Exam 7: Innovation and Adaptability

A change in demand for health care employees is an example of an economic change.

Empowering employees to make decisions so decision making could be faster is a ________ change.

Fred Fryer's Donuts (Scenario) Since the integration of two new stores, Fred Fryer's Donuts, Inc. has recognized that there is a need for reengineering the entire organization. The main need is to install new state-of-the-art kitchen equipment in the seven remaining stores, and then dispose of all old equipment to a salvage dealer or else incur a loss. The employees will have to be trained to operate the new computer programmed equipment. Some of the older employees are worried that learning the computerized system may be too difficult. Fred is setting up the main store as a training store. The regular employees from the main store have the responsibility of instructing the classes or overseeing the installation of the new equipment and testing its operation before employees return to their jobs. The organization is also replacing the old employee reporting system. Ordering of materials will now be done by an intranet. Fred has promised that no one will lose his or her job because of the organizational changes. He estimates that when the employees get to the computer programming training, as many as 10 percent of the current employees will resign or retire. He also thinks that opening a new store will absorb the excess employees. -Which of the following courses of actions is best for Fred and the team leaders to practice if they need to overcome employee resistance?

In an uncertain economic environment,it is important that employees don't feel they have to ________ because it is unsafe for them to do so.

Lightspeed.com (Scenario) Edwin Edwards is a team leader for Lightspeed.com, 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 a 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 organizational 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 "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 objectives accomplished instead of wasting time trying to decide who should be doing what tasks. -If Edwin wanted to change people and the quality of interpersonal work relationships,he could do so by implementing ________ programs.

Frequent interunit communication helps to facilitate innovation.

One of the biggest challenges facing both large and small companies today is the fluctuating labour market and finding suitable employees.

Changes in work specialization,chain of command,span of control,job design,or degree of centralization fall under which category of options that a manager can change?

Adaptive organizations recognize that change is perpetual.

In the "white-water rapids" metaphor of change,managers should expect change at any time,and it may last for unspecified lengths of time.

Which of the following represents the relationship between organizational culture and change?

In a short essay,describe in detail what is meant by creativity and innovation.Next,discuss the three sets of variables that have been found to stimulate innovation.

Wicked problems is a slang term used by employees who come across problems they cannot solve and must pass on to other departments.

A company that decides to decentralize its sales procedures is managing what change category?

Adaptive organizations need clear and efficient structures in place to meet the changing environmental challenges.

In the ________ metaphor,change is normal and expected and managing it is a continual process.

Design thinking can provide a process for ________.

Which of the following is a mistake that managers make when leading change?

Culture of innovation is important for companies in the face of rapid technological changes.

Which of the following cultural variables is characteristic of innovative organizations?