Organizational Culture & Change Flashcards
7 cards from real CCA practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Organizational Culture & Change flashcards as text
In Lewin's Force Field Analysis, which action most directly accelerates movement toward a desired change state?
Answer: Reducing restraining forces to lower total resistance
Lewin emphasized that reducing restraining forces is often more effective than simply adding driving forces, which can increase tension.
An organization's culture is described as 'high power distance.' How does this most likely affect a bottom-up change initiative?
Answer: Ideas from lower levels will be filtered or ignored without senior endorsement
In high power distance cultures, authority gradients suppress upward communication, so bottom-up ideas rarely gain traction without visible executive support.
Which cultural reinforcement mechanism is MOST powerful in sustaining behavioral change over time?
Answer: Aligned reward and recognition systems tied to new behaviors
Reward and recognition systems reinforce new behaviors continuously, making them self-sustaining rather than dependent on one-time interventions.
A CCA practitioner is assessing organizational readiness for change. Which factor is the LEAST reliable indicator of true readiness?
Answer: Availability of change management budget
Budget availability indicates financial capacity, not cultural readiness; organizations can be well-funded yet culturally unprepared for change.
When a change initiative fails to take root in an organization's culture, which of the following is most often the root cause according to Kotter?
Answer: Changes were not anchored in the organizational culture
Kotter's Step 8 identifies failure to anchor changes in culture as the most common reason transformations don't stick.
A change agent is working in a collectivist national culture. How should communication about a change initiative be adapted?
Answer: Frame the change in terms of group benefit and collective success
Collectivist cultures prioritize group welfare and harmony, so change messages framed around shared success resonate more effectively.
Which of the following best differentiates 'transactional change' from 'transformational change' in an organizational context?
Answer: Transactional change involves incremental process improvements while transformational change alters fundamental culture and identity
Transactional change optimizes existing systems, while transformational change requires rethinking organizational identity, values, and culture.