Managing and Leading Team Dynamics

How are skills assessed in teamwork?

Answers A, B, C ^Self-report; Past accomplishments; 360-degree feedback

Where is trust formed more quickly?

. face to face teams

Perceptions of fairness can _____ team conflict.

Decrease ^Conflict can also arise because teams have a desire to cooperate because they all work for the same company, but they also feel that they are in competition with other teams.

True or False? The 360-degree process does not encourage team cooperation.

False ^ The 360-degree method includes peer reviews which can facilitate team cooperation.

You can increase escalation of commitment by:

NOT setting limits

Team bonding to each other and to others can be beneficial in increasing social networks.

True ^Team bonding to each other and to others can be beneficial in increasing social capital.

True or False. The great man theory states that leaders are born, not made.

True ^While there is much debate about whether leaders are made or born, this theory discusses how leaders are born, not made.

All are strategies for reducing negative effects of intergroup conflict except:

boundaries ^Strategies for reducing negative effects of intergroup conflict include superordinate goals, contact, cross-cut role assignments, and communal sharing norms

Some challenges that can be overcome due to effective teamwork include:

-customer service focus -competition -information age -globalization

Heightened stratification of team member participation can occur in virtual teams.

False

A Transactive Memory System is not an essential component of team information processing.

False ^ A Transactive Memory System is a group-level information-processing system that is an extension of the human information-processing system.

Egalitarians' key goals are to maximize self-interest.

False ^Egalitarians do not perceive many social obligations

Appropriate appraisal and reward methods are important to both the team and individual members.

True ^It is important that there is a balanced mix of individual and team-based appraisals and rewards based on the percentage of control and responsibility that the individual and the team have.

Teams can make decisions more quickly and efficiently than traditional hierarchical structures.

True ^Research has reflected that teams can work quickly and more efficiently than traditional structures.

In a team, members have the authority to manage their own work and internal processes.

True ^Teams need to manage their own internal processes to be effective.

To avoid groupthink, ________________.

appoint a devil's advocate ^A devil's advocate can break close-mindedness and pressures toward conformity and uniformity

What is not an example of different-place communication?

face-to-face ^Face-to-face communication is same-place comm

To effectively combat the information-dependence problem, leaders should not:

request a judgment be made on the task

_____ brainstorming allows members to interact and to exchange ideas through computers.

Electronic ^Electronic brainstorming allows members to interact and to exchange ideas through computers.

A dictatorship encourages contributions from all followers and can lead to optimum decision making.

False ^A participative style of management encourages contributions from all followers and can lead to optimum decision making. We will review more in Module 8, page 3.

Hierarchists' key goal is to maximize the welfare of the group.

False ^Collectivists' key goal is to maximize the welfare of the group.

_____ _____ means to distribute rewards based on incremental productivity that can be correlated to team performance.

Gain sharing

Team-learning is not attributed to:

Routine ^ Team learning can be attributed to: learning from the environment; learning from newcomers and rotators; and longevity: Routinization versus innovation trade off.

Us versus _____ is a type of bias.

Them ^ Us versus them is categorization bias in which people have a tendency to create ingroups and outgroups.

In a perfect system, a sender would communicate a message and the recipient would accurately receive it.

True

Boundary objects are documents and shared vocabulary that allow people from different teams, organizations, and cultures to build understanding.

True ^Boundary objects include artifacts.

Direct communicators engage in explicit, direct information.

True ^Direct communicators ask direct questions.

Cultural inertia refers to a resistance to cultural change

True ^Groups high in cultural inertia resist change because of perceived pressures from outside forces.

True or False. Leadership in a team is a key component to team success.

True ^Leadership ensures that team structure, communication and decision-making processes, and team functioning are enabling team productivity.

True or False. Information technology has extremely powerful effects on social behavior.

True ^Many people are surprised at how they behave when communicating virtually.

True or False. Team bonding to each other and to others in the external environment can also be beneficial in increasing social capital and can be facilitated by friendship ties, trust ties, and advice ties (for the exchange of expertise and information).

True ^Team bonding to each other and to others in the external environment can also be beneficial in increasing social capital and can be facilitated by friendship ties, trust ties, and advice ties (for the exchange of expertise and information).

In brainstorming, more ideas are desired.

True ^The purpose of brainstorming is to encourage free and creative thought to generate quality and quantity of ideas.

Teams that have developed transactive memory of their team are more effective than teams that are low in transactive memory.

True ^Transactive memory is knowledge of who knows what.

Look at the following best practices related to virtual teams. Select the one that is not related.

Virtual teams do not build organizational culture. ^Top management should support virtual teams. It is important to establish the purpose of the team up front, and avoiding monologues should help enhance virtual teams as well. Please review pages 350-351 in the text.

Diversity has several benefits except:

additional distance ^Diversity brings different perspectives, new knowledge, and creativity.

Threats to team member effectiveness and overall team productivity include:

all of the above ^Threats to team member effectiveness and overall team productivity include: reduced member effort or motivation and reduced understanding of and transfer of member knowledge and skill.

The three approaches to managing the contingency theory of task conflict include, collaborating, contending, and _____.

avoiding ^The contingency theory views team performance as a function of the type of task conflict, the conflict management style, and the nature of the task performed by the group managed by collaborating, contending, and avoiding approaches. We will be discussing this in Module 5, page 1.

Practical steps for individuals, teams, and organizations to build more connections across functional groups do not include:

building homogenous networks ^Diversity networks versus homogeneous networks expand vertical and horizontal reach among other group members.

To build relationships between teams and the organization, one must consider human and social _________.

capital ^Social capital is the value that managers add to their teams and organizations through their ties to other people. We will discuss more in Module 6, page 1.

The effectiveness of a team can be evaluated through its productivity, ability of members to learn, applicability of team performance to overall organization, and its __________________.

cohesion ^Cohesive teams are less likely to experience social loafing and unproductive conflict, while being able to establish trust.

Communication biases do not include:

direct speech acts ^Communication biases include message distortion, biased interpretation, uneven communication, and indirect speech acts.

A type of intergroup conflict bias does not include:

diversity ^Intergroup conflict bias includes stereotyping, categorization, ingroup, racism, denial, and outgroup homogeneity.

People in positions of power are often _____ biased.

egocentrically ^People in positions of power often view themselves to be more fair, generous and trustworthy than others evaluate them to be.

A model for group socialization includes:

evaluation commitment role transition best practices for a favorable match between an individual and a team

There are three indices of evaluating creativity. Which of the following is not one of them?

idealism ^Creativity can be measured through fluency, flexibility, and originality. Please review Module 5, page 2.

Groupthink can occur when lapses occur due to a(n) _____ survey of alternatives and objectives.

incomplete ^Groupthink is a decision-making pitfall that occurs because members place consensus above all other priorities which can lead to a deterioration of mental efficiency and a lack of consideration of alternatives and objectives.

In working virtually, you could encounter ________ risk-taking behavior.

increased ^Research has found that teams make riskier decisions and exhibit greater polarization of judgment than face-to-face groups.

Distributing organizational profits to employees or teams is called _________.

profit sharing ^Profit sharing is a share of corporate profits that are distributed in cash to all employees.

Three of the four major threats to effective brainstorming include all but

retaliation ^The four major threats to effective brainstorming include social loafing, conformity, production blocking or coordination problems, and performance matching or downward norm setting.

A major threat to effective brainstorming is __________.

social loafing ^Threats to effective brainstorming are social loafing, conformity, production blocking, and performance matching.

It is important that individuals in a team consider ______interests over _________interests.

team, self- ^Group potency and collective efficacy has a powerful ability to create effective teams and requires emphasis on team interest over self-interest.

To increase the likelihood that a team's work will be successful, attention should be paid to:

-organizational context -team design - team culture ^Organizational context considers the basic structure of the organization, the information system, the education system, and the reward system. Team design considers the leadership style within the team, functional roles, communication patterns, composition of the team, and training of members. Team culture is based on prescriptive or proscriptive norms.

In an effective team there are _______bonds between team members and to the group.

Common ^Common bonds between team members and to the group enhance team cohesion.

What is NOT a ratee bias?

External ^Ratee biases include egocentric, intrinsic, social comparison, fairness, listening to advice.

Strong leadership is necessary for strong teams.

False ^ a leader has two main functions: structure the team environment and coach team members so that they can work together effectively.

Group socialization is not a key factor in facilitating effectiveness of members who move in and out of teams.

False ^A model for group socialization includes evaluation, commitment, role transition, and best practices for a favorable match between an individual and a team.

Mixed-motive conflict would not occur in a team that is part of a larger organization.

False ^Conflict can also arise because teams have a desire to cooperate because they all work for the same company, but they also feel that they are in competition with other teams.

Conflict among teams is unusual and should be avoided at all costs.

False ^Conflict that is not properly managed can lead to hostility, performance deficits, and sometime team dissolution, but conflict can also enhance creativity or foster integrative solutions.

External roles of team members are formally assigned and taken on by team members by implicit team negotiation.

False ^External roles of team members are not formally assigned but instead are taken on by team members by implicit team negotiation.

Group polarization can be caused by the need to be considered an independent thinker.

False ^Group polarization is the tendency for group discussion to intensify group opinion, which does not allow for individual thinking.

In a self-managing team, there is no leader.

False ^In a self-managing team, a manager or leader determines the overall purpose of the team but the team is at liberty to manage the methods to achieve the goal.

In a self-directing team, management only has responsibility for a team's organizational content.

False ^Management is responsible for a team's organizational context while teams determine their own objectives and methods to achieve them.

Team boundaries do not differentiate one work group from another.

False ^Team boundaries differentiate one work group from another and affect knowledge transfer and distribution of resources.

Both team norms and team structure are not factors for effective teamwork.

False ^Team norms and team structure are important for effective teamwork.

________________systems should be comprehensive enough that people will feel fairly treated.

Incentive ^Incentive systems can combine a focus on individual and team performance as well as consider the input and output of both.

_____ is a communication device that tells employees and teams what is meant to be emphasized and measured.

Pay ^Pay is a communication device that guides behavior according to the way that people are evaluated and paid.

_____ is a one-time award for performing well beyond expectations.

Recognition ^Recognition is a one-time award for performing well beyond expectations, but it carries less front-end motivation.

Motivation and a(n) ________ transfer of member knowledge and skill can occur in virtual teams.

Reduced ^Members of virtual teams may have considerably less knowledge about members' knowledge and skill than do traditional teams.

When working virtually, you can expect ________ status differences.

Reduced ^Research has found that without traditional cues from face-to-face contact, power and status differences are weakened and status differences are reduced.

Most people will agree that being able to work virtually can be both helpful and detrimental to work productivity.

True ^ For example, without face-to-face meetings, there can be a loss of information regarding the dynamics, politics, and nuances of a situation which are often more powerful influencers than any other factors; however, the constant stream of information and interaction that virtual work allows for can provide a more complete understanding of situations and time for reflection before responding.

Successful team performance is a multidimensional concept.

True ^An integrated model of teamwork is based on the context of the team and how it affects the team's ability to perform, motivate, and coordinate people, ultimately to determine a team's performance.

True or False: Intergroup conflict can be based on bias.

True ^Bias can cause interteam conflict which affects an organization's ability to accomplish goals.

True or False. Trust is another component of team cohesion and performance.

True ^Building team trust is an important factor for team cohesion and performance.

To enhance creativity in brainstorming, consider the cognitive goal instructions.

True ^Cognitive goal instructions focus on how to change the mindset and accompanying cognitions of the team

For an effective team-based pay structure, goals should cover areas that team members can directly affect.

True ^Compensation will not motivate employees unless there is a direct line of sight between performance and results.

When making decisions, teams outperform individuals with the drawback that groups tend to make more risky decisions.

True ^Correct! Research has found that group decisions outperform individual decision making with the drawback that groups are much more overconfident than individuals.

Different place, different time is a form of communication that uses email.

True ^Different place, different time is a form of communication that uses email or videoconferencing.

Diversity and motivation are both considerations in team design.

True ^Diversity and motivation are both considerations in team design.

Effective communication among team members can facilitate the establishment and utilization of a shared knowledge based for intellectual bandwidth.

True ^Effective communication among team members can facilitate the establishment and utilization of a shared knowledge based for intellectual bandwidth to understand data, information, knowledge, and wisdom.

Electronic brainstorming results in a loss of power.

True ^Electronic brainstorming allows for equality among all participants, which can decrease power of individuals while encouraging contributions from all levels.

To enhance a more productive office environment for teams, consideration should be given to furniture that can be moved as needed and accommodate multiple electronic tools.

True ^Flexible workspace that can be changed and furniture that can be moved to accommodate changing needs of teams can enhance team productivity.

Teams are not always the answer for organizational needs.

True ^If not done thoughtfully, the creation of teams may cause more problems.

True or False. Ingroup bias is defined as viewing members of their own group more favorably than members of the outgroup.

True ^Ingroup bias is defined as viewing members of their own group more favorably than members of the outgroup.

There are three key aspects to consider when building teams: task, people, and processes.

True ^Internal dynamics of the team itself considers specifying the task, selecting the people, and facilitating the team processes.

True or False. Retreats and meetings will not fix all conflicts between team members.

True ^It may be necessary to address the structural and design problems that plague the team on a day-to-day basis in the work environment.

Managers sometimes think that managing the team is the same as managing individuals.

True ^Managers should understand that managing a team is different from managing individuals.

Managers should use information from inside and outside teams in decision making.

True ^Managers should use high quality knowledge regardless where it comes from with the understanding that there are biases in knowledge valuation such as in-group favoritism, greater value placed on outside versus inside knowledge, organizational incentives for valuing external ideas, and relational perspective that internal knowledge is more readily available.

A defining characteristic of a team is that members are bound and remain relatively stable over time.

True ^Most teams remain relatively stable long enough to achieve their goal or purpose.

People seek group affiliations as they are a critical source of self-identity and self-esteem.

True ^People define themselves in many ways: by the organizations they belong to and the teams they are a member. Therefore, group affiliations are a critical source of self-identity and self-esteem.

People define themselves based on their own unique traits, dyadic relationship, and their group and team memberships.

True ^People define themselves in terms of their unique traits or individual self, their dyadic relationships or relational self, and their group memberships of their collective selves.

The great opportunity leadership theory states that leadership is a learned skill.

True ^The great opportunity theory maintains that leadership can be learned as a skill.

For pay structures, as a manager you should consult the team members who will be affected.

True ^The pay programs with the greatest likelihood of success are those that have input from all levels of the organization, including members of the team.

A team is a group of people who are interdependent but who combine their efforts to achieve a common goal.

True ^There are many aspects to team dynamics, as well as unique characteristics.

Trait-based theory is a leadership theory.

True ^Trait-based theory maintains that people are born with certain traits that make them effective leaders.

There are four types of communication in the place-time model. The one type that is NOT part of the model is:

current time ^ The four types of communication are face-to-face communication; same time, different place; different time, same place; and different place, different time.

Intergroup conflict can be ________ to team productivity.

detrimental ^Intergroup conflict can lead to negative effects that hinder team and organizational effectiveness. `

People have a need to belong and the need to be _____.

distinct ^ People see an optimal distinctiveness such that they don't want to be too distinct nor too similar to others.

All are impacts to minority influence except:

focused thinking ^Greater thought about issues and broader minority are impacts on minority influence

People define themselves based on self-interest vs. __________.

group interest ^One of the challenges of effective teamwork is the fact that people often focus on self-interest rather than team or group interest.

It is __________ that teams can work effectively with other teams.

important ^A team's ability to interact effectively with outside groups is important to its effectiveness.

Which of the following is not a major leadership style?

independent ^Major leadership styles include: task versus person leadership, transactional versus transformational leadership, active versus passive leadership, autocratic versus democratic leadership, and mood in which leadership moods influence team mood.

When teams or individuals are appraised, _____ bias may occur due to empathic buffering and fear of conflict.

inflation ^People are generally reluctant to transmit bad news to a poorly performing employee so the inflation bias may cause raters to positively distort ratings

What is NOT a challenge of cross-cultural teamwork?

intelligence vs. effort ^Cultural differences that can challenge cross-culture teams are the cultural differences of individualism versus collectivism, egalitarianism versus hierarchy, and direct versus indirect communication.

In working with teams from other countries, do consider:

intercultural awareness among ethnic groups ^Intercultural awareness can be promoted by gaining an understanding of the cultural norms to help prevent categorization bias.

In unethical decision making, the Rational Man Model maintains that people seek to _____ their self-interests.

maximize ^The Rational Man Model maintains that people seek to maximize their self-interests which can lead to unethical behavior.

Common roles in real workgroups include all except:

mediator ^The most common and important roles in real workgroups include boundary spanner, bufferer, gatekeeper, advisor, interpreter, and lobbyist.

Team cohesion is not achieved through:

negative spin on team's performance ^Team cohesion is achieved through challenging the team, building team identity, and focusing on similarities among team members.

Performance matching or downward _____ setting is a major threat to effective brainstorming.

norm ^Brainstorming effectiveness can be negatively impacted by downward norm setting of the team to match the least productive member.

To avoid the Abilene Paradox, team leaders should encourage all except:

only allow one opinion

A symptom of groupthink does not include:

optimum decisions ^ Groupthink is a decision-making pitfall marked by risky decisions, close-mindedness, and pressures toward uniformity.

Which is not a type of team conflict?

personal conflict ^Types of team conflict fall into three categories: relationship, task, and process. We will be discussing this in Module 5, page 1.

All are types of encouraging follower participation except:

personal involvement ^To empower followers, leaders should delegate tasks, structure jobs to make them rewarding, and recognize the importance of organizational commitment.

All are benefits of electronic brainstorming except:

restrictions to team size ^A benefit of electronic brainstorming is that there is flexibility in team size. Please review Module 5, page 2.

Decision styles of leaders do not include:

restrictive ^Decision styles of leaders include autocratic, inquiry, consultative, consensus-building, and delegation.

Creative people that are effective team contributors are passionate about specific things, in tune with their creativity, and can:

select relevant information ^Creative people that are effective team contributors are passionate about specific things, in tune with their creativity, and can select relevant information.

All are types of teams in relation to their environment except:

social teams ^There are four types of teams in relation to their environment: surveying teams, broadcasting teams, insulating teams, and marketing teams.