Chapter 27: Selecting Interventions

1. Which of the following is NOT a stage in Ettorre’s (1997) life cycle theory of management fads?

Discovery Wild acceptance Evaluation Hard core

2. Where the issue is defined in terms of a need for ‘transformational change’, Burke and Litwin (1992) suggest that the most effective interventions will be those that are targeted at changing elements such as:

mission and strategy structure and systems tasks and roles both a and b

3. Which of the following is NOT one of the four broad types of diagnosed issue according to the typology used by Cummings and Worley (2001) to classify interventions?

Human process issues Technostructural issues Human resource issues Cultural issues

4. Harrison (1970) posits a dimension running from surface to deep. Interventions that focus on external aspects of an individual and deal with the more public and observable aspects of behaviour are located at the __________ end of the continuum.

deep surface Neither a nor b

5. Harrison (1970) argues that as the level of intervention becomes deeper, the information needed to intervene becomes ___________.

easier to access more complex less available more straightforward

6. Which of the following is NOT an example of a human process intervention?

After action review Appreciative inquiry Workforce diversity T-groups

7. Which of the following can be classified as ‘deep’ strategic interventions?

Joint ventures Open systems planning Strategy mapping None of the above

8. There are frequent reports in academic journals and the business press indicating disappointment with the outcome of major change programmes that have involved interventions such as:

job design TQM BPR All of the above

9. T-group training is a form of _______________ training that provides participants with an opportunity to increase their awareness about themselves and their impact on others in order to learn how to function more effectively in groups.

business skills administrative skills social skills leadership skills

10. Job design is often presented as the universal answer to low commitment and poor performance in situations where people are required to perform:

tasks with long cycle times challenging tasks tasks that involve working alone repetitive, short cycle, simple tasks

11. Cummings and Worley (2001) report that, in the USA, a survey of Fortune 1000 companies showed that about _____ of them had implemented some form of TQM.

10% 90% 75% 5%

12. Which of the following is a factor to be considered when deciding how to sequence multiple interventions?

Politics Need for an early success Dynamics of change All of the above

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