Clampitt, Communicating for Managerial Effectiveness 5e
Instructor Resources: Testbank
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Chapter 9: Communicating About Change
Multiple Choice
1. The central focus of the ____ approach is not on who champions the change, but on
what is right in the given situation.
a. Top-down
b. Bottom-up
c. Integrative orientation
d. Entrepreneurial orientation
2. The main assumption of the ____ approach is that those in leadership positions are
in a better position to recognize the need for change.
a. Top-down
b. Bottom-up
c. Integrative orientation
d. Entrepreneurial orientation
3. A change initiator views an organizational change as nonroutine while a receiver
views the change as relatively routine. The likely communication impact of this
situation is
a. under-communication from the change initiator
b. over-communication from the change initiator
4. In dealing with a nonroutine change, your author proposes that managers spend the
majority of their communication resources dealing with what type of issues?
a. determining what channels to use
b. crafting the actual communication message
c. determining the timing of the communication
d. analyzing the context and the audiences
5. According to your author, what questions need to be addressed in the strategic
design phase?
a. What is a theme that energizes and motivates?
b. How should communication resources be allocated?
c. Who are the key opinion leaders of each group?
Clampitt, Communicating for Managerial Effectiveness 5e
Instructor Resources: Testbank
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d. All of the above
e. a and b
6. Your author proposes that when employees are faced with a major change, they go
through stages of reaction similar to experiencing grief. The stages, in order, are:
a. depression, denial, anger, bargaining, acceptance
b. denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance
c. anger, denial, depression, bargaining, acceptance
d. depression, denial, bargaining, anger, acceptance
7. A nonroutine change has been introduced in a company. If an employee becomes
apathetic, appears listless and begins to miss work, that employee is probably at
what reaction stage?
a. denial
b. bargaining
c. depression
d. anger
8. In the Iceberg Model, contextual analysis focuses on which of the following
questions?
a. How congruent is the change with the culture?
b. What are the major groups of employees that will be affected by the change?
c. Who are the key opinion leaders?
d. What channels should be used?
e. All of the above
9. A change initiator views an organizational change as routine while a receiver views
the change as nonroutine. The likely communication impact of this situation is
a. under-communication from the change initiator
b. over-communication from the change initiator
10. Addressing issues such as: 1) what channels to use, 2) who should be the
spokespeople and 3) what should be the timing of the communications, are
questions posed in what phase of the change process?
Clampitt, Communicating for Managerial Effectiveness 5e
Instructor Resources: Testbank
a. contextual analysis
b. audience analysis
c. strategic design
d. tactical preparation
True/False
11. “Rich” channels are usually better for communicating nonroutine communication
because they allow for rapid feedback and quick adaption to employee concerns.
12. The usual impact of change on productivity is that when a change is introduced,
productivity usually rises at first, then drops off.
13. Undercommunicating is more problematic than overcommunicating.
14. A major change has been introduced into a company. Employees are trading favors
and trying to make deals with the change initiators. Appropriate actions for the
change initiator(s) would be to foster impressions that they agree with employees
and to give in to employee demands.
15. The goal for the audience analysis stage is to treat all audiences the same by
presenting the same message and using the same channels so that one group does
not feel that there has been any preferential treatment.
Short Answer
16. What is the “Goldilocks” zone? Provide an example.
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17. What are the 5 stages of reaction that most employees experience when faced with
a major change? Explain each stage.
18. What is audience analysis? Why is analyzing the audiences important when
communicating change?
19. Describe 3 critical questions about the context that change initiators should ask in
order to anticipate the degree of “push–back” they will experience.
20. What is the “wheel of interpretation”? Why is it important for change initiators to
think about the wheel?