Deck 9: Understanding Groups and Managing Work Teams

Question 1

The official forming stage of the group development process wasn't complete until group members _________.

A)got acquainted with one another
B)experienced conflict
C)introduced one another
D)felt themselves a part of the group

Answer 1

felt themselves a part of the group

Question 2

Formal groups _________.

A)include people who eat lunch together each day
B)are defined by an organisation's structure
C)include people who share a common interest
D)meet at a regular time and place

Answer 2

are defined by an organisation's structure

Question 3

In the performing stage of group development, the group becomes cohesive.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

What defines a formal group?

A)The members' social status
B)Common interests
C)The organisation's structure
D)Dress codes

Question 5

Andrea, a new manager at Oola organisation, is interested in establishing a work group.If Andrea wants her group to be successful, what should she should she do first?

A)Make sure her employees are happy
B)Understand the definition of a group and how one develops
C)More innovation.Provide innovative solutions to problems
D)Develop new products faster at lower costs.

Question 6

In the third and fourth days of the retreat, the managers were in the _________ stage of group development.

A)performing
B)forming
C)adjourning
D)storming

Question 7

The group was in the _________ stage when they were competing to see who would lead the group.

A)adjourning
B)forming
C)storming
D)performing

Question 8

This kind of team brings individuals together from different work disciplines with different knowledge and skills.

A)Formal group
B)Cross-functional team
C)Command group
D)Self-managed team

Question 9

A group consists of managers who share specific goals.

Question 10

A group that has gone through the norming stage of the group development process _________.

A)may return to the performing or adjourning stage
B)never returns to the storming stage
C)always returns to the storming stage
D)may return to the forming or storming stage

Question 11

High levels of conflict _________.

A)are never a factor in group effectiveness
B)increase social loafing
C)can contribute to group effectiveness
D)always lead to greater group efficiency

Question 12

This stage involves the most conflict during the entire group development process.

A)Performing
B)Storming
C)Norming
D)Forming

Question 13

When the management team left the Hunter Valley to return to their own teams and departments, they had just completed the _________ stage of group development.

A)forming
B)storming
C)adjourning
D)performing

Question 14

During a recent meeting, a shouting match arose between a design manager and a marketing representative about a marketing plan for a new product.This team is most likely at the _________ stage of group development.

A)storming
B)conflict
C)norming
D)forming

Question 15

The forming stage of group development begins when people join the group.

Question 16

When the management group was determining standards and establishing how they would make decisions, they were in the _________ stage of group development.

A)forming
B)adjourning
C)norming
D)storming

Question 17

A manager will ensure that there is no conflict between group members.

Question 18

Informal groups tend to occur naturally in the workplace.

Question 19

The group is likely to work on its primary task during the adjourning stage of group development.

Question 20

To be considered a group, a gathering must include at least eight people.

Question 21

Small groups appear to perform better when it comes to _________.

A)social loafing
B)problem solving
C)efficiency of performing tasks
D)getting diverse input into a problem

Question 22

High cohesiveness combined with a very weak alignment between group goals and organisational goals typically results in this.

A)A productivity decrease
B)A large productivity increase
C)No productivity change
D)Moderate productivity increase

Question 23

High cohesiveness combined with a strong alignment between group goals and organisational goals typically results in _________

A)strong productivity increase
B)moderate productivity decrease
C)no productivity change
D)moderate productivity increase

Question 24

Solomon Asch could feel fairly confident that his results were legitimate because _________ pressured by the group.

A)only 1 per cent of respondents gave wrong answers when they were
B)35 per cent of respondents gave wrong answers when they were not
C)only 1 per cent of respondents gave wrong answers when they were not
D)90 per cent of respondents gave wrong answers when they were

Question 25

Define the performing stage of group development.

Question 26

Identify the two phases of the forming stage of group development.

Question 27

As the size of a group increases, the output of _________.

A)each group member tends to decrease
B)each group member tends to increase
C)the group stays the same
D)the group decreases

Question 28

An individual is given two different top priorities from two different managers.He or she is experiencing _________.

A)role reversal
B)role conflict
C)organisational conflict
D)social conflict

Question 29

Nancy is an administrative assistant who has the most desirable parking space in the company parking lot.This is an example of status _________.

A)equality
B)level
C)reversal
D)incongruence

Question 30

Solomon Asch found that in some conditions, group members would provide information that they knew to be _________.

A)unsubstantiated
B)doubtful
C)exaggerated
D)wrong

Question 31

Status incongruence can be upsetting to employees because it sends a signal that organisational accomplishments are _________.

A)not always rewarded consistently
B)never rewarded
C)rewarded fairly and justly
D)always rewarded

Question 32

The primary reason for why social loafing occurs is that output contributions from _________ easily be measured.

A)the entire group cannot
B)individuals can
C)the entire group can
D)individuals cannot

Question 33

How can managers guard against social loafing?

A)Managers must make a special effort to be fair to all group members
B)Managers must treat all group members equally
C)Mangers must look at the whole picture when evaluating group output
D)Managers must assess individual contributions of group members

Question 34

Large groups appear to perform better when the goal of the group is to _________.

A)interpret facts
B)solve problems quickly
C)create consensus on a new product
D)find facts

Question 35

Does a group always become more effective as it progresses through the first four stages?

Question 36

Define the norming stage of group development.

Question 37

Solomon Asch carried out pioneering studies in understanding _________.

A)group conformity
B)group status
C)group size
D)group roles

Question 38

Describe how a Green Team can avoid stagnation after one year.

Question 39

Members of a virtual team never actually communicate with one another.

Question 40

Group cohesiveness is largely a measure of how _________.

A)clear the group's goals are
B)attainable the group's goals are
C)much individuals share the group's goals
D)much the group's goals match organisational goals

Question 41

Ensuring that team successes are celebrated and setting specific goals for the areas of sustainable practice are key principles of _________.

A)Kraft Foods
B)Green Teams
C)work groups
D)mutual accountability

Question 42

Team diversity leads to _________ in overall team performance.

A)an eventual decrease
B)an eventual increase
C)an initial decrease
D)an immediate increase

Question 43

Discuss how the work of Solomon Asch might affect managerial behaviour.

Question 44

The use of work teams creates the potential for an organisation to generate _________.

A)greater outputs with greater inputs
B)fewer outputs with greater inputs
C)fewer outputs with fewer inputs
D)greater outputs with fewer inputs

Question 45

The characteristics that make a team effective include _________.

A)composition, diversity, autonomy and size
B)motivation, resources, leadership and trust
C)context, composition, work design and processes
D)job description, autonomy, skill variety and task significance

Question 46

The knowledge, skills and abilities of team members is a _________ factor that contributes to team effectiveness.

A)work design
B)composition
C)process
D)context

Question 47

A major compositional factor that contributes to making a team effective is _________.

A)autonomy
B)personality
C)team efficacy
D)adequate resources

Question 48

As groups get incrementally smaller, the contribution of individual members often tends to lessen.

Question 49

Research has shown that teams with _________ performed poorly.

A)less than nine members
B)one or more highly disagreeable member
C)members with high levels of conscientiousness
D)members who performed multiple roles

Question 50

Teams are increasingly popular among successful organisations because they have been found to _________.

A)outperform individuals in every kind of task
B)match the performance of individuals in many tasks
C)outperform individuals in many tasks
D)match the performance of individuals in every kind of task

Question 51

A major contextual factor that contributes to making a team effective is _________.

A)personality
B)diversity
C)trust
D)having specific goals

Question 52

How does social loafing affect a group? How can managers help combat this tendency?

Question 53

Dress codes and level of effort are examples of group norms.

Question 54

The studies by Solomon Asch show that group norms are a powerful force.

Question 55

A team that lacks new, interesting and exciting ideas needs which of the following to fulfil this team role?

A)Creator-innovator
B)Thruster-organiser
C)Upholder-maintainer
D)Linker

Question 56

When team members complain that they are not being paid enough, the team has a contextual problem known as _________.

A)performance evaluation and reward system
B)abilities of members
C)conflict levels
D)adequate resources

Question 57

Which Big Five personality traits have the greatest influence on team performance?

A)Agreeableness and emotional stability
B)Emotional stability and extraversion
C)Extraversion and conscientiousness
D)Conscientiousness and openness to experience

Question 58

Which statement is true of accountability?

A)Work team members are individually accountable only
B)Work team members are both individually and mutually accountable to one another
C)Work group members are both individually and mutually accountable to one another
D)Work group members are mutually accountable to one another

Question 59

High cohesiveness always results in a productivity increase.

Question 60

The main difference between work groups and work teams is that _________.

A)work teams share information
B)work teams have a common goal
C)work groups have a common goal
D)work groups share information

Question 61

The skills of a work team can vary randomly.

Question 62

A team that is suffering attacks by managers from another division needs which of the following to fulfil this team role?

A)Upholder-maintainer
B)Reporter-advisor
C)Thruster-organiser
D)Assessor-developer

Question 63

A team that lacks discipline needs which of the following to fulfil this team role?

A)Linker
B)Controller-inspector
C)Upholder-maintainer
D)Explorer-promoter

Question 64

Work teams require positive synergy between members.

Question 65

When assembling a team, managers should look for individuals who _________.

A)can fulfil team roles and have team skills
B)are team players
C)have both team and job skills
D)have required job skills

Question 66

Disagreeable team members rarely decrease team performance.

Question 67

Specific goals are a _________ factor that contributes to overall team effectiveness.

A)composition
B)work design
C)context
D)process

Question 68

An effective reward system should _________.

A)focus on competitive efforts rather than cooperative ones
B)base its incentives on the bottom line
C)ignore individual accomplishments
D)balance individual contribution with selfless contribution

Question 69

Which of the following should a team try to completely eliminate, if possible?

A)Disagreement
B)Social loafing
C)Individual accountability
D)Conflict

Question 70

Team efficacy is a measure of how _________ a team is.

A)cooperative
B)efficient
C)confident
D)skilled

Question 71

Groups are synonymous with teams.

Question 72

Accountability for a work team is strictly on an individual basis.

Question 73

Work teams that perform at a high level typically fill _________ different team roles.

A)six
B)nine
C)eight
D)ten

Question 74

Autonomy is a _________ factor that contributes to team effectiveness.

A)context
B)process
C)composition
D)work design

Question 75

Which of the following statements about team skills is correct?

A)Team skills cannot be picked up through training
B)Team skills can never be learned
C)Team skills are inborn
D)Team skills can be learned

Question 76

It is important that an organisation's reward system encourages _________ rather than _________.

A)pay increases; benefits increases
B)benefits increases; pay increases
C)competitive efforts; cooperative efforts
D)cooperative efforts; competitive efforts

Question 77

An effective team leader is often more of a coach than a manager.

Question 78

Effective teams typically need some _________.

A)social loafing
B)dysfunction
C)distrust
D)conflict

Question 79

Diverse teams perform better than uniform teams right from the start.

Question 80

Amazon's 'two-pizza' rule holds that work teams should _________.

A)include a homogeneous group of people who all like just one or two kinds of pizza
B)be small enough to be fed by two pizzas
C)have sixteen people or two, eight-slice pizzas
D)always have two alternatives when they make a decision