Exam 7: Managing Change and Innovation

Which of the following terms best describes the two primary views of the change process?

Making Change Happen Colin was getting accustomed to his surroundings in state government.His efforts at getting people to accept change had met with a little resistance due to his and his new director's efforts and the hard work of his subordinates.But now the hard part had really started - actually managing the change.What techniques could he and his department's new director employ to most effectively implement changes that would result in increased productivity in his department? He considered changing three aspects of his department: the structure, technology and people. -Refer to Making Change Happen (Scenario).If the new department's director decided to remove layers in the agency and increase the span of managerial control, this would be considered changing the ________.

According to the textbook, the ________ is consistent with uncertain and dynamic environments.

Which of the following is true concerning stress?

Which of the following reactions to change is a threat to the investment you have already made in the status quo?

eVolve - Reorganisation eVolve is a mid-size company designing and developing e-commerce websites for retailers.It has been operating for the last 15 years with many of its original staff.It has had all the traditional departments: sales, accounting, web designers and HR.The company has been very successful, recruiting dozens of new customers each month.Since their clients have been very happy with their work, eVolve has had many new clients referred by word-of-mouth, and now they have a much greater demand for their services.The CEO has consulted the department heads and they have decided that the best thing to do is to restructure the company into a team-based structure, where cross-functional teams work together on different projects.The decision has been made public and employees have begun to respond.While some employees are very supportive of the idea, some fear that it would lead to greater confusion and inefficiencies, which will result in poorer performance.Others are concerned about the possibility of losing their positions.Management has considered these thoughts, but is still determined to move ahead with the change. -Refer to eVolve - Reorganisation (Scenario).If management makes training for new roles available to employees, they would be using ________ as a way to address resistance to change.

________ is an adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure placed on them by extraordinary demands, constraints or opportunities.

Lightspeed.com.au Edwin Edwards is a team leader for Lightspeed.com.au, an e-business that has employees in every global time zone.Some of the factors that the team has to contend with are deadlines, strong work ethic, creativity-innovation chain, high-speed turnaround and professionalism.As team leader, Edwin sees team members via videoconference only a few times per year or via compressed video via internet a few times more per year.A frustration that he is encountering himself is that he works with all of these people and does not have control over their 'actual' work or the few organisational rules, regulations and policies.Yet, due to the position he is in, he feels he gets all of their complaints.The team does not deal well when a member offers an innovative, 'off-the-wall' solution to a team problem; team members seem to have more trouble with this than any other team-conflict issue.What he likes most about leading the team is that they seem to prefer getting their objective accomplished instead of wasting time trying to decide who should be doing what tasks. -Refer to Lightspeed.com.au (Scenario).The part Edwin likes the most is that the team seems to prefer getting their objective accomplished instead of wasting time, which indicates that the team is ________.

Changing the Way Due to his spouse's accepting a promotion, Colin had recently left his private sector job in Adelaide and accepted a new position in public service in Victoria.The change had been quite a shock at first.The organisational cultures were quite different, and each environment offered a different set of challenges.One new challenge Colin accepted was implementing changes into a state government system.Historically, this environment had not seen a lot of changes and now, with the changes in Canberra and the privatisation of many government services, change was necessary.Plus, his department director was also new and had announced that the department would be developing a new strategic plan.Colin had been through many changes recently and would be involved in more in the near future. -Refer to Changing the Way (Scenario).The past environment of state government, with very little change where the status quo is considered the equilibrium state, would be consistent with ALL BUT which of the following terms?

Managers' options for change essentially fall into which three categories?

According to the textbook, managers in such businesses as wireless telecommunications, computer software, pharmaceuticals and women's high-fashion clothing have long confronted the ________.

Qantas including employees on the committee to decide what colour the new uniform colours should be is an example of what tactic for reducing change resistance?

Changing the Way Due to his spouse's accepting a promotion, Colin had recently left his private sector job in Adelaide and accepted a new position in public service in Victoria.The change had been quite a shock at first.The organisational cultures were quite different, and each environment offered a different set of challenges.One new challenge Colin accepted was implementing changes into a state government system.Historically, this environment had not seen a lot of changes and now, with the changes in Canberra and the privatisation of many government services, change was necessary.Plus, his department director was also new and had announced that the department would be developing a new strategic plan.Colin had been through many changes recently and would be involved in more in the near future. -Refer to Changing the Way (Scenario).If Colin accepts the responsibility and acts as a catalyst for change, he could be referred to as a(n)________.

________ is a technological change that replaces people with machines.

According to Kurt Lewin, increasing the driving forces, which direct behaviour away from the status quo, is a means of doing which of the following?

Management offering the union guaranteed wage hikes and a no-layoff promise in exchange for help in implementing a new production process would be an example of what kind of tactic for reducing change resistance?

'Creativity' is the process of taking an idea and turning it into a useful product, service or method of operation.

Which of the following is the primary condition to reducing organisational stress?

'Manipulation' is using direct threats.

Making Change Happen Colin was getting accustomed to his surroundings in state government.His efforts at getting people to accept change had met with a little resistance due to his and his new director's efforts and the hard work of his subordinates.But now the hard part had really started - actually managing the change.What techniques could he and his department's new director employ to most effectively implement changes that would result in increased productivity in his department? He considered changing three aspects of his department: the structure, technology and people. -Refer to Making Change Happen (Scenario).Colin decided to replace some employee work time with a telephone menu system.This would be considered changing the ________.