Deszca, Organizational Change 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Test Bank
CHAPTER 7: MANAGING RECIPIENTS OF CHANGE AND INFLUENCING INTERNAL
STAKEHOLDERS
Multiple Choice
1. Change leaders should use what language to refer to employees?
a. recipients
b. stakeholders
c. staff
d. colleagues
2. Which of the following is a reason for a change recipient to decide to support the
change?
a. The change will increase the employee’s salary.
b. The change will benefit leadership.
c. The change is consistent with their values.
d. The change will make their job more interesting.
3. Which of the following correlations between age and resistance to change is true?
a. Age is negatively related to resistance.
b. Younger workers are more likely to accept change.
c. Younger and older workers respond to change in the same way.
d. Age is positively related to resistance.
4. Why might change initiatives cause mixed feelings from change recipients?
a. how the organization is viewed by outsiders
b. changes in their ability to do their job
Deszca, Organizational Change 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
c. changes in compensation and bonuses
d. perception in how it will cause the organization to prosper or not
5. Which of the following is the least constructive coping mechanism to change?
a. proselytization
b. interrogation
c. complaints
d. sabotage
6. Which of the following statements is true about reactions to change?
a. People will almost always be disconcerted by the prospect of change.
b. People will have strong responses to change based on the perceived consequences
to them.
c. People will generally accept change that benefits the organization as a whole.
d. People will feel the same way about change that their peers do.
7. Which of the following is a change tool to help employees commit to a change?
a. using a single channel to communicate with the organization
b. using participative teams
c. using the change leader’s perspective to convince others of the change
d. keeping change initiatives vague since they will likely change
8. Which may be a reason that an individual would welcome change?
a. a chance for a new boss
b. a chance for variety
c. to improve organizational financial performance
Deszca, Organizational Change 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
d. to work longer hours
9. What is a risk of acceptance of change?
a. having the change move too quickly
b. the possibility of groupthink
c. accepting the wrong change for the organization
d. People are in it for the wrong reasons.
10. When there is ambivalence, change leaders should do which of the following?
a. Encourage people to deal with their emotions independently.
b. Create a space for people to discuss their concerns.
c. Allow people to find resolution with their peers.
d. Help people be at peace with the discomfort of change.
11. What is hardest for employees experiencing ambivalence to do?
a. Confidently voice their concerns and mixed feelings.
b. Turn to approaches that have worked in the past.
c. Actively seek out confirming data and reasoning.
d. Remember only attitude-consistent data.
12. Change leaders should approach mixed feelings using which of the following
actions?
a. Try to push employees to accept the change regardless of their feelings.
b. Ignore ambivalence by emphasizing the benefits of the change.
c. Continue with the change plan and expect employees to get onboard when they’re
ready.
Deszca, Organizational Change 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
d. Listen for information and sort out what actions are needed to achieve the change.
13. Which of the following statements is most accurate for why people undertake or
accept change initiatives?
a. People undertake change for the money.
b. People undertake change when they believe that the benefits outweigh the costs.
c. People undertake change when they are completely confident they are prepared and
it is the right step for the organization.
d. People undertake change to build their resumes and experience.
14. How might alignment issues cause a negative reaction to change?
a. Everyone’s reactions to the change are not aligned.
b. Change leader asks you to do something incongruent with what existing structures
and systems tell you to do.
c. The change is not widespread enough throughout the organization.
d. The communication coming from the change leaders may be contradictory.
15. What is the psychological contract?
a. the psychological addendum to an employee’s hiring contract
b. the assumptions people have about how the organization should treat them
c. an implicit contract built between employees and colleagues over time
d. the sum of the implicit and explicit agreements we believe we have with our
organization
Deszca, Organizational Change 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
16. What are common characteristics of the time before a change?
a. uncertainty, rumors, and anxiety
b. clear understanding of what’s coming and how it will impact employees
c. widespread excitement and acceptance of the change
d. shock, depression, and bargaining
17. What are common reactions during the change?
a. curiosity and engagement
b. discussion, teamwork, and interest
c. immobilization, denial, and sense of loss
d. confusion and resignation
18. What are common descriptors of the phase after the change?
a. feeling of guilt and alienation
b. achieving closure, adaption, and openness to the new reality
c. shock and numbness
d. happiness, gratefulness, and excitement
19. Which of the following comes first in Kotter’s change model?
a. establishing a sense of urgency
b. forming a change team
c. planning for short-term wins
d. creating a vision for change
20. Which of the following best describes survivor syndrome?
Deszca, Organizational Change 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
a. a feeling of responsibility and commitment to carry the organization forward
b. fully understanding the reasons the change was necessary
c. a sense of relief that one was kept when others were let go
d. lower motivation, guilt, and increased stress
21. People with a low tolerance for turbulence and ambiguity may display which of the
following during times of change?
a. a productive force toward order during the process
b. a desire to engage more with the change to help make sense of it
c. anticipation for the new equilibrium after the change
d. increased job satisfaction if the change is done well
22. People who have experienced long periods of stability and minimal change are likely
to respond to change in which of the following ways?
a. feeling unsettled with a higher perceived risk
b. a tendency to trust periods of increased change
c. a predisposition to try new strategies and tactics than the ones they have used
d. with anger and bitterness
23. If the opinions of those trusted by recipients of change are positive and the
recipients’ initial attitude toward the change is negative, recipients are likely to respond
in which of the following ways?
a. tempered support of the change with pressure to reconsider their support
b. opposed to the change but open to other perspectives
c. predisposed to involvement
d. vehemently opposed
Deszca, Organizational Change 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
24. Which of the following best describes sedentary activation?
a. participating in town hall meetings
b. using social media to discuss issues
c. yelling at the TV when one disagrees
d. sitting in professional development classes
25. In addition to the business case, Cranston and Keller believe that change leaders
should focus on which of the following?
a. the financial impacts on the bottom line
b. the marketing future state
c. the cost of the status quo
d. the benefits to society
26. When delivering unequivocally bad news to employees, which of the following can
help employee acceptance?
a. Senior leadership can give the news open and honestly.
b. Give people generous severance packages.
c. Have managers deliver the news personally to each employee.
d. Offer people strong references and connections to other employment.
27. Why do people become cynical?
a. They don’t want to work hard.
b. They want to fit in with their cynical colleagues.
c. Their experience with change has been negative or unreliable.
d. Cynicism is many people’s natural state.
Deszca, Organizational Change 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
28. Monique Leroux at Desjardins used which of the following effective strategies during
change management?
a. She used largely qualitative data to make her case.
b. She avoided firing people to keep tensions at bay.
c. She used bullying tactics to ensure people would be on board.
d. She used metrics to communicate to staff what they were working toward.
29. Why should leaders tolerate conflicting messages to followers?
a. to avoid the perception of silencing people
b. to make clear the people who don’t truly understand the change
c. because it will make the change process faster
d. to encourage people to voice concerns and avoid groupthink
30. How should leaders minimize the stress and anxiety that often comes from change?
a. Keep communication as succinct as possible to avoid redundancy.
b. Wait to communicate about the change until everything is finalized.
c. Create channels for employees to communicate just so you can say that you’ve
listened.
True/False
1. In addition to thinking about personal impacts, employees think about the benefits of
change to the organization.
2. If stakeholders are feeling ambivalent, leaders should help people make sense of the
proposed change.
3. Most of the psychological contract is implicit.
4. The tendency to rely on competencies and strategies that have worked in the past is
referred to as a competency trap.
5. When change leaders talk about significant change, they usually thoroughly focus on
the cost/benefit analysis of both changing and keeping with the status quo.
Short Answer
1. How should leaders respond to acceptance of change in their organizations?
2. What are reasons that a negative reaction to change may develop?
Deszca, Organizational Change 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
3. How can organizations encourage employees to be more open to change?
4. Think of a change that you’ve observed or been involved in. What could change
leaders have done better in light of the information in this chapter?
5. What is the benefit of using fear and coercion in leadership?