Deck 12: Developing and Leading Teams

Question 1

Which of the following is a key feature of any team?

A) clearly defined roles for each member
B) distinct and differing competencies of individual members
C) shared commitment by members for their joint performance
D) independent thinking and individual goals

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The product development team cannot understand why the product they developed a year ago is not selling. The team leader refuses to think the product is becoming outdated and is unwilling to consider new alternatives to the product. One member, however, suggested further market testing to gather additional information. The others, intimidated by the team leader, hold onto the notion that the product is worthwhile and refuse to acknowledge that it might need enhancement. This is an example of groupthink.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

One of the signs of an effective team is that the team allows management to diagnose the team's processes and gives the team guidelines for how to improve functioning.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

In "Learning from Experience: Boeing's Development of Teams and Their Leaders," the intranet site at Boeing brings instructional materials and diagnostic tools designed to help employees with issues related to

A) goal-setting.
B) product development.
C) teamwork.
D) career advancement.

Question 5

As outlined in "Teams Competency: Empowered Teams at W. L. Gore & Associates," Gore is based on a "pyramid structure" that revolves around strict lines of communication; employees and teams communicate and are responsible only to their boss.

Question 6

The "Learning from Experience: Boeing's Development of Teams and Their Leaders" shows how an environment of fear and distrust can prevent team leaders from assessing information.

Question 7

When team members fear that a group member may free ride, they resort to a tactic known as shirking.

Question 8

Allison works in the accounting department of her company. She is part of a team that includes a person from each of the company's six field offices. The team must work together to review and approve employee expense reports and allocate funds to see that employees are paid in a timely manner and that the employees adhere to established guidelines. This is an example of a cross-functional team.

Question 9

Georgia and her coworkers occasionally got together after work for drinks. These social outings evolved into the group meeting once a month for dinner and a show. Because this group meets its members' personal security, esteem, and belonging needs, it can be classified as a(n)

A) friendship group.
B) task group.
C) incentive group.
D) work group.

Question 10

Task groups are

A) formed by employees for the purpose of establishing friendships.
B) formed by management to accomplish certain organizational goals.
C) formed by employees to discuss work-related issues outside of the office.
D) formed by management to bring leaders and employees together socially.

Question 11

An informal leader is an individual whose influence in a team grows over time and usually reflects a unique ability to help the team reach its goals.

Question 12

In "Teams Competency: Value-Based Care Teams at Cleveland Clinic," the use of patient care teams has improved the quality of patient care.

Question 13

In the workplace, a group serves as either a friendship group or a task group, but not both.

Question 14

Any number of people who share goals, often communicate with one another over a period of time, and are few enough so that each individual may communicate with all the others, person-to-person is referred to as

A) a team.
B) a group.
C) a unit.
D) an organization.

Question 15

Problem-solving teams do not fundamentally reorganize work or change the role of managers; they simply focus on a specific issue, develop a potential solution, and take action within defined limits.

Question 16

In the punctuated equilibrium model, teams experience both periods of inertia and transition.

Question 17

In the five-stages model of team development, no particular period of time is needed for a team to progress from one stage to the next.

Question 18

One of the insights presented in the "Across Cultures Competency: Alcoa's Virtual Teams" is that virtual teams enhance communication because the body language, emotions, and sentiments of team members are easier to grasp in a virtual setting than they are in face-to-face settings.

Question 19

Superordinate goals may have a more powerful effect on the willingness of individuals or teams to cooperate if they are accompanied by team rewards established by higher management.

Question 20

In "Communication Competency: Nestlé's Digital Acceleration Teams," Nestlé believes community management for the firm is an area that is best handled externally, through outsourcing.

Question 21

In the punctuated equilibrium model of team development, what occurs in the transition between phase 1 and phase 2?

A) The team develops a sense of urgency based on deadlines and time pressures.
B) The team experiences conflict and begins to deviate from the already-established team goals.
C) The team realizes that all members must work together to accomplish the goal.
D) The team moves from getting acquainted and accepting one another to determining how members will accomplish the task.

Question 22

What occurs during the first phase of the punctuated equilibrium model of team development?

A) Team members get to know one another and define goals.
B) Teams look for new perspectives on how to accomplish the task.
C) Teams determine a specific approach to task accomplishment.
D) Teams experience conflict over the priorities of goals and specific team member goals.

Question 23

In the five-stages model of team development, the vertical axis represents ______ and the horizontal axis represents ______.

A) time together; degree of maturity
B) time to completion; number of deadlines
C) degree of maturity; time together
D) number of deadlines; time to completion

Question 24

A team that has potency, meaningfulness, autonomy, and impact is said to be

A) restrained.
B) futile.
C) empowered.
D) realistic.

Question 25

The termination of task-related behaviors and disengagement from interpersonal behaviors occur during the _______ stage of team development.

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

Question 26

Bradley notices that some members of his work group have begun arguing with one another and are questioning the responsibility of individual team members. Others in the group are trying to force their agenda on the whole group. These are typical examples of a group in the ______ stage of team development.

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

Question 27

The punctuated equilibrium model of team development focuses on

A) the influence of social and personal relationships on team progress.
B) the influence of time constraints and deadlines on team progress.
C) how differing leadership styles affect the progress of a team.
D) how teams progress through a universal set of stages.

Question 28

Within the marketing, purchasing, and human resources departments of many organizations, teams of employees work together daily on similar tasks and coordinate their efforts. These would be considered

A) problem-solving teams.
B) functional teams.
C) cross-functional teams.
D) self-managed teams.

Question 29

Which type of team is frequently used to foster innovation and/or respond to customer needs by improving inputs or outputs or increasing service innovation across functional departments?

A) self-managed team
B) functional team
C) cross-functional team
D) problem-solving team

Question 30

When team members accept and trust one another, give accurate feedback, and reinforce a sense of clear and shared goals, they are most likely in the ______ stage of team development

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

Question 31

Cynthia has an issue at work that needs to be solved. She is trying to determine whether she should assemble a team to tackle the problem or just let her coworker Phil handle it. Which of the following is NOT a good reason for Cynthia to use a team approach for this situation?

A) She will need the team's members to rely on one another to perform their jobs.
B) She thinks that having a diverse group of people and approaches will be more effective.
C) She is looking for a way to establish camaraderie among her employees.
D) She feels that acceptance of the decisions arrived at is crucial for effective implementation by team members.

Question 32

Randy is part of a team tasked with the specific issue of how to lower production costs. Although Randy is part of the firm's finance department, the team also includes employees from production and engineering. The team will meet once a week to develop a solution and how to implement it. This is an example of a ______ team.

A) functional
B) cross-functional
C) self-managed
D) problem-solving

Question 33

Which of the following characterizes an effective team?

A) Team members experience a sense of freedom to be themselves while feeling a sense of belonging with others.
B) Team members understand that conflict is best dealt with privately, apart from the group, so as not to hurt the feelings of any team member.
C) Team members agree that individuals should develop guidelines and procedures for decision-making that work best for him or her.
D) Team members rely on management for rules about how to function and make decisions.

Question 34

When used improperly, teams can have negative effects. Which of the following is NOT an effect of the improper use of teams?

A) employee boredom
B) reduced goal clarity
C) reduced motivation
D) excessive costs

Question 35

To function effectively, teams need an appropriate level of ______, which comes from having a sense of potency, meaningfulness, autonomy, and impact.

A) discipline
B) feedback
C) reinforcement
D) empowerment

Question 36

Walt likes the fact that his team has a choice in how it carries out its tasks. To which dimension of team empowerment does this relate?

A) impact
B) autonomy
C) potency
D) meaningfulness

Question 37

Which of the following words BEST characterizes the norming stage of team development?

A) conflict
B) cooperation
C) disengagement
D) familiarity

Question 38

The five-stages model of team development shows that

A) as deadlines approach, team members feel more pressure to perform and often respond by resolving differences to complete the task.
B) the time spent on each stage is roughly equal, regardless of the task to be performed.
C) the progression of each stage is linear and recycling to a previous stage is unproductive and therefore, not allowed.
D) pinpointing the development stage of a team at any specific time is easy to ascertain since behaviors in each stage are unique.

Question 39

In "Teams Competency: Empowered Teams at W.L. Gore & Associates," which of the following is NOT one of the four guiding principles set down by Bill Gore?

A) understanding that allegiance to the company is more important than allegiance to any one team
B) fairness to each other and everyone with whom one comes in contact
C) freedom to encourage, help, and allow other associates to grow in knowledge, skill, and scope of responsibility
D) consultation with other associates before undertaking actions that could impact the reputation of the company

Question 40

The degree to which members of a team perceive the group as being competent and able to accomplish work-related tasks is referred to as

A) autonomy.
B) impact.
C) meaningfulness.
D) potency.

Question 41

What role does a team member have if he or she seeks information to obtain key facts, coordinates relationships among ideas and suggestions, and evaluates the team's effectiveness?

A) relations-oriented role
B) self-oriented role
C) task-oriented role
D) decision-making role

Question 42

All of the following are conditions in which members are most likely to enforce norms EXCEPT

A) when norms aid in team survival and provide benefits.
B) when norms simplify and make the behavior of others predictable.
C) when norms clarify the role of each team member.
D) when norms help to avoid embarrassing interpersonal situations.

Question 43

A team's or group's shared perception of its ability to successfully perform specific tasks is referred to as ______ efficacy.

A) mutual
B) self
C) group
D) collective

Question 44

The rules and patterns of behavior that are accepted and expected by members of a team or whole organization are called

A) organizational rules.
B) norms.
C) goals.
D) organizational culture.

Question 45

Which of the following is NOT a guideline for the people dimension of virtual teams?

A) If the team will be working together for an extended period of time, they should first have a face-to-face meeting.
B) Make sure every team member is copied on all correspondence, and is made aware of the content of phone messages.
C) Establish clear norms and procedures for reducing, surfacing, and resolving conflicts.
D) Keep the team as small as possible, preferably no more than 12 people.

Question 46

Which of the following is TRUE regarding leadership?

A) If a team is to be successful, it should only have one leader that takes full responsibility of the team's efforts.
B) The emergence of informal leaders in a team should be discouraged; they often hinder the group from reaching its goals.
C) A team that has both relations-oriented and task-oriented goals may do well to have two or more leaders.
D) A team with more than one goal that tries to secure a leader for each goal will end up having more conflict than if only one leader had been chosen.

Question 47

Kellen is a district manager for the company's Southwest division. Periodically, he must meet with the district managers from the other regions of the company. To save on travel expenses, the team members use a web service called gotomeeting.com to facilitate video conferences. This is an example of a(n)

A) Internet taskforce.
B) self-managed team.
C) cross-functional team.
D) virtual team.

Question 48

The outcomes desired for a team as a whole are the team's

A) benchmarks.
B) goals.
C) targets.
D) directives.

Question 49

Which of the following is a way to deal with teams that have both compatible and conflicting goals and an imbalance in the time spent on multiple goals?

A) create multiple teams
B) eliminate one or more goals
C) use superordinate goals
D) eliminate one or more team members

Question 50

Everyone cringes when Jason arrives at the team meeting. In addition to boasting that his ideas are the best, he always makes negative comments, interrupts others, and tries to assert authority. Jason is exhibiting a

A) relations-oriented role.
B) self-oriented role.
C) conflict-oriented role.
D) task-oriented role.

Question 51

The external conditions within which a team works is referred to as its

A) context.
B) situation.
C) perspective.
D) setting.

Question 52

When a team divides itself into subgroups based on one or more attributes, it does so through a process known as

A) fault lines.
B) collective efficacy.
C) groupthink.
D) collective conformity.

Question 53

Although not formally given a leadership role, Belinda has a lot of influence on other team members. They like and respect her and feel she has a unique ability to help the team reach its goals. Belinda is a(n)

A) opinion leader.
B) informal leader.
C) peer-to-peer manager.
D) situational leader.

Question 54

In "Teams Competency: Value-Based Care Teams at Cleveland Clinic," what makes the team approach at Cleveland Clinic work?

A) having salaried staff physicians that have only one-year contracts
B) having physicians compensated for each procedure, rather than a general salary.
C) having a bonus plan where team members are given bonuses for moving patients through the system quickly
D) having one pool of money that is equally divided by all team members

Question 55

A team with highly interdependent members who work together effectively on a daily basis to manufacture an entire product or provide an entire service to a set of customers is a _______ team.

A) functional
B) problem-solving
C) cross-functional
D) self-managed

Question 56

Regarding team size, the largest size that allows each member to interact easily with every other member face to face is

A) 5 members.
B) 7 members.
C) 12 members.
D) 16 members.

Question 57

The software development team is committed to designing an app that will allow shoppers to purchase the company's product easily from their phones. The team members work well together and are determined to remain in this team until their task is complete. Which of the following words best describes this team?

A) cohesive
B) collective
C) accountable
D) task-oriented

Question 58

In "Across Cultures Competency: Alcoa's Virtual Teams," what example was given of how culture affects communication?

A) People from Brazil will say "yes" even if they have not understood what was said.
B) People from Jamaica use lingo that is hard to understand.
C) People from the United States expect everyone to speak English.
D) People from Japan rarely make eye contact.

Question 59

When a person's behavior reflects the team's desired behavior because of real or imagined pressure, it is referred to as

A) mutual conformity.
B) compliance conformity.
C) personal acceptance conformity.
D) forced conformity.

Question 60

In "Communication Competency: Nestlé's Digital Acceleration Teams," what do the residential teams from Nestlé focus on when they meet?

A) corporate social responsibility
B) virtual selling
C) online community management
D) new product development

Question 61

A ______ is an individual who obtains benefits from membership but does not contribute much to achieving the team's goals.

A) free rider
B) bad apple
C) sucker
D) mooch

Question 62

Describe the relations-oriented role. What behaviors are present in this role?

Question 63

Does an absence of trust among team members stifle team effectiveness? How do team members act when there is a lack of trust?

Question 64

What are the characteristics of groupthink?

Question 65

What role does diversity and the presence of stereotypes play in overall team effectiveness?

Question 66

When team members fear that individuals are obtaining benefits of the group without contributing, a phenomenon may occur in which those team members withhold effort in the belief that those individuals who don't contribute are planning to withhold effort as well. This is known as

A) the sucker effect.
B) the free rider problem.
C) the bad apple effect.
D) compliance conformity problem.

Question 67

Team members who withhold effort, express negative feelings and attitudes, and violate important team norms and behaviors are called

A) suckers.
B) free riders.
C) spoilers.
D) bad apples.

Question 68

What is the difference between a group and a team?

Question 69

Briefly describe the various types of teams.

Question 70

Describe how a team develops using the five-stages model.

Question 71

What are some of the ways the people dimension of virtual teams can be enhanced?

Question 72

Describe the Punctuated Equilibrium Model of team development.

Question 73

Ineffective group decision making that results from an "agreement-at-any-cost" mentality and poor decision making is referred to as

A) compliance conformity.
B) sucker effect.
C) groupthink.
D) bad apples effect.

Question 74

What does it mean to say that a team is empowered?