Deszca, Organizational Change 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Test Bank
CHAPTER 11: THE FUTURE OF ORGANIZATIONS AND THE FUTURE OF CHANGE
Multiple Choice
1. What are the main routes to become an organizational change agent?
a. incremental and discontinuous
b. technical specialist and strategic generalist
c. manager and recipient
d. influencer and initiator
2. Which of the following is true about change?
a. Change must be dealt with and then put on the back burner to manage regular
operations.
b. The final change should always be true to the original vision.
c. Change is inherently negative.
d. Change should be a constant process to challenge the status quo.
3. Which of the following companies has failed to adapt to the changing competitive
landscape?
a. Unilever
b. Walmart
c. Radio Shack
d. McDonald’s
4. What is the systematic progression of change according to the Change Path model?
a. inspire, motivate, shift, reinforce
b. analyses, mobilization, acceleration, institutionalization
Deszca, Organizational Change 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
c. vision, implementation, feedback, reinforcement
d. communicate, plan, act, refreeze
5. Where does the change path model end?
a. institutionalization
b. it is cyclical and loops back to the beginning
c. consistently reinforcing the change
d. re-gell but remain adaptable
6. Which is true of small organizations?
a. They should remain locally focused.
b. Teams will remain insular and colocated.
c. They need to be globally minded.
d. They will likely fail because of the big players in the market.
7. Which of the following is a challenge of organizational geographic spread?
a. it makes business travel untenably expensive
b. communication is delayed because of time changes
c. it takes longer to hear and respond to competitors in the field
d. structures will be digitally enabled and teams will be dislocated
8. Why do organizations need both loose and tight controls concurrently?
a. They need to manage costs, but think creatively in terms of new sources of revenue.
b. They need to hire creative people but tightly control how their time is allocated.
c. Strategy and vision must be consistent, but allow for adaptation across markets.
d. The outcomes of change must be tightly controlled but the process will be loose.
Deszca, Organizational Change 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
9. What information should organizations share with others in their network?
a. tactical and strategic depending on trust across organizations
b. competitive advantages and strategic areas of focus
c. financial results so that they can work together to manage prices
d. management techniques to build camaraderie
10. According to Galbraith, evolving organizations will have what three main units?
a. business units, international regions and customer accounts
b. marketing, operations, finance
c. regional, national, global
d. costs, products, customers
11. What benefits does Malone anticipate for organizations of all sizes?
a. economies of scale with the ability to be adaptable and creative
b. a stronger and more qualified workforce
c. democratic operating structures
d. expanding market size
12. Which of the following describes a loose hierarchy?
a. a matrix-ed operating structure
b. when people are accountable to and report to multiple supervisors
c. all participants having authority and empowerment to regulate quality
d. an organization with a casual and laid-back culture
Deszca, Organizational Change 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
13. What is the difference between a democratic and a market focused organization?
a. Democratic organizations exist in similarly governed countries whereas market
organizations can exist anywhere.
b. Market organizations motivate people through an inclusive culture while democratic
organizations stress shared decision-making.
Democratic organizations tend to be large and slow to respond while market
organizations are nimble and can easily adapt.
Market organizations use connection to financial outcomes to incentivize employees
while democratic organizations give employees a say in their leadership.
14. The authors stress which of the following skills that change agents must develop?
a. financial prowess
b. maintenance of relational presence
c. focus on local issues
d. the ability to manage exclusively virtual teams
15. What is a common reason people are pulled into a change initiative?
a. They are well-liked in the organization.
b. They have the necessary technical expertise.
c. They provide a set of fresh eyes on the problem.
d. Their supervisor recommends them.
16. How do skills of change agents tend to develop?
a. through connections with senior leadership
b. either through a technical focus or a general strategic approach
c. through an enhanced reputation and influential power
Deszca, Organizational Change 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
d. by networks developed through participating in a number of change projects
17. In what way does an organization need to be centralized and simultaneously
decentralized?
a. All management should be centralized through functional alignment, but the
processes of work must be decentralized to suit the different groups and culture.
b. All change initiatives should be run centrally with representatives from decentralized
units.
c. Strategy and vision needs to be consistent but units must have autonomy and agility
to respond quickly to changing market conditions.
d. Any decisions regarding external partnerships need to be made centrally whereas
minor operational and sales decisions should be decentralized.
18. What is the best way for change agents to get others to engage with the change?
a. financial incentives and accountability
b. mandate managers implement pieces of change with their own teams
c. do you best to appeal and satisfy what everyone wants
d. inspire the hearts of employees with a powerful change vision
19. How should change agents deal with planning?
a. Have an explicit plan and ensure that it is carried out as originally intended.
b. Refrain from too much planning as conditions and situations will evolve too rapidly to
make it useful.
c. Have an explicit plan but understand that modification will be made and that
challenging that plan is a key part of the process.
d. Have a very general outline of the plan and goals to guide the initiative without too
much unnecessary work.
Deszca, Organizational Change 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Difficulty Level: Easy
20. How should you ensure that everyone joins the change initiative eventually?
a. mobilize senior leadership early and often to create pressure for everyone to join
b. you cannot. Some people will never join the change and that’s alright
c. create strict adherence guidelines around changed behaviors
d. model and communicate ad nauseum until the cultural naturally bends
True/False
1. Change is generally a fairly straightforward process.
2. The changing landscape and associated impacts for organizations mainly just affects
private companies.
3. Organizations should engage in multiple change initiatives at a time.
Short Answer
1. Please describe an organizational trend and how change agents are impacted.
Deszca, Organizational Change 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
2. What might a change in demographic and cultural landscape mean for change
agents?
3. Explain the natural career progression of a technically oriented change agent.