Chapter 10

44. Which of the following is a cooperative team reward?

A. Each member of the group that gave the best presentation in an MBA course receives an A in the course.

What is the best strategy to address social loafing?

A. Identifiability

Which of the following is the Ringelmann experiment that identified the social loafing tendency?

A. Rope pulling

Which of the following should a leader consider to determine the appropriateness of competitive vs. cooperative rewards when matching rewards to contribution?

A. The degree of task interdependence.

52. _____ is a common phrase in a team that is known for creativity.

B. "Who else can build on that?"

Is virtual team management different from traditional team management?

B. No. The five fundamental disciplines of high team performance remain the same.

Frank is a cook at a nonprofit shelter, a part of a seven-member crew. The crew prepares meals from donated items, often improvising or "improving" standard recipes based on availability. The credit of this transformation goes to Frank who taught the other members of the crew to not only improvise from routine but also to cook nutritious meals with the available items. Frank is demonstrating the teamwork KSA of:

B. collaborative problem solving.

56. A team should meet face-to-face when:

B. conflicts must be resolved.

33. A team with a high score for continued cooperation:

B. continually strives to learn from mistakes.

Randy's race car was repeatedly having mechanical failures. His team had worked with the car for months, fine-tuning the engine and upgrading all faulty components, but it still continued to develop snags. Two weeks before a big race, the owner suggested starting with a new car. The team, to a man, promised to fix the old car and failed, as it went out in the second lap. This incident illustrates the group dynamic of:

B. escalation of commitment.

34. Which of the following is a discipline of high-performing teams?

D. Productive team norms

Why is the term "disciplines" used to describe high-performance team characteristics?

D. These characteristics must be consistently applied to get high-performance results.

Judy, a team coaching expert, worked with a group of attorneys in an urban office. She administered the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to the entire staff. She subsequently facilitated discussions around such topics as communication misunderstandings, decision making, and conflict resolution. Judy conducted which of the following team interventions?

D. Understanding member profiles

The single most important factor for effective teams is that they have a(n):

D. clear, compelling performance challenge.

Marc, a basketball team coach, gets the team to agree to work on free throws, passing patterns, new defenses, and generally all aspects needed to set and maintain the win percentage. Marc is exhibiting the teamwork KSA of:

D. goal setting and performance management.

32. A team is a group of people:

D. who share responsibility for producing something together.

53. ATMs and open grills were conceived through which method for generating creative thought?

E. Problem reversal

Electronic meetings are good for:

E. generating innovative, high-quality ideas.

Which of the following is a competitive team reward?

Each year, a member of the faculty is chosen as the outstanding professor of the year.

The first team skill is the ability to assess whether or not a team will be cohesive. True / False Questions

FALSE The first team skill is the ability to assess whether or not a team is even appropriate.

12. The forming stage of team development is the point at which a group begins to come together as a coordinated unit.True / False Questions

FALSE The norming stage of team development is the point at which a group begins to come together as a coordinated unit.

28. Problem reversal is a technique for generating creative ideas. True / False Questions

TRUE

29. Electronic meetings are appropriate when the goal is to reduce status effects or groupthink. True / False Questions

TRUE

5. Teams are unique because each member cannot complete the work without the work of other members. True / False Questions

TRUE

What is the Ringelmann effect? What is the best strategy for avoiding it?

The term "Ringelmann effect" is used to describe the situation in which some people do not work as hard in groups as they do individually. Max Ringelmann first formally identified this tendency of social loafing or free-riding in a simple rope-pulling experiment. The cause of this effect is a lack of actual or perceived individual accountability. The best strategy for addressing social loafing is identifiability. That implies finding ways to get each member's contribution to a task somehow communicated or displayed where others can see it.

71. What are the five stages of team development?

Forming Stage. In the forming stage of group development, a primary concern is the initial entry of members into a group. People are interested in discovering what acceptable behavior is, determining the real task of the group, and defining group roles. • Storming Stage. The storming stage of group development is a period of high emotion and tension among the members. Status positions are established and attention of the group gets directed towards the obstacles that they face. • Norming Stage. The norming stage is the point at which the group begins to come together as a coordinated unit and holding the group together may become more important to some than successfully working on the group's tasks. • Performing Stage. The performing stage of group development sees the emergence of a mature, organized, and well-functioning team. The team is now able to deal with complex tasks and to handle membership disagreements in creative ways. • Adjourning Stage. The adjourning stage of group development involves completing the task and breaking up the team.

The main advantages of electronic meetings are anonymity, honesty, and speed. True / False Questions

TRUE

The more difficult it is to get into a group, the more cohesive the group typically becomes. True / False Questions

TRUE

Kara's MBA class has to work in groups for a semester-long project. Her group met for the first time this week, working out questions of what project focus the group should take, which group members have what skills, and how much time will be required. Kara's group is in the _____ stage of team development.

B. forming

Gary, the project leader of a team of software engineers, wanted to improve team performance. He gave each team member a checklist to complete about the project they just finished. Each team member answered these questions: "What do you think were the failures of the project? If there were failures, how can we avoid them? What are the areas that were good and what are the areas that can improve?" What kind of team intervention did Gary conduct?

C. Conducting AARs and process checks

41. Which of the following is an activity-based goal?

C. Reengineer the new software license process.

31. Which of the following statements is a myth of teamwork?

C. The team leader is the primary determinant of team performance.

Which of the following is an outcome-based goal?

C. Win three new accounts in the next quarter.

Nathan is one of six real estate agents assigned to a local office. He is not especially good at planning or problem solving, but whenever someone needs a sounding board or has an issue to vent, Nathan is there to pay attention, nod his head, refrain from giving biased advice, and be supportive. Nathan is demonstrating the teamwork KSA of:

C. communication.

Kara's MBA class had to work in groups for a semester-long project involving some aspects of organizational culture. Her group gave their first presentation tonight. Everyone was tense, checking that the other group members were doing their assigned roles, not leaving early, or saying the wrong thing. The major shared goal was that the group "be nice" to each other during the presentation. Kara's group is in the _____ stage of team development.

C. norming

What are the five dimensions of teamwork that you will base your judgment on?

Conflict resolution. The KSA to recognize and encourage desirable, but discourage undesirable, team conflict. • Collaborative problem solving. The KSA to recognize the obstacles to collaborative group problem solving and to implement appropriate corrective actions. • Communication. The KSA to listen non-evaluatingly and to appropriately use active listening techniques. • Goal setting and performance management. The KSA to help establish specific, challenging, and accepted team goals. • Planning and task coordination. The KSA to coordinate and synchronize activities, information, and task interdependencies between team members.

"Sucker aversion" is a direct result of social conformity. True / False Questions

FALSE "Sucker aversion" is a direct result of social loafing.

A sense of premature maturity prevails in the forming stage of team True / False Questions

FALSE A sense of premature maturity prevails in the norming stage of team development.

An extreme state of escalation of commitment is known as the innocent bystander effect. True / False Questions

FALSE An innocent bystander effect is an extreme state of diffusion of responsibility among people.

Convergent thinking involves recognizing links among remotely associated issues, and transforming information into unexpected forms. True / False Questions

FALSE Divergent thinking involves making unexpected combinations, recognizing links among remotely associated issues, and transforming information into unexpected forms.

Storming is the first stage of team development.True / False Questions

FALSE Forming is the first stage of team development.

High-performing teams usually have between 12 and 15 members. True / False Questions

FALSE High-performing groups rarely consist of more than 10 people and ideally are between 5 and 8 members. The larger a team gets, the harder it is for people to meet either in person or virtually, gain shared understanding and commitment, share leadership roles, and so on.

When people are alone, they make decisions that have more risks than when they are in teams. True / False Questions

FALSE In a group, people are likely to make riskier decisions, as the shared risk reduces personal risk. This is known as the risky shift.

Technical expertise is the most important team skill. True / False Questions

FALSE It is not enough for team members to simply perform their functional area of expertise. The team also needs task management and interpersonal skills.

Minority viewpoints and tendencies to deviate from or question the group direction are discouraged in the performing stage of team development. True / False Questions

FALSE Minority viewpoints and tendencies to deviate from or question the group direction are discouraged in the norming stage of team development.

Activity-based goals are more important than outcome-based goals in team performance. True / False Questions

FALSE Outcome-based goals are more important than activity-based goals in team performance.

Subdivision is a technique used to stimulate convergent thinking. True / False Questions

FALSE Subdivision is a technique used to stimulate divergent thinking.

The best strategy to counter social loafing is choking. True / False Questions

FALSE The best strategy to counter social loafing is identifiability.

The opposite of social facilitation is free-riding. True / False Questions

FALSE The opposite of social facilitation is choking.

25. Divergent thinking emphasizes speed, accuracy, and logic. True / False Questions

FALSE Convergent thinking emphasizes speed, accuracy, and logic.

A climate of trust, open communication, and risk taking is a critical success factor that promotes more creativity in teams.True / False Questions

TRUE

A high-performance scorecard includes dimensions of production output, member satisfaction, and capacity for continued cooperation. True / False Questions

TRUE

Cohesive groups do not always result in high performance. True / False Questions

TRUE

Communication skills are necessary for good teamwork. True / False Questions

TRUE

For teams that make or do things to be most effective, a relentless focus on performance is required. True / False Questions

TRUE

Gatekeeping, encouraging all participants in a group to contribute, is an important interpersonal contribution that a team member can make to a team. True / False Questions

TRUE

Groupthink is a phenomenon found in highly cohesive groups when team members strive to maintain harmony at the expense of quality decision making. True / False Questions

TRUE

Teams are better than individual workers when risk is desirable. True / False Questions

TRUE

Teams that make or do things are the most effective when they deal with "critical delivery points."True / False Questions

TRUE

Students will need to evaluate the performance of this team based on the three dimensions of a team scorecard:

• Production output. Here, the team scores well since it finished the project a week before the deadline and its work also met the quality standards. • Member satisfaction. The team does not score well on this dimension since two of the five members were extremely dissatisfied. • Capacity for continued cooperation. The team does not score well on this dimension as well. The two dissatisfied members of the team have decided never to work with the rest of team members again.

Explain in brief the five disciplines of high-performing teams.

• Small size. High-performing groups rarely consist of more than 10 people and ideally are between 5 and 8 members. • Capable and complementary members. The key to the success of a team include capable members who bring complementary technical, problem- solving, and interpersonal skills to the team. • Shared purpose and performance objectives. High-performing teams have a clear understanding of the purpose of the team. They are also able to translate their purpose into a clear understanding of the outcome-based goals to be achieved. • Productive norms and working approach. Norms are generally unwritten rules or standards of behavior that apply to team members and can be either prescriptive or proscriptive. Most critical team norms are those related to effort, meetings, and trust. • Mutual accountability. Effective teams are characterized by high mutual trust among members.

Identify a few myths about teamwork.

• Teams are always the answer. • The key to team performance is cohesiveness. • The team leader is the primary determinant of team performance. • Larger teams are better than smaller ones. • The best individual performers will create the highest performing team.

How do teams that recommend things differ from teams that make or do things?

• These teams include task forces and project groups asked to study and solve particular problems. • These teams almost always have predetermined completion dates. • These teams are most effective when they have a clear charter and include members with the skills and influence necessary for crafting practical recommendations that will carry weight throughout an organization. Teams that make or do things: • These teams include people on or near the front lines who are responsible for doing the basic manufacturing, development, and other related business activities. • These teams tend to have no set completion dates because their activities are ongoing. • These teams are most effective when they deal with "critical delivery points"—that is, places in the organization where the cost and value of the company's products and services are most directly determined.

The five disciplines of high-performing teams are:

• small size, • capable and complementary members, • shared purpose and performance objectives, • productive norms and working approach, and • mutual accountability.