Question 1

As a result of a strong marketing push during the pre-holiday period, sales of the Talking Tomato novelty toy increase by 150 percent. Troy, the production manager for the company that makes the product, is tasked with making sure the company can meet demand in the coming months. Things seem to be going well at first, but then the assembly line manager tells Troy that they are low on the audio components that provide the Talking Tomato's vocal sounds. After checking his past purchase orders, Troy realizes he failed to submit a request for additional parts. As a result, the assembly line workers are unable to deliver enough units to keep store shelves stocked for the holidays. Troy would have avoided this mistake if he had employed which of the following teamwork processes?

Accepted Answer

Action processes are important as the task work is being accomplished. One type of action process is systems monitoring, which involves keeping track of things that the team needs to accomplish its work. A team that does not engage in systems monitoring may fail because it runs out of inventory, time, or other necessary resources.

Question 2

Motivating and confidence building, conflict management, and affect management are types of ________ processes.

Accepted Answer

Interpersonal processes are important before, during, or in between periods of taskwork, and each relates to the manner in which team members manage their relationships. Motivating and confidence building refer to things team members do or say that affect the degree to which members are motivated to work hard on the team's task. Expressions that create a sense of urgency and optimism are examples of communications that would fit in this category. Affect management involves activities that foster a sense of emotional balance and unity. Conflict management involves the activities that a team uses to manage conflicts that arise in the course of its work.

Question 3

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

Accepted Answer

Strategy formulation refers to 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.

Question 4

Which of the following statements is True with regard to transition processes?

Accepted Answer

Transition processes are relevant before the team actually begins to conduct the core aspects of its work. However, these transition processes also may be important between periods of work activity. Transition processes between periods of task work help to develop new strategies in case the team goes off track or encounters problems.

Question 5

Jasmine is promoted to a position in marketing after two years in customer service at the upscale clothiers Blanston Brothers. She is excited about the opportunity and tries hard to fit in with her new team. Things go well at first, and the team works effectively to come up with new approaches to promote a new line of silk ties and handkerchiefs. One day at lunch, her co-workers are talking about their children, and Jasmine mentions she does not plan on having kids. Two of her teammates, Misty and Marco, are shocked. Since both come from large families and have multiple siblings, they cannot understand Jasmine's decision, and they become distant towards her. As a result, the team begins to lose the productivity gains it once had. This team is demonstrating ________ conflict.

Accepted Answer

Relationship conflict refers to disagreements among team members in terms of interpersonal relationships or incompatibilities with respect to personal values or preferences.

Question 6

The advertising agency Positive Impressions lands a large new corporate client. The accounts manager, Julie, assembles a team of 12 people from across the company's many departments to assess and plan how best to serve the client's needs. Weeks pass, and things seem to be going well. Julie holds some off-site meetings at a local brew pub, and as a result, the team members appear comfortable with each other, telling occasional jokes and engaging in friendly competition at the company's foosball table during breaks. Meetings are often productive, with a variety of viewpoints expressed, and while not everyone agrees with every idea, mutual respect within the team is evident, with one small exception. Josephine, from accounting, and Eric, from operations, argue over small details. They typically have heated discussions outside of team meetings, with Eric coming to Josephine's desk to complain about her requests for what Eric perceives as excessive paperwork and unnecessary budgetary constraints. Julie is concerned that the tension between Eric and Josephine might affect the overall productivity of the team. Keeping the concepts behind interpersonal processes in mind, which of the following actions should Julie take?

Accepted Answer

Task conflict refers to disagreements among members about the team's task. Logically speaking, this type of conflict can be beneficial to teams if it stimulates conversations that result in the development and expression of new ideas. Research findings, however, indicate that task conflict tends to result in reduced team effectiveness unless several conditions are present. First, members need to trust one another and be confident that they can express their opinions openly without fear of reprisals. Second, team members need to engage in effective conflict management practices. In fact, because task conflict tends to be most beneficial to teams when relationship conflict is low, there are reasons to focus conflict management efforts on trying to reduce this aspect of conflict. Third, there is some evidence that task conflict may benefit teams when they are composed in certain ways. For example, task conflict has been shown to be most beneficial to teams comprised of members who are either emotionally stable or open to new experiences. Finally, the benefits of task conflict may be most evident when the conflict is positively skewed, or in other words, when the majority of the members of a team are unaware of the conflict that occurs among a few members of the team.

Question 7

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

Accepted Answer

Relationship conflict refers to disagreements among team members in terms of interpersonal relationships or incompatibilities with respect to personal values or preferences. This type of conflict centers on issues that are not directly connected to the team's task. Relationship conflict is not only dissatisfying to most people, it also tends to result in reduced team performance.

Question 8

Which of the following are teamwork processes?

Accepted Answer

The different types of teamwork processes are transition processes, which deal with teamwork activities that focus on preparation for future work; action processes, which deal with important processes as the taskwork is being accomplished; and interpersonal processes, which relate to the manner in which team members manage their relationships.

Question 9

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

Accepted Answer

Task conflict refers to disagreements among members about the team's task. This type of conflict can be beneficial to teams if it stimulates conversations that result in the development and expression of new ideas.

Question 10

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

Accepted Answer

Systems monitoring involves keeping track of things that the team needs to accomplish its work. A team that does not engage in systems monitoring may fail because it runs out of inventory, time, or other necessary resources.

Question 11

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

Accepted Answer

Affect management involves activities that foster a sense of emotional balance and unity. A team in which members get short-tempered when facing pressure or blame one another when there are problems is a situation resulting from poor affect management.

Question 12

Having a cell phone conversation at a busy construction site is difficult because of

Accepted Answer

A factor that influences the communication process is the presence of noise that interferes with the message being transmitted. Depending on how the message is being transmitted, noise can take on several different forms.

Question 13

________ involve systematic discussions and reviews of performance episodes.

Accepted Answer

After-action reviews are systematic discussions and reviews of performance episodes.

Question 14

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

Accepted Answer

Transition processes are relevant before the team actually begins to conduct the core aspects of its work. However, these transition processes also may be important between periods of work activity. Whereas transition processes are important before and between periods of taskwork, action processes are important as the taskwork is being accomplished.

Question 15

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

Accepted Answer

Motivating and confidence building refer to things team members do or say that affect the degree to which members are motivated to work hard on the team's task. Expressions that create a sense of urgency and optimism are examples of communications that would fit in this category.

Question 16

Many years ago, Sprint Telecommunications aired an advertisement intended to demonstrate the clarity of reception Sprint customers could expect. The ad showed a rancher, who had used a different company, complaining that he had ordered 100 oxen from his supplier and instead received 100 dachshunds. The mix-up was probably due to the presence of ________ in the communication process.

Accepted Answer

A factor that influences the communication process is the presence of noise that interferes with the message being transmitted. Depending on how the message is being transmitted, noise can take on several different forms. The implication was that the telephone in use was not a Sprint phone and therefore had too much noise in the transmission.

Question 17

Systems monitoring and helping behaviors are examples of ________ processes.

Accepted Answer

Systems monitoring involves keeping track of things that the team needs to accomplish its work. Helping behavior involves members going out of their way to help or back up other team members. These are action processes.

Question 18

Monitoring progress toward goals is a type of ________ process.

Accepted Answer

Action processes are important as the task work is being accomplished. One type of action process involves monitoring progress toward goals. Teams that pay attention to goal-related information-perhaps by charting the team's performance relative to team goals-are typically in a good position to realize when they are "off-track" and need to make changes.

Question 19

Marcella is a network administrator for Diablo Electronics. The company recently completed a merger with Machine Parts, Inc., and her team is responsible for integrating the two companies' computer networks. Before embarking on the project, Marcella meets with her team. Together, they discuss the potential issues that might arise during integration, outline the major steps required to complete the project successfully, and review the list of hardware and software that will be required to make the two systems work together. What kind of transition process activity is Marcella is engaging in?

Accepted Answer

Transition processes are teamwork activities that focus on preparation for future work. For example, mission analysis involves an analysis of the team's task, the challenges that face the team, and the resources available for completing the team's work.

Question 20

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

Accepted Answer

Coordination refers to synchronizing team members' activities in a way that makes them mesh effectively and seamlessly. Poor coordination results in team members constantly having to wait on others for information or other resources necessary to do their part of the team's work.

Quiz 12: Teams: Processes and Communication