Chapter 5: Starting the Change

1. What is the deterministic view of organizational change advocated by some scholars?

That, no matter which external forces are at work outside of an organization, determined managers can influence change. That those forces for change which lie outside of the organization can facilitate a manager’s ability to influence change. That the realms of strategic choice for managers lie outside of the organization. That the ability of a manager to influence change is limited because the main determining forces lie outside of the organization.

2. What note of caution do Raynor et al. (2009) sound when discussing voluntaristic attitudes to managing change?

That some success is down to chance That not all managers have the necessary change skills That managers need to have confidence in their ability to make changes That most success is down to chance

3. Which of the following are two explanations for the insufficient faith in their own ability that managers often demonstrate?

Learned helplessness and staying in their comfort zone Locus of control and learned helplessness Locus of control and constantly covering up mistakes Learned helplessness and the needing to be congratulated on accomplishments

4. According to Seligman (1975), cognitive deficits involve a failure to learn that it is __________ to control what happens.

impossible possible difficult not easy but always possible

5. Pugh (1993) argues that those who are most likely to want to change are those who _______________________________________________________.

are already highly successful are basically successful but are experiencing tension or failure in some particular part of their work are consistently unsuccessful and need change to occur immediately have experienced a mixture of success and failure

6. What did Pitt et al. find in their 2002 study?

That rational appeals are much more effective than emotive symbols and speeches That a tell-and-sell approach is the most effective way of translating the need for change into a desire for change on the part of those who will be affected by the change That involving change recipients at an early stage can pull the organization in too many different directions That spreading a message via emotive symbols can be more effective than rational appeals

7. What two basic categories do the concepts and theories that managers can use to manage change fall into?

Process models and diagnostic models Diagnostic models and risk-averse models Process models and evolutionary models Evolutionary models and revolutionary models

8. What is the next step that Hayes recommends managers should take after persuading others of the need for change?

Communicate the change Establish a change relationship Decide who will facilitate the change Identify the client

9. Where the change agent is a member of the target system, entering the change relationship may not be too difficult because:

the change agent is an insider and known to others the change agent is a technical specialist they will already have the full support of all other employees there will be no need for preliminary data gathering

10. Why can the early stages of the relationship building process be critical?

Because clients can assume that the change agent isn’t friendly Because the change agent needs to be able to trust the clients Because it takes a long time for clients to form impressions about the change agent’s competence Because clients quickly form impressions about the change agent’s competence

11. What two additional issues should external change agents pay careful attention to?

Identifying the client and becoming friends with them Identifying the client and clarifying the issues to be addressed Clarifying the issues to be addressed and communicating them to all stakeholders Clarifying the issues to be addressed and taking instructions directly from the board

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