REFRAMING ORGANIZATIONS TEST BANK
Chapter 1
True/False
1. The structural frame sees organizations as factories.
2. The primary sources of managerial “cluelessness” are personality disorders and IQ.
3. Frames are also called maps, mental models, cognitive lenses, schema, and mind sets.
4. The explosive technological and social changes of recent years have simplified our lives and our understandings of the world.
5. The most effective managers choose a single perspective or frame, and become highly-skilled specialists.
6. According to Bolman and Deal, “multiframe thinking” typically leads to confusion and paralysis.
7. Modern organizations rely too much on an artistic approach to management and too little on an engineering approach.
8. Bolman and Deal argue that most managers and leaders have trouble understanding complex situations, not because they lack the intelligence, but because they are unable to adopt multiple perspectives.
Answers
1. T (P. 15)- While the structural frame sees organizations as factories and machines; the human resource frame sees organizations as a family, the political frame sees organizations as jungles, and the symbolic frame sees organizations as carnivals, temples and theater.
2. F (Pp. 7-8) – While it is true that some managerial “cluelessness” comes from psychological flaws, personality disorders, and IQ; managerial “cluelessness” is primarily caused by clinging to entrenched mental models. This action does not allow the manager to make sense of situations or it encourages the misinterpretation of those situations that do not conform to these entrenched ways of thinking.
3. T (P. 10) – All of the images brought to mind by these different labels help to illustrate the notion of the use of frames.
4. F (P. 6) – These explosive technological and social changes have produced a world that is far more interconnected, frantic and complicated. We find ourselves “in over our heads” (Kegan, 1998). Forms of management and organization which were effective a few years ago are now obsolete.
5. F ( P. 15)
6. F (P. 18)
7. F (Pp. 20-1)
8. T
Multiple Choice
1. If, as a manager, you encounter an important problem that seems almost impossible to solve; Bolman and Deal would likely suggest that you:
a. Hire a consultant who brings the right knowledge and expertise to the problem
b. Stand out of the way and let someone else work on the issue
c. Try using different lenses to analyze the problem and develop strategies
d. Call a meeting of everyone who knows about the issue and make a group decision about what to do
2. It is argued that even the smartest managers take foolish actions in decision-making because they:
a. Are too clever for their own good
b. Have a parochial and distorted view of the problem at hand
c. Are driven by self-love and ego, which stifle their ability to understand a situation correctly
d. Fall into the trap of personality foibles such as pride, haughtiness and unconscious need to err
3. The political frame sees organizations as
a. Carnivals
b. Factories
c. Families
d. Jungles
4. The most successful mangers rely on which of the four frames to diagnose their situation?
- Structural
- Human Resource
- Political
- Symbolic
- All of the above
5. Which is not one of the four characteristics of the intuitive “blink” process?
- Conscious
- Very fast
- Holistic
- Results in “affective judgments”
6. Bolman and Deal describe the actions of the successful manager as similar to a skilled carpenter using the right tools for the job. Thus, a successful manager must:
a. Make sure their organizations are “level” (i.e., balanced)
b. Possess “a diverse collection of high-quality implements (i.e., frames)” along with the knowledge of when and how to use them
c. “Measure twice but cut once” (i.e., not make hasty decisions)
d. Have the right wood (i.e., employees) for the job
7. Bolman and Deal believe
a. All of the social science research in organizational studies can be meaningfully categorized into four frames
b. That the field of management research is quickly moving towards a unified approach to understanding organizations
c. The major schools of thought about organizations in the social sciences possess similar assumptions but differ in their understandings of organizations
d. Academic research has not contributed much to improve management practice
8. Multiframe thinking
a. Allows managers to discern which of the four frames in their model is most effective in understanding a particular situation they are facing
b. Confuses mangers by presenting too many ways to interpret a particular situation they are facing.
c. Allows a manager to obtain a more meaningful understanding of the situation they are facing that any one frame alone would not provide
d. Clarifies the rank order of the accurateness of the multiple frames
Answers
1. c (P. 18) – Each frame has its own image of reality. Applying and understanding the four frames deepens your understanding of organization. This approach will allow you to develop a solution by way of a clearer understanding of the nature of the problem. Since you directly experience the problem in a way a consultant cannot, an internal solution may be arrived at more easily, without the added expense of the consultants time.
2. b (Pp. 7-8) - Managers get trapped in entrenched mental models that do not allow them to make sense of or misinterpret situations that do not conform to these entrenched ways of thinking. This leads to foolish actions and decision making.
3. d (P. 16) - While the political frame see organizations as jungles, the structural frame sees organizations as factories and machines, the human resource frame sees organizations as a family, and the symbolic frame sees organizations as carnivals, temples and theater
4. e (P. 19) – Successful managers do not rely on any one particular frame, rather employ multiple frames to makes sense of situations they encounter.
5. a (P. 11) – “Conscious” is not one of the four characteristics of the intuitive “blink” process because the “blink” process is engaged without conscious awareness.
6. b (Pp. 13-14) – Like maps, frames are both windows on a territory and tools for navigation. Every tool has distinct strengths and limitations. The right tool makes a job easier. But the wrong one gets in the way.
7. a. (P. 14) - The authors believe that the social science researchers have developed multiple perspectives through which to research and understand organizations. Each perspective holding a unique set of assumptions. Each of these perspectives provides a different frame through which to examine organizations. They have sorted these perspectives into four underlying frames.
8. c (Pp. 18-19) – Each of the four frames provides a different image of organizations and a different understanding of a particular situation a manager faces. Thus, using the four frames creates a more meaningful understanding of organizations than any one frame would alone.
Conceptual/Open-ended Questions
1. Ultimately, what do Bolman & Deal see at the primary the reason Bob Nardelli failed as CEO of Home Depot?
2. What is a frame and what does it allow a manger to accomplish?
3. What is “reframing” and why is it an important skill for managers?
4. Describe the cognitive process called anchoring?
Answers
1. Bob Nardelli failed as CEO for Home Depot because he was only able to see part of the picture of what he was facing. Successful leaders have the ability to see the whole picture from multiple frames. In the case study, the CEO of Home Depot, Bob Nardelli, had an incomplete picture of the operation that negatively impacted Home Depot’s results. He possessed that incomplete or distorted picture because he overlooked or misinterpreted important signals. Implementing a command and control structure, he focused only on operational efficiency at Home Depot and he neglected the aspects of customer care that made Home Depot successful. Through his actions, he fundamentally changed Home Depot’s culture, which led to a decline in employee morale and customer service. This course of action severely damaged his relationship with investors and the board of directors of Home Depot. (Pp. 3-4)
2. It is a set of ideas and assumptions that help a manager understand and negotiate a particular “territory.” It permits a manger to register and assemble key bits of perceptual data into a coherent picture of what is happening. It allows a manger to know what she is up against and ultimately, what she can do about it. (P. 11)
3. Reframing is the ability to break frames – the ability to move from utilizing one frame to utilizing another frame to make sense of the situation a manager faces. Having the ability to employ multiple frames allows a manger to create a more meaningful understanding of the multitude of different situations she faces. Reframing encourages a manager to use more than one frame to make sense of the situation. Every frame has strengths and limitations, and thus, each frame is more or less valuable for making sense of a particular situation. (Pp. 12-13)
4. Anchoring is a cognitive process that occurs when a decision maker locks into a particular answer to a problem or understanding of a situation in spite of the fact that some of the facts of the situation do not fit decision maker’s answer or understanding of the situation. (P. 12)
Matching
1. Match each frame with its corresponding metaphor:
FRAME METAPHOR
Symbolic Family
Political Carnival
Structural Jungle
Human Resource Factory
Answers
1. Exhibit 1.1, P. 18
The following frame and metaphor correspond with one another:
FRAME METAPHOR
Symbolic Carnival
Political Jungle
Structural Factory
Human Resource Family
Chapter 2
True/False
1. According to Bolman and Deal, the world we see is primarily constructed from within on the basis of the ideas and needs we bring to a situation. {I think this one is too specific to a particular author}
2. Research has shown that individuals spin reality to support their existing beliefs.
3. Bolman and Deal argue that the most important causes of organizational problems are individual ineptitude, bureaucratic red tape, and political thirst for power.
4. Bolman and Deal believe that the field of organizational studies is fragmented.
5. A key source of error in the incident in which pilots mistakenly shot down “friendly” helicopters over Iraq was that the pilots saw what they expected to see rather than what was there.
6. Bolman and Deal believe that stricter rules and policies are the best way of making a sick organization better.
7. Senge and Oshry argue that “…failure to read system dynamics traps us in a cycle of
blame and self-defense.”
8. Bolman and Deal say that organizations are complex, surprising, frenetic, and ambiguous.
Answers
1. T (P. 39)
2. T (Pp. 39-40) – Because our theories are self-sealing filters, they tend to block us from seeing our errors. We are encouraged to see the world in a way that supports our existing beliefs, but not in ways that challenge and disrupt our existing beliefs.
3. F (Pp. 25-28) – These perceived causes are common fallacies in explaining organizational problems.
4. F (P. 41) – They believe it to be pluralistic. It offers a rich assortment of lenses for understanding organizations.
5. T (Pp. 36-37) – Often, because of our existing mental models, we see what we know or believe rather than what is actually happening. The pilots had been trained to learn scripts of destroying enemy aircrafts that they locked on and this inhibited them from seeing what was actually there.
6. F (Pp. 27-28) – Stricter policies might work in cases where an organization needs more control, but often will make things worse by generating bureaucratic rigidity, inhibiting freedom and flexibility, stifling innovation and generating reams of red tape.
7. T (P. 35)
8. F (Pp. 31-32)
Multiple Choice
1. In their book entitled Organizations, James March and Herbert Simon believe
a. in the “rational man” theory.
b. that organizational members maximize their utility when making decisions.
c. that organizational members “satisfice” when making decisions.
d. that organizational members consider all of the possible options available and pick the best one when making decisions.
2. Decision makers tend to respond ______to an option that has “a 70 per cent chance of success” as compared to an option that has “a 30 percent chance of failure.”
a. Less favorably
b. More favorably
c. Equally favorably
3. Bolman and Deal discuss four basic characteristics of organizations that challenge managers. Organizations are:
a. Complex, surprising, deceptive, ambiguous
b. Aimless, ambling, awkward, apraxic
c. Free-flowing, flawed, frenetic, far-flung
d. Dysfunctional, disappointing, disorganized, demoralizing
4. Which one of these is not a common fallacy in explaining organizational problems identified by Bolman and Deal?
- Blaming people
- Thirsting for power
- System weaknesses
- Blaming the bureaucracy
5. According to Bolman and Deal, turbulent, rapidly shifting situations require the organization to ______.
a. Continuously invest in the latest technologies
b. Utilize only short-term sources of capital
c. Create strategies for 6-month periods
d. Learn better and faster
6. Barry Oshry believes that system blindness
a. Occurs in a limited amount of organizations
b. Is caused by feeling overwhelmed by complexity, responsibility and overwork in employees at the bottom
c. Is rooted in troubled relationships between groups that have little grasp of what’s above or below their level
d. Traps us in a cycle of blaming and self defense
e. c and d
7. Bolman and Deal believe that organizations dealing with a complicated and uncertain environment should try to make it simpler by
a. Developing better systems and technology to collect and process information
b. Developing better mental maps to anticipate complicated and unforeseeable problems
c. Breaking complex issues into smaller chunks and assign them to specialized individuals of units
d. Hiring or developing professionals with sophisticated expertise in handling thorny problems.