposely disagree with the
majority opinions of the rest of us though yesterday she said something that made a lot
of sense to help us solve our production problem. I suggested to the entire group today
that we hear Silvia’s suggestions and asked Silvia to share in–depth more of what she
said yesterday. I am using which adaptive leader behavior?
A. protect leadership voices from below
B. regulate distress
C. give the work back to the people
D. maintain disciplined attention
55. Collectively, what is the impact of leaders using adaptive behaviors appropriately for
adaptive challenges?
A. technical work suffers
B. adaptive work suffers
C. adaptive work can be done
D. creative work is stymied
56. Who does the primary work of adaptive work when in the holding environment?
A. followers
B. leaders
C. leaders and followers equally
D. the organizational structure
57. Leaders should direct considerable energy toward and maintaining ______ because
of its critical role in the adaptive process.
A. the situation
B. the challenge
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C. the balcony
D. the holding environment
58. Why is the term “follower” used infrequently in writings about adaptive leadership?
A. it is a derogatory term
B. follower implies a submissive role
C. it lessens the role of the leader
D. adaptive leadership theory is not concerned with followers
59. In adaptive work, ______.
A. the leader identifies the problem
B. the followers identify the problem
C. the people involved together identify and solve the problem
D. the followers do all of the work
60. What is the first step the leader takes when faced with a challenging situation?
A. create a holding environment
B. give the work back to the people
C. maintain disciplined attention
D. step back to obtain a fuller picture
61. Which of the following is not a strength of adaptive leadership?
A. It takes a process approach to the study of leadership.
B. It is follower centered.
C. It clearly describes a step–by-step approach to adaptive challenges.
D. It directs how leaders help followers deal with conflicting values.
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62. Which of the following is not a criticism of adaptive leadership?
A. It takes a process approach to the study of leadership.
B. Empirical research is lacking.
C. The conceptualization of the process of adaptive leadership is unclear.
D. It is too wide-ranging and abstract.
63. In adaptive leadership, leaders and followers mutually affect each other, making
leadership a complex interactive process. This is ______.
A. a criticism of adaptive leadership
B. a strength of adaptive leadership
C. the formal definition of adaptive leadership
D. the definition of a technical leadership problem
64. Which leadership approach has a central purpose to help followers confront their
personal values and adjust these when needed in order for change to occur?
A. transformational
B. servant
C. authentic
D. adaptive
65. Adaptive leadership provides a prescriptive approach to leadership that is useful
and practical. What are these prescriptions?
A. the adaptive work that takes place
B. the leader behaviors used
C. correctly identifying the situational challenge
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D. the change in followers once adaptation occurs
66. Adaptive leadership conceptualizes the leader as one who ______.
A. solves problems for people
B. adapts to various situations
C. makes the hard decisions for others
D. encourages others to do the problem solving
67. In what context has most of the adaptive leadership research been conducted?
A. health care
B. K–12 education
C. higher education
D. public companies
68. Research on adaptive leadership has been primarily ______.
A. quantitative
B. survey based
C. anecdotal and observational
D. empirically tested
69. The leader behaviors listed in the adaptive leadership model ______.
A. are meant to be used discretely in the order listed
B. should all be used simultaneously
C. are generally prescribed in order but may overlap a lot
D. are borrowed from historic models of the skills approach
70. Which of the following is not an overarching element to the adaptive leadership
model?
A. adaptive work
B. follower behaviors
C. leader behaviors
D. situational challenges
71. What does the holding environment represent in the adaptive leadership model?
A. the virtual space for solving technical problems
B. the balcony where outside observers can study the organization
C. the safe space where adaptive leadership work gets done
D. the uncomfortable space where leaders hold out-group members accountable
72. How do leaders know when the problem they face is an adaptive challenge?
A. when the organization has recently hired new employees
B. when emotions, values, and beliefs are part of the challenge
C. when there is a clear solution but it costs a lot of money
D. when the problem is easily identified
73. Adaptive leadership can be most highly contrasted with which other approach?
A. transformational Leadership
B. servant Leadership
C. trait Approach
D. leader Member Exchange
74. Adaptive leaders are said to regulate personal distress. Which of the following is
least similar to this idea?
A. the self-management aspect of emotional intelligence
B. the idealized influence concept in transformational leadership
C. the self-awareness dimension of authentic leadership
D. the conceptualizing behavior of servant leadership
75. Which of the following is true of how the adaptive leadership approach can be
practiced in the real world?
A. the principles are only applicable in corporate settings
B. the approach can be used in a variety of organizational settings
C. the concepts are not easily applied on a personal level
D. the model has not been used in practice, only in theory
76. Your classmates meet every Tuesday night at the music library on campus to work
on a challenging group project. Your group member Charles is an off-campus commuter
student who works at night and finds it nearly impossible to make it to your meetings.
You confront your teammates about changing the meeting time and place to
accommodate Charles. Which adaptive leader behavior are you using?
A. maintaining disciplined attention
B. getting on the balcony
C. identifying adaptive challenges
D. protecting leadership voices from below
77. Janice gets her performance evaluation back from her supervisor. She was
commended for her skills in orienting new employees, managing conflict among team
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members, and establishing productive workplace routines. Janice is demonstrating
facets of which adaptive leader behavior?
A. regulating distress
B. giving work back to the people
C. identifying adaptive challenges
D. getting on the balcony
78. A father tells his daughter that he has the confidence in her to solve a stressful and
challenging dilemma with her science club at school. In adaptive leadership language,
the father is ______.
A. getting on the balcony
B. giving the work back to the people
C. identifying a technical problem
D. maintaining disciplined attention
79. The adaptive leadership approach is ______.
A. descriptive
B. prescriptive
C. directive
D. counterintuitive
1. Heifetz is the leadership scholar credited with the development of adaptive
leadership.
2. Followers of leaders using adaptive leadership should adapt to the leader’s goals.
3. Adaptive leadership is a well-developed empirically tested model.
4. Adaptive challenges are both unclear and difficult to solve.
5. A prerequisite for all of the other adaptive leader behaviors is to regulate distress.
6. When people’s beliefs and values are affected by a problem, leaders need to take an
adaptive approach.
7. Failures in leadership often occur because leaders fail to diagnose challenges
correctly.
8. When the challenge requires that people learn new ways of coping, leaders need to
take an adaptive approach.
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9. A leader who says “This is your project. How do you think it should be developed?” is
using the “maintain disciplined focus” adaptive leader behavior.
10. The term “follower” in adaptive leadership is mostly used when discussing the
“holding environment.”
1. Give an example of a technical challenge.
2. Give an example of an adaptive challenge.
3. Name the adaptive leader behavior that involves stepping away from the challenging
situation in order to better assess it.
4. What is one reason to be skeptical of the adaptive leadership approach?
5. Where does adaptive work occur and who is primarily responsible for it?
1. Adaptive leadership incorporates ideas from four different viewpoints: systems
perspective, biological perspective, service orientation, and psychotherapy perspective.
Choose one of these perspectives and relate it to the main concepts in one theory found
in this text.
2. Describe the difference between “Get on the Balcony” and “Identify Adaptive
Challenges.”
3. What happens in the holding environment of adaptive leadership?
4. The orthopedics department at your hospital is thinking about merging with the sports
medicine department, which has in the past shared physicians, physician assistants,
and nursing and support staff, but they have always had their own departmental
structures and leadership. The merger is being considered because the staffs currently
share exam rooms, operating theatres, and many administrative and diagnostic
equipment and procedures. The hospital administration thinks the merger will help save
administrative costs without detriment to patient care. Staff members are nervous about
this merger and wonder if it will cause changes in shifts, long-standing surgical work
groups, and even loss of jobs. You are the leader of the sports medicine department.
You have used adaptive leadership in past challenges and are going to try it now. Apply
the adaptive leadership model to this situation and describe some of the major steps
you will take to deal with this potential merger.
5. Defend or refute the following statement with specific supporting information:
Adaptive leadership is the most relevant of the leadership approaches I have studied so
far.