Change Management Professional Standards & Competencies 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: According to ACMP's Standard for Change Management, which activity is part of the 'Define Success' phase?
- Establishing metrics to measure change adoption (Correct answer)
- Recruiting change champions across the organization
- Conducting a force field analysis
- Drafting the project charter
Correct answer: Establishing metrics to measure change adoption
Defining success requires establishing measurable metrics that will indicate whether change adoption has occurred as intended.
Question 2: A change manager notices resistance from mid-level managers who feel bypassed. Which competency is MOST critical to apply?
- Technical project planning
- Stakeholder engagement and facilitation (Correct answer)
- Risk quantification modeling
- Organizational restructuring
Correct answer: Stakeholder engagement and facilitation
Stakeholder engagement and facilitation skills are essential for addressing resistance and ensuring managers feel included in the change process.
Question 3: Which ethical obligation does a change practitioner have when asked by a sponsor to withhold negative impact data from affected employees?
- Comply if the sponsor has authority
- Report concerns internally and document the request (Correct answer)
- Immediately escalate to regulators
- Resign from the engagement
Correct answer: Report concerns internally and document the request
Ethical practice requires change professionals to raise concerns through internal channels and document requests that conflict with transparency obligations.
Question 4: What distinguishes a change management plan from a communications plan?
- The change management plan encompasses all change activities, while the communications plan focuses solely on messaging (Correct answer)
- The communications plan is broader and includes training
- They are interchangeable terms for the same document
- The change management plan is owned by HR, not the project team
Correct answer: The change management plan encompasses all change activities, while the communications plan focuses solely on messaging
The change management plan is the overarching document covering all change activities, while the communications plan is one component focused on messaging strategies.
Question 5: A Prosci-certified practitioner is asked to skip the awareness phase because the sponsor wants to move directly to training. The BEST response is to:
- Comply immediately to satisfy the sponsor
- Explain that awareness must precede training for adoption to occur (Correct answer)
- Redesign the training to include awareness content only
- Escalate to the PMO for arbitration
Correct answer: Explain that awareness must precede training for adoption to occur
The ADKAR model establishes that Awareness must be built before training (Knowledge) will be effective, and a practitioner should educate the sponsor on this sequencing.
Question 6: Which of the following BEST describes 'change saturation' and how a change manager should address it?
- Employees are too enthusiastic; slow the rollout
- Too many simultaneous changes overwhelm employees; prioritize and sequence initiatives (Correct answer)
- Change has been fully adopted; transition to business-as-usual
- Sponsors are funding too many projects; reduce scope
Correct answer: Too many simultaneous changes overwhelm employees; prioritize and sequence initiatives
Change saturation occurs when the volume of concurrent changes exceeds employees' capacity to absorb them, requiring prioritization and sequencing of initiatives.
Question 7: Which body of knowledge is MOST commonly referenced as the global standard for change management competencies?
- PMI's PMBOK Guide
- ACMP's Standard for Change Management (Correct answer)
- ISO 9001 Quality Management Standard
- SHRM's HR Competency Model
Correct answer: ACMP's Standard for Change Management
ACMP's Standard for Change Management is the globally recognized professional standard specifically designed for the change management discipline.
Change Management Professional Standards & Competencies 2
According to ACMP's Standard for Change Management, which activity is part of the 'Define Success' phase?