Instructor Resource
Burke, Organization Change, 5th edition
SAGE Publishing, 2018
1
Chapter 1: Source for Understanding Organization
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. Organizations change ______.
A. only when planned change is initiated
B. only in response to an environmental threat
C. only when change is unplanned
D. all the time
2. Most organization change is ______.
A. evolutionary
B. revolutionary
C. planned
D. successful
3. Revolutionary change is ______.
A. planned
B. a major overhaul of the organization
C. rare
D. all of these
4. Evolutionary change is ______.
A. sporadic
B. ongoing
Burke, Organization Change: Theory & Practice, Fifth Edition
C. planned
D. none of these
5. Revolutionary change involves ______.
A. a change in strategy
B. a change in leadership
C. a change in organizational culture
D. any or all of these
6. Which of the following statements is true?
A. Until a few decades ago, the external environment changed more rapidly than
organizations.
B. Until a few decades ago, organizations changed more rapidly than the external
environment.
C. The external environment now changes more rapidly than organizations do.
D. All of these are false.
7. Which of the following is true?
A. Today’s organizations need to be more stable in order to keep up with the external
environment.
B. Today’s organizations need to change more rapidly in order to keep up with the
external environment.
C. Today’s organizations are generally keeping up with the external environment at a
one–to-one pace.
D. None of these is true.
8. Organizations are generally built on an assumption of ______.
A. continuity
B. discontinuity
C. stability
D. both A and C
9. Organizations’ external environments are ______.
A. continuous
B. discontinuous
C. stable
D. both A and C
10. Organizations’ external environments are ______.
A. not interdependent
B. not homeostatic
C. not linear
D. all of these
11. The majority of books and article about organization change addresses mainly
______.
A. continuity and stabilization
B. discontinuous change
C. topics that are irrelevant to organizational change
D. tried and true approaches to revolutionary change
4
12. Burke relies on which of the following types of books and literature as sources for
his book?
A. organizational theory literature
B. trade books
C. “story” books
D. all of these
13. Gladwell’s The Tipping Point (2000) ______.
A. is a “story” book
B. offers insights into how change occurs
C. both A and B
D. neither A nor B
14. Gladwell’s (2000) three phenomena for change are ______.
A. contagiousness, small causes can have big effects, and change occurs gradually
B. contagiousness, small causes have small effects, and change occurs at one dramatic
moment
C. contagiousness, small causes can have big effects, and change occurs at one
dramatic moment
D. contagiousness, small changes have no effect, and change occurs at one dramatic
moment
15. A “connector,” according to Gladwell (2000), is______.
A. a person who facilitates the change process
B. a person who interrupts the change process
C. anything that brings organizations and customers together
Burke, Organization Change: Theory & Practice, Fifth Edition
5
D. anything that brings the organization in closer alignment with its environment
16. A “maven,” according to Gladwell (2000), is ______.
A. a person who collects information
B. both a collector and a connector
C. neither a collector nor a connector
D. both A and B
17. A “salesperson,” according to Gladwell (2000), is ______.
A. someone who creates the vision and overall direction for change
B. someone who is an effective persuader
C. both A and B
D. neither A nor B
18. “The stickiness factor” (Gladwell, 2000) involves ______.
A. trying different forms of communicating the same message
B. having a story or narrative that can be retold in a variety of ways
C. the tricky nature of change
D. both A and B
19. The “magic number” of 150 (Gladwell, 2000) refers to ______.
A. the minimum number of people required for a change effort to be effective
B. the maximum number of people with whom someone can have a genuinely social
relationship
Burke, Organization Change: Theory & Practice, Fifth Edition
6
C. the Burke–Litwin model
D. Chaos theory
20. How people behave is determined, according to Lewin (1947) by ______.
A. mostly by their personality
B. mostly by the environment
C. as a function of the combination or interaction of personality and environment
D. as a function of the combination of genetics and personality
21. According to Burke, the leader of change management par excellence is ______.
A. Bill Gates
B. John Kotter
C. Donald Trump
D. Alexander Hamilton
22. In the case study of the vice president’s coverage of the plans for change at
Teachers College, Columbia University, the change was prompted by ______.
A. a grant award
B. the increased enrollment
C. tearing down buildings to provide space for new ones
D. the fact that the buildings and facilities involved were at least a century old
23. The change and external environment noted in the case study involving Teachers
College, Columbia University, involved ______.
Burke, Organization Change: Theory & Practice, Fifth Edition
A. rising tuition costs
B. increased enrollment
C. change in administration
D. change in the external environment
24. The popularity of John Kotter’s “Leading Change” is due to ______.
A. Kotter’s status and reputation
B. Kotter’s ability to distill into eight stages a mass of case examples
C. the face validity of the eight stages
D. all of these
25. A potential source for knowledge and assistance for models of organization and
organization change literature includes ______.
A. organizational theory literature
B. trade literature
C. books of narratives that have a clear and usually simple maximum to teach.
D. all of these
26. The “story” book that contains a metaphor and is entitled “Our Iceberg Is Melting” is
authored by ______.
A. John Kotter
B. Jack Welch
C. Malcolm Gladwell
D. Holger Rathgeber
27. The trade book “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell is additionally grounded in
______.
A. anecdotal evidence
B. social and behavioral science research
C. popular news stories
D. interviews with CEOs
28. “The Tipping Point” explores ______.
A. Chaos theory
B. nonlinear complex systems theory
C. balancing interests
D. both A and B
29. “The Tipping Point” is a book that deals with ______.A. falling ideas
B. life in New York
C. how major changes in society happen suddenly and unexpectedly
D. all of these
30. “Mind Walk: a film for passionate thinkers” is a movie based upon ______.
A. The Turning Point
B. Gladwell’s book “The Tipping Point”
C. the life of Liv Ullmann
D. organizational change in another universe
31. Chaos theory involves concepts known as ______.
A. the butterfly effect
B. nonlinearity
C. turbulence
D. all of these
32. Complexity theory ______.
A. is a systems theory
B. involves self-organization
C. was developed by Isaac Newton
D. both A and B
33. The book by Levin “Putting a New Spin on Groups” involves application of group
behavior based on ______.
A. Chaos theory
B. social identity theory
C. groupthink
D. none of these
34. John Kotter proposes that leading change consists of ______.
A. charismatic leader
B. authoritarian style of leadership
C. laissez-faire
D. an eight-stage process
35. The case study involving Teachers College, Columbia University, is based upon the
principle of an organizations being ______.
A. an open system
B. organization influenced by its environment
C. the context in which the changes occurring
D. all of these
True/False
1. There is a classic pattern to any change in a given organization.
2. Management of change is a recent activity.
3. Change management literature is only a recent activity.
4. Change is a repetitive process in an organization.
11
5. Change is a continuous process in an organization.
6. Change in an organization is decided and executed by senior leadership.
7. Everyone in an organization is involved in and takes leadership responsibility for
change in that organization.
8. Change management is a fairly recent area of study and discipline.
9. Change management theory and analysis is a recent area of study.
10. The case study involving Teachers College, Columbia University, is based on an
open system theory of organization
Burke, Organization Change: Theory & Practice, Fifth Edition
Short Answer
1. Why is there a need for a clearer and greater depth of understanding about
organization change?
2. What are the three basic types of books or literature that Burke uses as background
and research for his book? Describe one drawback to each type.
3. According to Gladwell’s (2000) The Tipping Point, change is a “virus.” Explain how
the change virus is spread: who spreads it and how it sticks.
4. Burke confers on Alexander Hamilton the title of change leader par excellence.
Explain what he means.
5. Using Kotter’s eight stage process, describe how you would lead the process of
lowering the tuition for education in this institution of higher learning.
Burke, Organization Change: Theory & Practice, Fifth Edition
14