Deck 12: Teams: Processes and Communication

Question 1

By making people write down ideas on their own, the nominal group technique increases social loafing and production blocking.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Getting more from the team than you would expect given the capabilities of its individual members refers to process gain.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Organizations no longer use brainstorming because of the problems associated with it.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Conflict management is an action process.

Question 5

Team characteristics-such as member diversity, task interdependence, team size, and so forth-have an impact on team effectiveness.

Question 6

According to research, task conflict results in increased team effectiveness irrespective of the trust on the team and the manner in which the conflict is managed.

Question 7

Social loafing can hinder a team's effectiveness.

Question 8

Leaders do a better job considering recommendations and making final decisions when they do it together with team members.

Question 9

When teams engage in routine decision making, their activities are focused on generating novel and useful ideas and solutions.

Question 10

The nominal group technique involves utilizing a combination of individual and team settings to generate ideas and solutions and arrive at a good idea.

Question 11

Process gain is often driven by production blocking.

Question 12

Lou chose the new product team very carefully, recruiting only the best performers from marketing, operations, finance, and HR. She expected this group to design and develop a stellar new product in record time. She doesn't understand why this team composed only of superstars has not lived up to her expectations. Lou's group has not demonstrated synergy.

Question 13

Transition processes are relevant before the team actually begins to conduct the core aspects of its work; they have no role between periods of work activity.

Question 14

Tran needs to increase his team's creativity. He calls them in to a meeting and tells them they are to shout out as many ideas as they can think of for a new project. No one is to analyze or criticize any ideas while this exercise is going on. Tran is using the brainstorming technique.

Question 15

Teamwork activities that focus on preparation for future work are termed as transition processes.

Question 16

Interpersonal activities that facilitate the accomplishment of the team's work but do not directly involve task accomplishment itself are called creative processes.

Question 17

It is easy to keep an accurate account of the contribution of each member in a team.

Question 18

Team processes are synonymous with "synergy."

Question 19

Action processes become important before the team actually begins to conduct the core aspects of its work.

Question 20

Coordination loss is a necessary aspect of the team experience.

Question 21

A team's strong belief that it can be effective across a variety of situations reflects which of the following?

A) Moderate transactive memory
B) Diverse mental models
C) High potency
D) Low cohesion
E) Minimal boundary spanning

Question 22

Kelly has thought a lot about how to explain why she is quitting her job. Now that she has her thoughts in order, she is writing them down in a formal letter of resignation. Kelly is engaged in the decoding part of the communication process.

Question 23

A team of highly skilled and qualified members of an organization failed to perform the team objective assigned to them. When the reason for this lack of performance was investigated, it was clear that, although the team members worked hard, they had to wait for their teammates to complete a particular task before they could start their own. Which of the following explains the reason for process loss in this case?

A) Motivational loss
B) Social facilitation
C) Production blocking
D) Groupthink
E) Cognitive dissonance

Question 24

Teamwork processes have a moderate negative effect on team performance.

Question 25

Getting more from the team than you would expect according to the capabilities of its individual members is called:

A) process gain.
B) staff validity.
C) decision informity.
D) groupthink.
E) social loafing.

Question 26

The shallowest level of cross-training involves positional modeling.

Question 27

Team process training helps a team function and perform more effectively as an intact unit.

Question 28

Kat is not worried about offering contrary or radical ideas in team meetings because both the team leader and the team members are supportive of new or even seemingly strange ideas and don't laugh at or criticize each other. Kat has a strong feeling of psychological safety within her team.

Question 29

_____ is a term that reflects the different types of communication, activities, and interactions that occur within teams that contribute to their ultimate end goals.

A) Team characteristic
B) Team process
C) Team composition
D) Team interdependence
E) Team ability

Question 30

The phenomenon of a team delivering "less than the sum of its parts" can be explained by the term:

A) synergy.
B) staff validity.
C) hierarchical sensitivity.
D) process loss.
E) social facilitation.

Question 31

Cohesiveness tends to promote higher levels of team performance.

Question 32

Daniel's team is working on a project to create an effective marketing campaign for a company that specializes in food processors. Daniel gathers all the necessary information to help his team understand the product and the desires and needs of the client. He then clearly explains the responsibilities of each member of the team. He is ensuring that his team has high:

A) decision informity.
B) groupthink.
C) hierarchical sensitivity.
D) staff validity.
E) action learning.

Question 33

According to researchers, a cohesive team is always a high performance team.

Question 34

In a network structure, where more communication flows through fewer members, the degree of centralization is higher.

Question 35

Team potency is higher in teams that have found success in the past.

Question 36

Training intended to develop transportable teamwork competencies focuses on and occurs in the context of an ongoing team experience.

Question 37

Process gain is synonymous with:

A) social loafing.
B) groupthink.
C) synergy.
D) cognitive dissonance.
E) staff validity.

Question 38

Team states refer to the effectiveness of teams and the degree to which teams are capable of remaining together as ongoing entities.

Question 39

Noise increases the effort that the communicators need to exert to make the communication process work.

Question 40

Potency has a strong positive impact on team performance.

Question 41

_____ involves a face-to-face meeting of team members in which each offers as many ideas as possible about some focal problem or issue.

A) Social loafing
B) Groupthink
C) Brainstorming
D) Scout activity
E) Boundary spanning

Question 42

Britney, a manager in an advertising firm, was assigned a team and asked to come up with ideas for an advertising campaign. Britney briefed her team and outlined the purpose of the meeting clearly, after which she asked the members to individually generate ideas and bring their list to the next meeting. In the second meeting, the ideas were compiled, doubts clarified, and ideas built-on, after which the members were then asked to individually rank the ideas and submit the list to Britney, who tabulated the scores and created a list of the five highest rated ideas. Britney adopted _____ to generate the ideas.

A) cross-training
B) conflict management
C) positional rotation
D) cognitive bias
E) nominal group technique

Question 43

While performing the boundary-spanning process, members who engage in ambassador activities typically communicate with:

A) people who are in high positions in the organization.
B) vendors and distributors of competitors.
C) front-line production supervisors in the industry.
D) their subordinates in the organization.
E) the customers of the organization.

Question 44

Brainstorming results in production blocking because:

A) members have to wait their turn to express their ideas.
B) members do not work as hard thinking up ideas as they would if they had to turn in individual ideas.
C) members are hesitant to express ideas that are not well thought-out.
D) members are reluctant to pool good ideas with other ideas that are bad.
E) members have the tendency to social loaf due to lack of accountability.

Question 45

When teams engage in _____, their activities are focused on generating novel and useful ideas and solutions.

A) decision making
B) creative behavior
C) boundary spanning
D) interpersonal process
E) groupthink

Question 46

Which three specific factors have been found to account for a team's ability to make effective decisions?

A) Groupthink, social loafing, and process rotation
B) Decision informity, staff validity, and hierarchical sensitivity
C) Transactive memory, transformative memory, and decision memory
D) Individual effort, team effort, and boundary spanning effort
E) Decision redundancy, social facilitation, and transactive memory

Question 47

A psychology class has been assigned an individual case study project as well as a group project. The members of the group will receive the same grade for the group project but will be graded separately for their individual projects. Drew, Ben, Donna, and Julia are members of one such group. Drew and Donna worked very hard on the group project. Ben and Julia, however, did not contribute much to the group project because they felt that Drew and Donna would manage to get good grades for it. Instead, they focused their efforts on their individual projects. Ben and Julia's behavior is an example of:

A) groupthink.
B) staff validity.
C) self-serving bias.
D) social loafing.
E) attribution error.

Question 48

_____ reflects the degree to which the leader effectively weighs the recommendations of the members.

A) Hierarchical sensitivity
B) Social loafing
C) Staff validity
D) Groupthink
E) Decision informity

Question 49

_____ activities refer to things team members do to obtain information about technology, competitors, or the broader marketplace.

A) Social loafing
B) Task coordinator
C) Action learning
D) Scout
E) Ambassador

Question 50

When members of a team exert less effort when working on team tasks than they would if they worked alone on those same tasks, the phenomenon is called:

A) groupthink.
B) social loafing.
C) self-serving bias.
D) social facilitation.
E) framing effect.

Question 51

_____ reflects whether members possess adequate information about their own task responsibilities.

A) Staff validity
B) Hierarchical sensitivity
C) Boundary spanning
D) Decision informity
E) Groupthink

Question 52

Rebecca and her students from the drama class have been asked to conduct a play to raise funds for the school library. To make the play a success, Rebecca consults and enlists the help of the headmaster and senior teachers, while her students meet a few theater artists. They also consult a costume designer and a dance choreographer who have agreed to help the team with the play. Such activities involving individuals and groups who are not part of the team are termed as:

A) social loafing.
B) nominal group technique.
C) staff validity.
D) boundary spanning.
E) hierarchical sensitivity.

Question 53

Five students from the KLM School have been selected to form the team that would represent the school in the National Science contest. They must come up with a creative project. These students' first meeting was face-to-face and involved each of them suggesting as many ideas as they could think of without analyzing or critiquing them at that time. The activity that the students engaged in is referred to as ______.

A) boundary spanning
B) social loafing
C) ambassador activity
D) scouting activity
E) brainstorming.

Question 54

Nominal group technique decreases social loafing and production blocking-problems with brainstorming-by:

A) making people pool their ideas in a face-to-face meeting.
B) making people write down ideas on their own.
C) discouraging bad ideas in the meeting.
D) making people agree to one idea generated in a face-to-face meeting.
E) making people speak in turns during all face-to-face meetings.

Question 55

Matt, a training coordinator at ARC Technologies, and his team are organizing a workshop for the employees. Matt is meeting the vice president of finance to get support for an increase in the budget to accommodate a session by a well-known motivational speaker. Matt, in this case, is performing a(n) _____ activity of the boundary-spanning process.

A) groupthink
B) social loafing
C) scout
D) action learning
E) ambassador

Question 56

Leslie, a marketing manager at the Sunshine Spa, is consulting with Tess, a dermatologist at the spa, to explore the possibility of incorporating certain treatments as part of the spa's package schemes. Leslie is engaging in a(n) _____ activity of the boundary-spanning process.

A) action learning
B) ambassador
C) task coordinator
D) scout
E) staff validity

Question 57

Mark, David, Tia, and Ashley are team members in a computer programming class. They have been assigned the task of creating a computerized payroll system involving multiple programs. Mark and Tia worked very hard and created programs that worked well. David and Ashley, however, did not work as hard as they could and created programs with numerous errors. This resulted in a payroll system that could not be implemented. The team's poor performance that was a result of David and Ashley not doing their best can be termed as:

A) groupthink.
B) synergy.
C) social facilitation.
D) hierarchical sensitivity.
E) motivational loss.

Question 58

Which of the following refers to the degree to which members of the team make useful recommendations to the leader?

A) Social loafing
B) Staff validity
C) Hierarchical sensitivity
D) Groupthink
E) Decision informity

Question 59

Which of the following activities are boundary-spanning activities?

A) Groupthink, social loafing, and staff validity
B) Decision informity, staff validity, and hierarchical sensitivity
C) Transactive memory, transformative memory, and social loafing
D) Ambassador, task coordinator, and scout
E) Decision informity, social loafing, and transactive memory

Question 60

_____ activities refer to communications that are intended to protect the team, persuade others to support the team, or obtain important resources for the team.

A) Systems monitoring
B) Task coordinator
C) Ambassador
D) Scout
E) Groupthink

Question 61

_____ involves keeping track of things that the team needs to accomplish its work.

A) Goal specification
B) Systems monitoring
C) Coordination
D) Helping behavior
E) Strategy formulation

Question 62

The development of courses of action and contingency plans and then adapting those plans in light of changes that occur in the team's environment refer to:

A) mission analysis.
B) goal specification.
C) strategy formulation.
D) scout activities.
E) interpersonal processes.

Question 63

Expressions that create a sense of urgency and optimism are examples of communications that reflect which of the following processes?

A) Task coordinator activities
B) Scout activities
C) Boundary spanning
D) Motivating and confidence building
E) Systems monitoring

Question 64

Which of the following statements is Truewith regard to transition processes?

A) These processes are important as the task work is being accomplished.
B) Transition processes are important between periods of work activity.
C) They involve members going out of their way to help or back up other team members.
D) They involve keeping track of things that the team needs to accomplish its work.
E) They drive toward conformity at the expense of other team priorities.

Question 65

______ involve systematic discussions and reviews of performance episodes.

A) After-action reviews
B) Post-hoc reviews
C) Feedback interviews
D) Nominal group reviews
E) Hindsight reviews

Question 66

The creative team of a fashion house is racing against a deadline to come up with the spring collection, and the pressure is leading to frayed tempers, which is hampering the team's progress. This is an example of poor _____.

A) systems monitoring
B) affect management
C) coordination
D) mission analysis
E) goal specification

Question 67

Motivating and confidence building, conflict management, and affect management are types of:

A) interpersonal processes.
B) action processes.
C) boundary spanning processes.
D) creative behavior processes.
E) transition processes.

Question 68

Noah, a services manager at the Feel Well Health Clinic, consulted an alternative medicine specialist to see if it is feasible to incorporate certain treatments as part of the clinic's services. Noah is performing a(n) _____ activity of the boundary spanning process.

A) action learning
B) scout
C) groupthink
D) ambassador
E) staff validity

Question 69

Having a cell phone conversation during a rock concert is difficult because of:

A) lack of communication competence.
B) emotional issues.
C) information richness.
D) network structure.
E) the presence of noise.

Question 70

Interpersonal activities that facilitate the accomplishment of the team's work but do not directly involve task accomplishment itself refer to:

A) boundary-spanning activities.
B) teamwork processes.
C) staff validity.
D) scout activities.
E) decision informity.

Question 71

Which of the following are teamwork processes?

A) Nominal technique, social loafing, and staff validity
B) Decision informity, staff validity, and hierarchical sensitivity
C) Transactive memory, transformative memory, and social loafing
D) Ambassador, task coordinator, and scout
E) Transition, action, and interpersonal

Question 72

Monitoring progress toward goals is a type of:

A) transition process.
B) brainstorming process.
C) transactive memory process.
D) action process.
E) interpersonal process.

Question 73

What synchronizes team members' activities in a way that makes them mesh effectively and seamlessly?

A) Goal specification
B) Systems monitoring
C) Coordination
D) Helping behavior
E) Strategy formulation

Question 74

_____ involve communications that are intended to smooth the performance of work with people or groups in other functional areas.

A) Groupthink activities
B) Scout activities
C) Social loafing activities
D) Ambassador activities
E) Task coordinator activities

Question 75

_____ can be beneficial to teams if it stimulates conversations that result in the development and expression of new ideas.

A) Task conflict
B) Relationship conflict
C) Noise
D) Groupthink
E) Social loafing

Question 76

Communications that reflect incompatibilities with respect to personal values or preferences reflect:

A) relationship conflict.
B) goal specificity mismanagement.
C) poor mission analysis.
D) poor coordination.
E) task conflict.

Question 77

_____ processes are primarily important before and between periods of taskwork, whereas _____ processes are primarily important as the task work is being accomplished.

A) Mission analysis; scout activity
B) Transition; action
C) Scout activity; interpersonal
D) Action; transition
E) Interpersonal; transition

Question 78

Teamwork activities that focus on preparation for future work refer to:

A) groupthink.
B) decision informity.
C) transactive memory.
D) action processes.
E) transition processes.

Question 79

Systems monitoring and helping behaviors are examples of:

A) action processes.
B) brainstorming processes.
C) transactive memory processes.
D) transition processes.
E) interpersonal processes.

Question 80

In a boundary-spanning process, the marketing team member who meets with an engineer to seek information about new materials is engaging in _____.

A) groupthink activities
B) decision informity activities
C) social loafing activities
D) action processes
E) scout activities