Chapter 14-16 Management Exam

Which of the following groups will typically exhibit the worst performance?

A highly cohesive group with low performance norms

Which of the following roles requires particular job-related skills and abilities and keeps the team moving toward accomplishing its objectives?

Task specialist

Which of the following statements about roles within teams is true?

Task specialist keep the team moving forward toward achieving its objectives

Which of the following statements about teams is true?

Teams can be powerful forces for creativity and change

Which of the following is a critical period in a group's development because the group is particularly open to formative experiences?

The midpoint between the first meeting and a deadline

The degree to which a group is attractive to its members, members are motivated to remain in the group, and members influence one another is referred to as ____.

cohesiveness

A style of dealing with conflict emphasizing both cooperation and assertiveness in order to maximize both parties' satisfaction is known as ____.

collaboration

A working group is a collection of people who work in the same area or have been drawn together to undertake a task but do not necessarily

come together as a unit and achieve significant improvements as a real team would.

Team effectiveness is defined by three criteria: productive output, satisfaction, and _____.

commitment

The key element of effective teamwork is

commitment to a common purpose

The key element of effective teamwork is

commitment to a common purpose. The best teams are those that have been given an important performance challenge by management and then have reached a common understanding and appreciation of their purpose.

A style of dealing with conflict in which people focus strictly on their own wishes and are unwilling to recognize the other person's concerns is known as ____.

competing

Autonomous work groups control decisions about and execution of a complete range of tasks: acquiring raw materials and performing operations, quality control, maintenance, and shipping. They are fully responsible for an

entire product or an entire part of a production process.

Norms are shared beliefs about how people should think and behave. From the organization's standpoint, norms can be positive or negative. In some teams,

everyone works hard; in other groups, employees are antimanagement and do as little work as possible. Some groups develop norms of taking risks, others of being conservative.

Virtual teams communicate electronically more than

face to face; transnational and other types of teams may operate virtually.

A small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable, is called a working group

false

Which of the following is one of the three criteria that define team effectiveness?

productive output from the team

Team effectiveness is defined by three criteria:

productive output, satisfaction, and commitment

Teams can contribute to an organization through

productivity gains

Teams that work on long-term projects but disband once the work is completed are known as _____ teams.

project and development

Project and development teams work on long-term projects, often over a period of years. They have specific assignments, such as

research or new product development, and members usually must contribute expert knowledge and judgment. These teams work toward a one-time product, disbanding once their work is completed.

_____ are different sets of expectations for how different individuals should behave in an organization.

roles

Which of the following types of teams has the most freedom in making decisions about the execution of tasks and about the team itself?

self designing teams

Which of the following occurs in teams when individuals are concerned with what others think of them and they want to maintain a positive self-image?

social facilitation effect

Which of the following describes a collection of people who work in the same area or have been drawn together to undertake a task without achieving significant performance improvements?

A working group

_____ occurs in teams when individuals believe that others will do the work for them, that their lack of efforts will go undetected, or that they will be the lone sucker who works hard while others don't.

A. Social loafing

_____ work groups control decisions about and execution of a complete range of tasks and are fully responsible for an entire product or an entire part of a production process.

Autonomous

Which of the following types of skills are also important to teams apart from the technical or functional skills?

problem solving

Autonomous work groups have more responsibility than self-designing teams

False

Team cohesiveness, while it contributes to member satisfaction, has shown little benefit to outputs in terms of quality or productivity.

False

When teams are geographically dispersed, team members tend to experience more trust and less conflict.

False

Work teams, when they exist, are typically not a part of the formal organization structure.

False

Berthe's group is in the process of deciding on the ground rules that will govern group behavior. Which stage is her group at?

Forming

Which of the following is a common reason for social loafing?

Individuals believe their contribution is not important

_____ is a team strategy that entails making decisions with the team and then telling outsiders of the team's intentions.

Informing

Which of the following is a skill that will help prevent team failure?

Negotiating goals that everyone can support

Conglomerated Industries has appointed a team to recommend solutions to the problem of high employee turnover. The team does not have the authority to implement any of its suggested changes. What kind of team is this?

Parallel

Which of the following team strategies is best for teams that have a high degree of dependence on outsiders?

Probing

Ahmed was part of a team that took six months to design a new solar-powered clock. When the product was finished, the team disbanded. What kind of team was it?

Project and Development

_____ goals are higher-level goals that take priority over specific individual or group goals.

Superordinate

How does working in teams affect individuals?

The team can satisfy important personal needs, such as affiliation and esteem

Which of the following is not generally true of self-managed teams?

They are development teams

Which of the following is true of work teams?

They are responsible for making goods or providing services.

Which of the following statements about group norms is true?

They are shared beliefs about how the group members should behave

Which of the following is true of parallel teams?

They contain members from different units or jobs

Which of the following is characterized by the absence of managerial responsibilities?

Traditional work groups

If used properly, teams can be powerfully effective as a building block for organizational structure.

True

Some people prefer to work in traditional work groups because they have no managerial responsibilities

True

Teams do not function in a vacuum; it is crucial to know how to deal with people outside the group.

True

Teams should be empowered, or they will revert to making safe, traditional decisions.

True

The productive output of a team should be acceptable to the customers, inside or outside the organization, who receive the team's goods or services.

True

Which of the following is the best way to motivate a team?

Tying reward to team performance

One of the most important properties of a team is cohesiveness. Cohesiveness refers to how

attractive the team is to its members, how motivated members are to remain in the team, and the degree to which team members influence one another. In general, it refers to how tightly knit the team is.

Which of the following types of teams faces the challenges of building trust, cohesion, and team identity, and of overcoming team member isolation?

Virtual teams

Janice works on a sales support team, which helps outside salespeople by mailing promotional material, following up on orders, and tracking shipments. Which type of team is this?

Work

Management teams coordinate and provide direction to the subunits under their jurisdiction and integrate work among subunits. The management team is based on

authority stemming from hierarchical rank and is responsible for the overall performance of the business unit.

Work teams make or do things such as manufacture, assemble sell, or provide service. They typically are well defined;

a clear part of the formal organizational structure; and composed of a full-time, stable membership

A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to

a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

Autonomous work groups control decisions about and execution of

a complete range of tasks and are fully responsible for an entire product or an entire part of a production process. Self-designing teams do all of that and go one step further: they also have control over the

Project and development teams work on long-term projects, often over

a period of years. They have specific assignments, such as research or new product development, and they work toward a one-time product, disbanding once their work is completed.

If the primary task of a group is to make a decision or solve a problem, cohesiveness can lead to poor performance. Groupthink occurs when

a tightly knit group is so cooperative that agreeing with one another's opinions and refraining from criticizing others' ideas become norms. For a cohesive group to make good decisions, it should establish a norm of constructive disagreement. In day-to-day work groups for which decision making is not the primary task, cohesiveness can enhance performance.

A style of dealing with conflict involving cooperation on behalf of the other party but not being assertive about one's own interests is referred to as ____.

accomodation

At a major chemical manufacturing company, managers are required to contact the human resources department whenever they are considering firing an underperforming employee. The purpose of this policy is to avoid potential problems that might arise in firing the employee. This type of relationship within an organization is referred to as a(n) _____ relationship.

advisory

Roles are different sets of expectations for how different individuals should behave in an organization. Whereas norms apply generally to

all team members, different roles exist for different members within the norm structure.

At Fashionista Bags and Totes, the executive managers created Paolo's group and made it fully responsible for producing the company's briefcase line. The team orders the raw materials, manufactures the briefcases, evaluates quality control, and ships the finished products. Paolo's team is a(n) _____.

autonomous work group

Groups that are similar to self-designing teams but without control over the design of the team or its tasks are known as ____.

autonomous work groups

A reaction to conflict that involves ignoring the problem either by doing nothing at all or by deemphasizing the disagreement is known as ____.

avoidance

Which of the following will help a manager create a work group that has high-performance norms and is cohesive?

being a participative leader

Used appropriately, teams can be powerfully effective as a

building block for organization structure. Teams can increase productivity, improve quality, and reduce costs.

Virtual teams communicate electronically more than face to face, and they face difficult challenges:

building trust, cohesion, and team identity, and overcoming the isolation of virtual team members.

Teams are now used _____ companies to produce goods and services, to manage projects, and to make decisions about running the company.

by almost all

A working group is a collection of people who work in the same area or have been drawn together to undertake a task but do not necessarily come together as a unit and achieve significant improvements as a real team would. A real team is formed of people (usually a small number) with

complementary skills who trust one another and are committed to a common purpose, common performance goals, and a common approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

Autonomous work groups control decisions about and execution of a

complete range of tasks, such as acquiring raw materials and performing operations, quality control, maintenance, and shipping. They are fully responsible for an entire product or an entire part of a production process.

As it develops, a group typically engages in various processes. In the performing process,

the group channels its energies into performing its tasks.

A project and development team is defined as a team that

works toward a one-time project, disbanding once their work is complete

Self-managed teams are autonomous work groups in which workers are trained to do all or most of the jobs in a unit, and they make

decisions previously made by frontline supervisors

The team's general purpose should be translated into specific, measurable performance goals. Team-based performance goals help

define and distinguish the team's product, encourage communication within the team, energize and motivate team members, provide feedback on progress, signal team victories (and defeats), and ensure that the team focuses clearly on results.

Parading means the team's strategy is to simultaneously emphasize internal team building and achieve external visibility. When teams have a high degree of

dependence on outside groups. Parading means the team's strategy is to simultaneously emphasize internal team building and achieve external visibility. When teams have a high degree of dependence on outsiders, probing is the best strategy. Parading teams perform at an inter

Parallel teams operate separately from the regular work structure of the firm on a temporary basis. Members often come from

different units or jobs and are asked to do work that is not normally done by the standard structure.

Which of the following situations best describes collaboration as an approach to managing conflict?

emphasizing both cooperation and assertiveness

The benefits of teams are reduced when they are not ____.

empowered

Managing lateral relationships with other groups and teams means

engaging in a dynamic give-and-take that ensures proper coordination throughout the management system. When coordination throughout the working system improves, problems are avoided or short-circuited before they get too serious, and performance improves.

Team maintenance roles develop and maintain harmony within the team. Task specialist roles are

filled by individuals who have particular job-related skills and abilities. These employees keep the team moving toward accomplishment of the objectives.

Whereas norms apply generally to all team members, different roles exist for different members within the norm structure. Task specialist roles are

filled by individuals who have particular job-related skills and abilities. These employees keep the team moving toward accomplishment of the objectives. Team maintenance roles develop and maintain harmony within the team.

Self-managed teams are autonomous work groups in which workers are trained to do all or most of the jobs in a unit, and they make decisions previously made by

frontline supervisors

As part of a team, the _____ is someone who stays abreast of current information in scientific and other fields and informs the group of important developments.

gatekeeper

Transnational teams are work teams composed of multinational members whose activities span multiple countries. Members are often

geographically dispersed and psychologically distant, and they work on highly complex projects having considerable impact on company objectives.

Compared to traditionally managed teams, self-managed teams typically have

greater productivity and lower costs

As it develops, a group typically engages in various processes. In the norming process,

group members agree on their shared goals and norms, and closer relationships develop.

Which of the following is a problem that occurs when a decision-making group has too much cohesiveness?

groupthink

Parallel teams operate separately from the regular work structure of the firm on a temporary basis. Members often come from different units or jobs and are asked to do work that is not normally done by the standard structure. Their charge is to recommend solutions to specific problems. They usually do not

have authority to act, however.

The highest performance occurs when a cohesive team has

high performance norms. But if a highly cohesive group has low performance norms, that group will have the worst performance. Noncohesive groups with low-performance norms perform poorly, but they will not ruin things for management as effectively as can cohesive groups with low-performance norms.

A useful strategy for encouraging collaboration when there is conflict in groups is to invoke superordinate goals, which are

higher-level organizational goals toward which everyone should be striving and that ultimately need to take precedence over personal or unit preferences.

The highest group performance occurs when a

highly cohesive group has high performance norms.

Which of the following should be done by a team leader while leading a virtual team?

hold virtual reward ceremonies

As it develops, a group typically engages in various processes. In the storming process,

hostilities and conflict commonly arise as people jockey for positions of power and status.

Group cohesiveness refers in part to

how motivated members are to remain in the group

A mediator is a third party intervening to help settle a conflict between other people. Third-party intervention, done well, can

improve working relationships and help the parties improve their own conflict management, communication, and problem-solving skills.

Groups pass through critical periods, or times when they are particularly open to formative experiences. The first such critical period is

in the forming stage, at the first meeting, when rules and roles are established that set long-lasting precedents. A second critical period is the midway point between the initial meeting and a deadline. At this point, the group has enough experience to understand its work; it comes to realize that time is becoming a scarce resource and the team must get on with it; and enough time remains to change its approach if necessary.

Sometimes individuals work less hard and are less productive when they are members of a group. Such social loafing occurs when

individuals believe that their contributions are not important, others will do the work for them, their lack of effort will go undetected, or they will be the lone sucker if they work hard but others don't.

Sometimes individuals work harder when they are members of a group than when they are working alone. This social facilitation effect occurs because

individuals usually are more motivated when others are present, they are concerned with what others think of them, and they want to maintain a positive self-image.

The team that Richard is managing is following the strategy of telling outsiders of the team's intentions when the team has made any decisions. This strategy is known as ____.

informing

General team strategies include

informing, parading, and probing. The informing strategy entails making decisions with the team and then telling outsiders of the team's intentions.

Teams do not function in a vacuum; they are

interdependent with other teams. Boundary-spanning activities crucial to the team are those that entail dealing with people outside the group.

A useful strategy for encouraging collaboration when there is conflict in groups is to

invoke superordinate goals

Parading refers to a team's strategy that

involves only a limited dependence on outside groups

Deemphasizing or smoothing over a disagreement

is a form of avoidance

Which of the following best describes the characteristic of a management team?

it coordinate and provides direction to the subunits under its direction

Several members of Vonnie's team feel frustrated. They had forwarded many viable concepts to management for work process improvements. A few of the concepts were implemented, but most were not, and the team was not told why. Most members have quit trying to come up with innovative ideas. The team seems to have failed due to

lack of empowerment Here, management retained too much control and failed to empower its employees.

Coordination throughout an organization improves when

lateral relationships are well managed

the highest performance occurs when a cohesive team has high performance norms. But if a highly cohesive group has

low performance norms, that group will have the worst performance. In the group's eyes, however, it will have succeeded in achieving its goal of poor performance.

When teams reach the point of being truly self-managed, results have included

lower costs and greater levels of team productivity, quality, and customer satisfaction. Overall, autonomous teams are known to improve the organization's financial and overall performance, at least in North America.

Informing is a team strategy that entails

making decisions with the team and then informing outsiders of the team's intentions.

Used appropriately, teams can be

powerfully effective as a building block for organization structure. Organizations such as Semco, W. L. Gore, and Kollmorgen, manufacturer of printed circuits and electro-optic devices, are structured entirely around teams.

Used appropriately, teams can be

powerfully effective as a building block for organization structure. Teams can increase productivity, improve quality, and reduce costs. Teams also can enhance speed and be powerful forces for innovation, creativity, and change.

Work teams make or do things such as

manufacture, assemble, sell, or provide service. They typically are well defined; a clear part of the formal organizational structure; and composed of a full-time, stable membership.

Collaboration emphasizes both cooperation and assertiveness. The goal is to

maximize satisfaction for both parties.

Finally, collaboration emphasizes both cooperation and assertiveness. The goal is to

maximize satisfaction for both parties.

A third party who intervenes to help others manage their conflict is called a ____.

mediator

Cohesiveness contributes to

member satisfaction and has a major impact on performance. A study of manufacturing teams showed that performance improvements in both quality and productivity occurred in the most cohesive unit, whereas conflict within another team prevented any quality or productivity improvements.

When teams are geographically dispersed, as is often the case for virtual teams, team

members tend to experience more conflict and less trust

Transnational teams are work teams composed of

multinational members whose activities span multiple countries. Transnational teams tend to be virtual teams, communicating electronically more than face to face, although other types of teams may operate virtually as well.

Teamwork fails when individuals

neglect to bring out the best in others

Both managers and group members need new skills to make a group work. These skills include

negotiating goals that everyone can get behind, delivering on promises made, speaking up in groups to share ideas and build cooperation, recognizing and getting along with people's different work styles, and finding constructive ways to deal with conflict. Giving up some control is very difficult for managers from traditional systems, but they have to realize they will gain control in the long run by creating stronger, better-performing units.

Team members learn about the company and themselves, and they acquire

new skills and performance strategies. The team can satisfy important personal needs, such as affiliation and esteem.

Traditional work groups have

no managerial responsibilities. The frontline manager plans, organizes, staffs, directs, and controls them, and other groups provide support activities, including quality control and maintenance. Some people prefer this arrangement to the self-managed team with more responsibility.

Group members agree on their shared goals and standards in the _____ process of group development.

norming

Over time Juanita's team has developed a set of beliefs about how group members should act during meetings. These beliefs are group _____.

norms

Shared beliefs about how group members should think and behave are referred to as ____.

norms

A common reaction to conflict is avoidance. Here, people do

nothing to satisfy themselves or others. They either ignore the problem by doing nothing at all or address it by merely smoothing over or deemphasizing the disagreement. This, of course, fails to solve the problem or clear the air.

A specific type of role that spans team boundaries is the gatekeeper, a team member who stays abreast of current information in scientific and

other fields and informs the group of important developments. Information useful to the group can include information about resources, trends, and political support throughout the corporation or its industry.

A team strategy that entails simultaneously emphasizing internal team building and achieving external visibility is referred to as ____

parading

Teams that operate separately from the regular work structure of a firm on a temporary basis are known as _____ teams.

parallel

Ross just joined a team of people who come from different units in his organization. The team's primary task is to recommend to the top management valuable uses for the waste materials generated in the manufacturing processes. Although the team meets twice per week, the members continue to work within the usual organizational structure. The temporary team that Ross has joined is a ____.

parallel team

Group members channel their energies into executing their tasks in the _____ process of group development.

performing

Traditional work groups have no managerial responsibilities. The frontline manager

plans, organizes, staffs, directs, and controls them, and other groups provide support activities, including quality control and maintenance.

Working less hard and being less productive when in a group is known as ____.

social loafing

Norms are shared beliefs about how people should think and behave. For example,

some people like to keep information and knowledge to themselves, but teams should try to establish a norm of knowledge sharing because it can improve team performance.

A team's purpose should be translated into

specific, measurable performance goals

Prior to hiring a consultant to assist with a departmental reorganization, the department manager was required to get the project and its budget approved by two other departments: accounting and human resources. This type of requirement facilitates _____ relationships in the organization.

stabilization

Advisory relationships are created when teams with problems call on centralized sources of expert knowledge. For example,

staff members in the human resources or legal department advise work teams. The managers are encouraged to contact the human resources department because that department has expert knowledge in dealing with employees.

In which process of group development do hostilities and conflict commonly arise as members jockey for positions of power and status?

storming

A small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable is referred to as a ____.

team

The role of a _____ is filled by an individual who develops and maintains harmony within the team.

team maintenance specialist

Team effectiveness is defined by three criteria: productive output, team members realizing satisfaction of their personal needs, and

team members remaining committed to working together again.

Probing involves a focus on external relations. This strategy requires

team members to interact frequently with outsiders; diagnose the needs of customers, clients, and higher-ups; and experiment with solutions before taking action. When teams have a high degree of dependence on outsiders, probing is the best strategy.

Stabilization relationships involve auditing before the fact. In other words,

teams sometimes must obtain clearance from others before they act. In the scenario, the department manager must get approval from two other departments before the project can proceed.

Parading means the team's strategy is to simultaneously emphasize internal team building and achieve external visibility. Informing or parading strategies may be more effective for

teams that are less dependent on outside groups.

Generally, the skills required by teams include technical or functional expertise, problem-solving and decision-making skills, and interpersonal skills. Some managers and teams mistakenly overemphasize some skills, particularly

technical or functional ones, and underemphasize the others. Along with knowledge about their subject area, teams need members to contribute interpersonal skills, especially listening and building trust.

Parallel teams operate separately from the regular work structure of the firm on a

temporary basis. Their charge is to recommend solutions to specific problems. They usually do not have authority to act, however. Examples include task forces and quality or safety teams formed to study a particular problem

Sometimes individuals work less hard and are less productive when they are members of a group. Such social loafing occurs when individuals believe

that their contributions are not important, others will do the work for them, their lack of effort will go undetected, or they will be the lone sucker if they work hard but others don't.

Accommodation means cooperating on behalf of

the other party but not being assertive about one's own interests.

A real team differs from a working group in terms of

the purpose of achieving performance improvements

Working harder when in a group than when working alone is known as ____.

the social facilitation effect

Task specialist roles are filled by individuals who have particular job-related skills and abilities. These employees keep

the team moving toward accomplishment of the objectives.

Competing is a response in which people focus strictly on

their own wishes and are unwilling to recognize the other person's concerns.

Autonomous work groups control decisions about and execution of a complete range of tasks, and they are fully responsible for an entire product or an entire part of a production process. Self-designing teams do all of that and go one step further:

they also have control over the design of the team.

Teams should be empowered. The benefits of teams are reduced when

they are not allowed to make important decisions. If teams must acquire permission for every innovative idea, they will revert to making safe, traditional decisions.

In the forming stage, group members attempt

to lay the ground rules for what types of behaviors are acceptable. Later, in the norming stage, group members agree on their shared goals and norms, and closer relationships develop

A(n) _____ differs from a self-managed team in that the former has no managerial responsibilities.

traditional work group

Work groups composed of members from across the globe whose activities span multiple countries are referred to as ____.

transnational teams

Ultimately, teamwork is motivated by

tying rewards to team performance. If team performance can be measured validly, team-based rewards can be given accordingly.

Teams transform the ways organizations do business. Almost all companies now

use teams to produce goods and services, to manage projects, and to make decisions and run the company.

A team that communicates electronically more than face to face is called a _____ team.

virtual

Transnational teams tend to be _____ teams.

virtual

One of the practices that will help with managing a virtual team is to hold

virtual award ceremonies

Maintaining high entrance and socialization standards, presenting a challenge from outside the group, keeping the team small, tying rewards to team performance, being a participative leader, and publicizing a team's successes are all

ways to create high-performing and cohesive work groups.

In today's fast-moving business environment, the difference between success and failure often lies with

whether people can rapidly form and contribute to one team after another as new opportunities and challenges arise. Teamwork fails when individuals have not considered what they bring to a team and how to bring out the best in others.

Superordinate goals are higher-level organizational goals toward

which everyone should be striving and that ultimately need to take precedence over personal or unit preferences.

A working group is a collection of people who

work in the same area or have been drawn together to undertake a task but do not necessarily come together as a unit and achieve significant performance improvements. A real team is formed of people (usually a small number) with complementary skills who trust one another and are committed to a common purpose, common performance goals, and a common approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

Which of the following describes a self-managed team?

workers are trained to do all or most of the jobs in their unit