Question 1

Another name for a task force is a(n):
A) informal group.
B) interest group.
C) ad hoc committee.
D) virtual group.
E) command group

Accepted Answer

Managers form task forces to accomplish specific goals or solve problems in a certain time period; task forces are sometimes called ad hoc committees.

Question 2

Command groups are also known as:
A) informal groups.
B) virtual groups.
C) interest groups.
D) ad hoc committees.
E) departments.

Accepted Answer

Command groups are often called departments or units.

Question 3

A group of managers works very hard to be sure that they agree on important issues instead of working toward an accurate assessment of the situation.Which of the following best describes this scenario?
A) Fundamental attribution error
B) Self-serving bias
C) Lack of synergy
D) Groupthink
E) Social loafing

Accepted Answer

Groupthink is faulty group decision making that results when group members strive for agreement at the expense of an accurate assessment of the situation.

Question 4

Daniel is the vice president of marketing and sales of an insurance company that sells workers' compensation insurance within the state of California.Recently,the company has identified problems of cost control in all of its offices.Daniel formed a team composed of the sales managers of all the four regions,along with some staff members from the company's informational technology and administration departments,to study the problem and make recommendations.Which of the following statements about this team is NOT true?
A) The team is a task force
B) The team is cross-functional
C) The team should meet virtually
D) The team is a command group
E) The team is not an interest group

Accepted Answer

The team has been formed for a specific reason; therefore it is a task force. The members of the team are from various departments thereby making it a cross-functional team. The geographic location is an entire state, the essence of virtual teams exist. The team is not a command group because all members do not report to the same supervisor/manager. Employees form informal interest groups when they seek to achieve a common goal related to their membership in an organization.

Question 5

Which of the following should managers do to take advantage of the potential for synergy in groups?
A) Create groups of similar individuals
B) Be strongly directive with the group
C) Reward individual performance
D) Avoid empowerment
E) Appoint members with complementary skills

Accepted Answer

To take advantage of the potential for synergy in groups, managers need to make sure that groups are composed of members who have complementary skills and knowledge relevant to the group's work.

Question 6

Teams that rarely interact with each other on a face-to-face basis are referred to as:
A) informal teams.
B) ad hoc teams.
C) virtual teams.
D) task forces.
E) interest groups.

Accepted Answer

Virtual teams are teams whose members rarely or never meet face-to-face but, rather, interact by using various forms of information technology such as e-mail, text messaging, computer networks, telephone, fax, and videoconferences.

Question 7

A group of college professors from the Jackson Business School meets once a week for lunch to discuss the college's accreditation efforts.This is an example of a(n)::
A) formal group.
B) virtual team.
C) interest group.
D) command group.
E) self-managed work team.

Accepted Answer

Employees form informal interest groups when they seek to achieve a common goal related to their membership in an organization.

Question 8

Which of the following is responsible for developing the strategies that result in an organization's competitive advantage?
A) Informal group
B) Cross-cultural team
C) Top management team
D) Virtual team
E) Ad hoc committee

Accepted Answer

Top management teams are responsible for developing the strategies that result in an organization's competitive advantage.

Question 9

Which of the following groups is also a team?
A) A search committee selecting a dean for a college that interacts frequently by various means over a period of several months.
B) A group of sales representatives for a hardware company, each with his/her own geographical territory.
C) A group of factory workers who belong to a labor union.
D) A board of directors of a corporation that meets quarterly.
E) A group of accountants who work in a small CPA firm.

Accepted Answer

Teams are distinguished from groups by the intensity with which team members work together and the presence of a specific, overriding team goal or objective.

Question 10

Which of the following is a major problem that self-managed work teams can encounter?
A) Selection of members with the right skills and ability to work with others
B) Disciplining team members
C) Being given work that is sufficiently complex
D) Managers who are too "hands off"
E) Being given too much responsibility and autonomy

Accepted Answer

Managers can take a number of steps to ensure that self-managed work teams are effective and help an organization achieve its goals by giving teams enough responsibility and autonomy to be truly self-managing and making sure a team's work is sufficiently complex. Like all groups, self-managed work teams can sometimes run into trouble. Members may be reluctant to discipline one another by withholding bonuses from members who are not performing up to par or by firing members.

Question 11

The strategic planning committee at Comfort Fabric Clothing Company,New York,consists of managers from engineering,R&D,production,marketing,and finance.This is an example of a(n):
A) cross-functional team.
B) informal group.
C) virtual team.
D) command group.
E) cross-cultural team.

Accepted Answer

Cross- functional teams are composed of members from different departments. In a cross-functional team, the expertise and knowledge in different organizational departments are brought together in the skills and knowledge of the team members.

Question 12

The salespersons who report to a common sales manager are known as a(n):
A) informal group.
B) virtual group.
C) cross-functional group
D) cross-cultural group.
E) command group.

Accepted Answer

Subordinates who report to the same supervisor compose a command group. When top managers design an organization's structure and establish reporting relationships and a chain of command, they are essentially creating command groups.

Question 13

Teams that are empowered to take responsibility for acting autonomously in order to complete identifiable pieces of work are referred to as:
A) informal groups.
B) interest groups.
C) virtual teams.
D) sequential task interdependence groups.
E) self-managed work teams.

Accepted Answer

Self-managed work teams are teams in which team members are empowered and have the responsibility and autonomy to complete identifiable pieces of work.

Question 14

Blue Bay International has formed a virtual team to improve quality in its five plants,which are located across three continents.In order to give this team the best chance of succeeding,what could the management do?
A) Insist that the team use only asynchronous technologies to communicate.
B) Expect that the team will be less cohesive than face-to-face teams and live with it.
C) Trust the team to do its job.
D) Schedule a meeting for all team members.
E) When selecting members of the team, select only people who are already friends.

Accepted Answer

Organizations should make sure that virtual team members have a chance to meet in person soon after the team is formed and then schedule periodic face-to-face meetings to promote trust, understanding, and cooperation in the teams.

Question 15

Informal groups of workers who enjoy one another's company and meet socially either on or off the job are referred to as which type of group?
A) Formal groups
B) Friendship groups
C) Virtual groups
D) Interest groups
E) Command groups

Accepted Answer

Friendship groups are informal groups composed of employees who enjoy one another's company and socialize with one another.

Question 16

In an attempt to promote innovation in a work group,the supervisor should do all of the following EXCEPT:
A) provide guidance to the group.
B) provide detailed procedures to the group.
C) provide coaching to the group.
D) provide the resources the group needs.
E) provide assistance to the group.

Accepted Answer

To further promote innovation, managers can empower teams and make their members fully responsible and accountable for the innovation process. The manager's role is to provide guidance, assistance, coaching, and the resources team members need and not to closely direct or supervise their activities.

Question 17

Joanna,a manager,is responsible for organizing a team for the development of a new product.What is the MOST important thing that Joanna should do if she wants to create synergy in this team?
A) Choose members of the most diverse backgrounds possible
B) Supervise the group closely
C) Bring in members with complementary skills relevant to the work
D) Choose members who have worked together previously without any problems
E) Create incentives for team members based on individual contributions

Accepted Answer

To take advantage of the potential for synergy in groups, managers need to make sure that groups are composed of members who have complementary skills and knowledge relevant to the group's work.

Question 18

When team leaders of various cross-functional groups report to the same manager,the team leaders form a(n):
A) cross-cultural group.
B) command group.
C) informal group.
D) task force.
E) ad hoc committee.

Accepted Answer

Subordinates who report to the same supervisor compose a command group. When top managers design an organization's structure and establish reporting relationships and a chain of command, they are essentially creating command groups.

Question 19

In terms of group performance,the idea that "the whole is more than the sum of its parts" is the fundamental point in the concept of:
A) division of labor.
B) synergy.
C) social deviance.
D) norming.
E) social loafing.

Accepted Answer

The essence of synergy is captured in the saying "The whole is more than the sum of its parts." People working in a group can produce more or higher-quality outputs than would have been produced if each person had worked separately and all their individual efforts were later combined.

Question 20

Active Appliances,an electrical appliance firm,forms a group to design a new software application.This group consists of a systems designer,a programmer,and a user representative.This is an example of a(n):
A) informal team.
B) ad hoc committee.
C) cross-cultural team.
D) cross-functional team.
E) top management team.

Accepted Answer

Cross-functional teams are composed of members from different departments. In a cross-functional team, the expertise and knowledge in different organizational departments are brought together in the skills and knowledge of the team members.

Quiz 11: Effective Team Management

Another name for a task force is a(n) :

Command groups are also known as:

A group of managers works very hard to be sure that they agree on important issues instead of working toward an accurate assessment of the situation.Which of the following best describes this scenario?

Which of the following should managers do to take advantage of the potential for synergy in groups?

Teams that rarely interact with each other on a face-to-face basis are referred to as:

A group of college professors from the Jackson Business School meets once a week for lunch to discuss the college's accreditation efforts.This is an example of a(n) ::

Which of the following is responsible for developing the strategies that result in an organization's competitive advantage?

Which of the following groups is also a team?

Which of the following is a major problem that self-managed work teams can encounter?

The strategic planning committee at Comfort Fabric Clothing Company,New York,consists of managers from engineering,R&D,production,marketing,and finance.This is an example of a(n) :

The salespersons who report to a common sales manager are known as a(n) :

Teams that are empowered to take responsibility for acting autonomously in order to complete identifiable pieces of work are referred to as:

Blue Bay International has formed a virtual team to improve quality in its five plants,which are located across three continents.In order to give this team the best chance of succeeding,what could the management do?

Informal groups of workers who enjoy one another's company and meet socially either on or off the job are referred to as which type of group?

In an attempt to promote innovation in a work group,the supervisor should do all of the following EXCEPT:

Joanna,a manager,is responsible for organizing a team for the development of a new product.What is the MOST important thing that Joanna should do if she wants to create synergy in this team?

When team leaders of various cross-functional groups report to the same manager,the team leaders form a(n) :

In terms of group performance,the idea that "the whole is more than the sum of its parts" is the fundamental point in the concept of:

Active Appliances,an electrical appliance firm,forms a group to design a new software application.This group consists of a systems designer,a programmer,and a user representative.This is an example of a(n) :