ch 10 group teams

Organizational demography suggests that attributes such as age or the date of joining should help the organization in ________.

predicting employee turnover in the company

Efficacy means that a team believes it can succeed in the job and goal that is placed before them. There are two ways of increasing efficacy:

1) provide training to improve skills and increase confidence 2) help the team achieve small, incremental successes.

The goal of a work group is to share information. Answer: TRUE

A work group is a group that interacts primarily to share information and make decisions to help each member perform within his or her area of responsibility.

Jason Jones has been asked to assemble an eight-member self-managed work team of experienced employees to work on a project that combines the functional areas of research, production, marketing, and distribution. Jason is apprehensive about managing a team so large; he knows from prior experience that larger teams do not always result in greater productivity. Jason has also been informed by the management that this team is being established as the project must progress according to the predetermined timeline. The work lagging behind by one division will cause a cumulative delay in all the successive stages of the project's execution. Jason plans to implement a group-based incentive that he feels would motivate each of the team members to work efficiently. Which of the following is an assumption made by Jason in implementing this plan?

Each employee in the team is motivated to work equally hard to ensure that the group's performance is satisfactory.

Specificity refers to the degree to which a team reflects on and adjusts its master plan when necessary. Answer: FALSE

Effective teams show reflexivity, meaning they reflect on and adjust their master plan when necessary.

For creating good team players, an organization's reward system must be reworked to encourage competitive efforts rather than cooperative ones. Answer: FALSE

For creating good team players, an organization's reward system must be reworked to encourage cooperative efforts rather than competitive ones.

FDS is a government agency which holds its yearly appraisals in December and provides employees with merit-based incentives based on their individual performance ratings. Merit is the only criterion for incentives at FDS and this is likely to have a strong positive impact on group performance. Answer: FALSE

Individual performance evaluations and incentives may interfere with the development of high-performance teams. So, in addition to evaluating and rewarding employees for their individual contributions, performance rewards must recognize and promote group performance through incentive programs like gainsharing.

Research has shown that the larger the team, the more effective its performance. Answer: FALSE

Keeping teams small is a key to improving group effectiveness. Generally speaking, the most effective teams have five to nine members.

Team Member Roles

Select people to play all these roles based on their skills and preferences. may play multiple roles

________ teams are defined as groups of employees who perform highly related or interdependent jobs and take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors.

Self-managed work

________ illustrates a process loss from using teams.

Social loafing In the case of a team, when each member's contribution is not clearly visible, individuals tend to decrease their effort. This is known as social loafing. Social loafing illustrates a process loss from using teams

Many of the dimensions identified in the Big Five personality model are also relevant to team effectiveness; identified three.

Specifically, teams that rate higher on mean levels of conscientiousness and openness to experience tend to perform better the minimum level of team member agreeableness also matters.

Teams have different needs, and members should be selected to ensure all the various roles are filled.

Successful work teams have selected people to play all these roles based on their skills and preferences. On many teams, individuals will play multiple roles

Teams and traditional departments have the same level of flexibility and responsiveness to external changes. Answer: FALSE

Teams are more flexible and responsive to changing events than traditional departments or other forms of permanent groupings.

Effective teams begin by analyzing the team's mission, developing goals to achieve that mission, and creating strategies for achieving the goals.

Teams that consistently perform better have established a clear sense of what needs to be done and how. Members of successful teams put a tremendous amount of time and effort into discussing, shaping, and agreeing on a purpose that belongs to them both collectively and individually.

Problems such as lack of trust or lack of sharing information among team members in a competitive group can be swiftly changed by rewarding collective performance over individual performance. Answer: FALSE

Teams that switch from a competitive to a cooperative system do not immediately share information, and they still tend to make rushed, poor-quality decisions. Apparently, the low trust typical of the competitive group will not be readily replaced by high trust with a quick change in reward systems. These problems are not seen in teams that have consistently cooperative systems.

What is organizational demography? What is its significance?

The degree to which members of a work unit (group, team, or department) share a common demographic attribute, such as age, sex, race, educational level, or length of service in the organization, is the subject of organizational demography. Organizational demography suggests that attributes such as age or the date of joining should help us predict turnover. The logic goes like this: turnover will be greater among those with dissimilar experiences because communication is more difficult and conflict is more likely. Increased conflict makes membership less attractive, so employees are more likely to quit.

Hank Murphy was selected to develop an advanced personal communication device with his own self-managed work team. Hank was assured that resource allocation and timelines were flexible for this project provided the work was a cut above that provided by the rest of the employees. As a part of the project guidelines, Hank included the demand that the device being developed by the team should also be marketed exclusively by them without resorting to franchising or co-branding. This was to ensure that customers recognized the product as reflecting the values of their company. Work on this project began with a lot of vigor and once the device was developed, Hank's team implemented their marketing strategy. However, even three months after the product's release, visibility remained low in the market and many reviewers did not consider the device to be much of an innovation. Which of the following statements, if true, would indicate a lack of reflexivity in Hank's self-managed work team?

The device was later marketed as a part of a national level tie-up with E-store outlets and did remarkably well in its second stint in the market.

A climate of trust among team members is a contextual factor relating to team effectiveness. Answer: TRUE

The four contextual factors most significantly related to team performance are adequate resources, effective leadership, a climate of trust, and a performance evaluation and reward system that reflects team contributions.

work teams description

The individual efforts result in a level of performance greater than the sum of those individual inputs. aim at the goal of collective performance, apply complementary skills, and promote individual and mutual accountability for group results.

The team effectiveness model identifies three categories of key components making up effective teams. What are these three categories?

The key components of effective teams can be organized into three general categories. First are the resources and other contextual influences that make teams effective; an example would be adequate resources. The second relates to the team's composition; an example would be personality of team members. Finally, process variables are events within the team that influence effectiveness; an example of this would be team efficacy.

Which of the following statements represents a strategy that is desirable for making effective teams?

The preference of individual members to work as a part of groups must be considered when forming teams Not every employee is a team player. When people who prefer to work alone are required to team up, there is a direct threat to the team's morale and to individual member satisfaction. When selecting team members, managers should consider individual preferences along with abilities, personalities, and skills

A work group is a group that interacts primarily to share information and make decisions to help each member perform within his or her area of responsibility.

They are characterized by neutral synergy, individual accountability, and the presence of random and varied skill sets.

Which of the following statements is not true regarding multiteam systems?

They perform better when lines of communication are restricted.

Teams are part of a larger organization system; every work team relies on resources outside the group to sustain it. A scarcity of resources directly reduces the ability of a team to perform its job effectively and achieve its goals.

This support includes timely information, proper equipment, adequate staffing, encouragement, and administrative assistance.

Self-managed work teams are groups of employees (typically ten to fifteen in number) who perform highly related or interdependent jobs and take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors.

True

When teams are performing nonroutine activities, disagreements about task content (called task conflicts) stimulate discussion, promote critical assessment of problems and options, and can lead to better team decisions.

True

leaders need to empower teams by delegating responsibility to them and then play the role of facilitator, making sure the teams work together rather than against one another.

True

virtual teams, there is less social rapport and direct interaction among members?

True

Diane Fielding, owner of the famous Mint chain of restaurants, planned to revamp the whole concept and structure of her outlets. With this purpose in mind, she selected five managers from her existing outlets based on their performance in relation to targets, experience, and motivation. Each manager was asked to take up an aspect of the restaurant's functioning like menu, décor, and customer service measures. Diane was sure that this group of high performers possessed a clear understanding of the ground realities, which made them the best candidates to contemplate and implement the required changes. In order to reward them, she announced a hefty bonus for their collective performance. Six months later, after the changes were implemented, Diane realized that the group had made many questionable decisions, which were resulting in problems. Which of the following, if true, would best explain this outcome?

Typically, these managers viewed each other as competition as Diane only rewarded the highest earning outlet with incentives.

The work of your group would be better done in teams if the members of the team are interdependent.

Using teams makes sense when there is interdependence among tasks such that the success of the whole depends on the success of each one, and the success of each one depends on the success of the others.

Using teams makes sense when the assignment involves independent tasks. Answer: FALSE

Using teams makes sense when there is interdependence among tasks such that the success of the whole depends on the success of each one, and the success of each one depends on the success of the others.

tend to be more task oriented and exchange less socio-emotional information than face-to-face teams do.

Virtual teams members report less satisfaction with the group interaction process than do face-to-face teams.

What is the relationship between task conflicts and reflexivity among team members?

When teams are performing nonroutine activities, disagreements about task content can stimulate discussion, promote critical assessment of problems and options, and can lead to better team decisions. Such conflicts are defined as task conflicts. Research has shown that moderate levels of task conflict during the initial phases of team performance were positively related to team creativity, but both very low and very high levels of task conflict were negatively related to team performance. Effective teams also show reflexivity, meaning they reflect on and adjust their master plan when necessary. A team has to have a good plan, but it also has to be willing and able to adapt when conditions call for it. Research evidence does suggest that teams high in reflexivity are better able to adapt to conflicting plans and goals among team members. Both these concepts come under the process dimension of key variables of effective teams. Reflexivity may be understood as one way to solve task conflicts by adapting the predetermined plan to current changes.

Jason Jones has been asked to assemble an eight-member self-managed work team of experienced employees to work on a project that combines the functional areas of research, production, marketing, and distribution. Jason is apprehensive about managing a team so large; he knows from prior experience that larger teams do not always result in greater productivity. Jason has also been informed by the management that this team is being established as the project must progress according to the predetermined timeline. The work lagging behind by one division will cause a cumulative delay in all the successive stages of the project's execution. Which of the following measures, if adopted by Jason, would best ensure that the team members are working efficiently?

assigning the specific tasks of the project to each team member by keeping in mind their preferences and abilities

People scoring high on ________ are valuable in teams because they're good at backing up fellow team members and at sensing when their support is truly needed

conscientiousness

Which of the following pairs of personality dimensions contribute to high team effectiveness?

conscientiousness and openness to experience

A group

consists of two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives.

Interpersonal trust facilitates ...

cooperation, reduces the need to monitor each other's behavior, bonds members around the belief that others on the team won't take advantage of them

To retain its edge in the organic health food market, Natura has established a high-priority team comprised of senior executives from the company's production, marketing, and research divisions. These employees work together closely to study consumer attitudes about organic health foods and come up with a closely monitored development and marketing strategy for new products. This ensures that each division is informed of the specific needs, timelines, and expected outcomes of the strategy. It also makes Natura a company that adapts to changes in market trends swiftly. The team Natura uses here is of the ________ type.

cross-functional

Which of the following teams is more likely to be made up of employees from about the same hierarchical level but different work areas?

cross-functional

Which of the following is desirable when a crucial project is delegated to a virtual team?

engaging in close monitoring of the work being done by the team throughout the project

Workshops

help employees improve their problem-solving, communication, negotiation, conflict-management, and coaching skills.

Which of the following is most likely to increase team efficacy?

helping the team achieve small successes

According to the concept of organizational demography, if team members have dissimilar experiences, it will lead to ________.

higher employee turnover

A software development firm has witnessed substantial growth and seeks to expand and reorganize its structure to meet the demands from clients in a better manner. HR has been given a clear directive that one of the major criteria for selection of recruits would be the candidate's ability to function as a team player. This is because the company is revamping all its major functions from the traditional departmental model to an arrangement of flexible teams. Joe Sanchez, one of the firm's oldest and most experienced employees, has demonstrated considerable ability in developing the best programs, but he prefers to work alone. The company does not wish to lose resources like Sanchez and others who lack the ability to work in groups, but teamwork is essential to its reorganization. Which of the following strategies will help rectify this problem?

informing all employees that ability to work in teams will be a major determinant for promotions and bonuses

Climate of trust

is a contextual factor that affects the effectiveness of teams.

The personality of team members

is a key component that affects the effectiveness of teams and it belongs to the composition category.

A work group

is defined as a group that interacts primarily to share information and to make decisions to help each group member perform within his or her area of responsibility.

The adviser role in a team

is responsible for encouraging the search for more information.

Shane Dermott is a manager at a software design firm that develops software programs for clients using multiple teams of specialists. One of his most successful teams has been performing very well for years and so it came as a surprise to Shane when he noticed a sharp drop in the team's performance. He decided to speak with the team members individually and find a solution. After interviewing all 7 team members, he determined that one of the team members performed routine administrative tasks that were hardly visible to any of the other team members and understood that this was a case of social loafing which demotivated the entire group. Which of the following would most likely improve the performance of the employee who was social loafing?

making him individually responsible for definite and crucial tasks

Which of the following will be useful in creating team players?

negotiation training

Effects of Group Processes

potential group effectiveness + process gains - process losses = actual group effectiveness

A team consists of employees from the same department who meet for a few hours each week to discuss ways of improving the work environment but they do not have the authority to unilaterally implement any of their suggestions. This is most likely to be a(n) ________ team.

problem-solving

The supervisors of the production division of one of the branches of Georgia Mills have been informed of some irregularities noticed in inventory of raw materials by some trusted subordinates. To get a clearer picture, the supervisors had a quick meeting with the subordinates who reported the matter over lunch. The subordinates recommended rotating the schedule of employees who account for the incoming and used up stock so as to pinpoint the defaulting employee. The supervisors agreed that this was a good strategy but admitted that the matter must be escalated to the production manager before such a change can be implemented. They followed up this meeting with subsequent sessions to evaluate how the change worked. The supervisors and subordinates form a(n) ________ team in this scenario.

problem-solving

Alberto's team is developing a database for the water pollution data of three cities. Before he begins on this intensive project, he wants to improve the team efficacy of his team. Which of the following actions can Alberto take to increase team efficacy before the project starts?

provide client's software and database training for all the team members

A team that has a good plan but is also willing to adjust its master plan and adapt when conditions call for it demonstrates high ________, an important variable in successful team processes.

reflexivity

While discussing their marketing campaign for a new product, the members of the cross-functional team responsible for Carver Inc. realized that a couple of changes relating to their prior plan would be beneficial. The offer of a franchising that had earlier been brushed off by the company head was discussed thoroughly, and it was decided that it would be implemented on a trial basis initially and on full scale if found to work well. From the information provided, it can be concluded that this cross-functional team has a high degree of ________.

reflexivity

Cultural diversity is an asset for teams where tasks ________.

require a variety of viewpoints Cultural diversity does seem to be an asset for tasks that call for a variety of viewpoints. However, in other circumstances, diversity seems to interfere with team processes in the short term.

The goal of work groups is ________.

sharing relevant information

Gerald Murphy is a manager at Wright & Wayner, a publishing house which is a very employee-friendly company. The demarcation between managers and subordinates is flexible and the nature of these reporting relationships is flexible and informal. Gerald recently assigned five of eight of his subordinates to work on a new publication project with a fairly tight deadline because he believed that these efficient employees would function even better with each other's support. A week before the deadline, however, Gerald realized that the group had been shirking work as each of the members thought that the project was not just his or her responsibility. Additionally, under the guise of working together, the team was actually doing their personal work, surfing the Internet, or just socializing. This scenario reflects ________.

social loafing In the case of a team, when each member's contribution is not clearly visible, individuals tend to decrease their effort. This is known as social loafing. Social loafing illustrates a process loss from using teams

Effective teams translate their common purpose into ________ goals.

specific Successful teams translate their common purpose into specific, measurable, and realistic performance goals. Specific goals facilitate clear communication. They also help teams maintain their focus on getting results.

According to the team effectiveness model, which of the following is a process variable that influences effectiveness of a team?

team efficacy

The belief that effective teams have in their ability to succeed is called ________.

team efficacy

A work team is characterized by ________.

the availability of complementary skills among members

Organizational demography refers to

the degree to which members of a work unit share a common demographic attribute, such as age, sex, race, educational level, or length of service in an organization, and the impact of this attribute on turnover.

Work should be performed by an individual if ________.

the work is simple and does not require diverse input If the tasks are simple and do not require diverse input, then individuals must be used to complete them. A team should be used when the work creates a common purpose or set of goals for the people in the group that is more than the aggregate of individual goals. Using teams makes sense when there is interdependence between tasks—the success of the whole depends on the success of each one, and the success of each one depends on the success of the others.

The current popularity of teams can be attributed to the fact that ________.

they represent a better way to use employee talents

Promotions, pay raises, and other forms of recognition should be given to individuals who work effectively as team members by

training new colleagues, sharing information, helping resolve team conflicts, and mastering needed new skills.

Organizational demography suggests that attributes such as age or the date of joining should help us predict turnover. The logic goes like this:

turnover will be greater among those with dissimilar experiences because communication is more difficult. Conflict and power struggles are more likely and are more severe when they occur. Increased conflict makes membership less attractive, so employees are more likely to quit

Research shows that multiteam systems performed better when they had boundary spanners ...

whose job was to coordinate with other members of the other subteams. This reduced the need for some team member communication. Restricting lines of communication was helpful because it reduced coordination demands.

Culturally heterogeneous teams have more difficulty learning to

work with each other and solving problems. The good news is that these difficulties seem to dissipate with time

Which of the following statements is true regarding a cross-functional team?

Cross-functional teams are used for developing new ideas and coordinating complex projects. Their early stages of development are often long, as members learn to work with diversity and complexity

Cross-functional teams consist of employees from about the same hierarchical level, but from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task. Answer: TRUE

Cross-functional teams consist of employees from about the same hierarchical level, but from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task.

team efficacy

Effective teams have confidence in themselves; they believe they can succeed

As tasks become more complex, teams are often made bigger.

However, increases in team size are accompanied by higher coordination demands, creating a tipping point at which the addition of another member does more harm than good. To solve this problem, organizations are employing multiteam systems,

Conscientiousness and openness to experience are two personality dimensions of the Big Five personality model that predict better performance in teams. Answer: TRUE

Many of the dimensions identified in the Big Five personality model are also relevant to team effectiveness; a review of the literature identified three. Specifically, teams that rate higher on mean levels of conscientiousness and openness to experience tend to perform better.

Leadership

is especially important in multiteam systems.

Problem-solving teams can ________.

provide recommendations after a discussion amongst department members

Which of the following must be avoided if one wants to create and maintain an effective team?

relationship conflicts

Which of the following types of teams allows for collaboration between team members who are physically dispersed?

virtual teams

For virtual teams to be effective, management should ensure that...

(1) trust is established among members, (2) team progress is monitored closely, and (3) the efforts and products of the team are publicized throughout the organization.

Work groups are characterized by ________.

) the goal of sharing information among members

When faced with job candidates who lack team skills, managers have three options.

1 don't hire them. 2 If you have to hire them, assign them to tasks or positions that don't require teamwork. 3 If that's not feasible, the candidates can undergo training to make them into team players.

Teamwork takes more time and often more resources than individual work. Teams have increased communication demands, conflicts to manage, and meetings to run.

A good indicator is the complexity of the work and the need for different perspectives. Simple tasks that don't require diverse input are probably better left to individuals

Discuss the difference between a work group and a work team

A work group is a group that interacts primarily to share information and to make decisions to help each member perform within his or her area of responsibility. There is no positive synergy that would create an overall level of performance that is greater than the sum of the inputs. The members are individually held accountable for results, and they have random and varied skills. A work team, on the other hand, generates positive synergy through coordinated effort. Their individual efforts result in a level of performance that is greater than the sum of those individual inputs. They consist of members who have complementary skills and are mutually accountable for outcomes.

More and more organizations are resorting to teams as they represent a better way to use employee talents. Answer: TRUE

As organizations have restructured themselves to compete more effectively and efficiently, they have turned to teams as a better way to use employee talents.

Team Effectiveness Model

Context, Composition, Process

Which of the following is true with regard to the impact of diversity on team effectiveness?

Cultural diversity serves as an asset for tasks that call for a variety of viewpoints once the team has worked out its differences.

Which of the following statements is true with regard to team processes?

Effective teams invest time and effort to discuss and agree on a purpose that belongs to them both collectively and individually

Which of the following statements is true regarding a culturally diverse team?

Generally, newly formed culturally diverse teams underperform as compared to newly formed culturally homogeneous teams. Evidence indicates these elements of diversity interfere with team processes, at least in the short term. Cultural diversity does seem to be an asset for tasks that call for a variety of viewpoints. But culturally heterogeneous teams have more difficulty learning to work with each other and solving problems. Although newly formed culturally diverse teams underperform compared to newly formed culturally homogeneous teams, the differences disappear after about 3 months.

Lower-ability teams are more adaptable to changing situations than high-ability teams. Answer: FALSE

High-ability teams are more adaptable to changing situations than lower-ability teams.

Work that creates a common purpose or set of goals must be assigned to individuals, not groups. Answer: FALSE

If the work creates a common purpose or set of goals for the people in the group that is more than the aggregate of individual goals, then it must be assigned to a group.

Which of the following statements is true regarding team composition?

In successful teams, members should be selected to ensure all the various roles are filled

Which of the following statements is true regarding self-managed work teams?

In the case of self-managed work teams, supervisory positions take on decreased importance.

Which of the following is an example of a task conflict?

Linda and Dorothy had a disagreement over which of their employees should be assigned to work on a high-priority project.

Low levels of virtuality in teams result in higher levels of information sharing. Answer: TRUE

Low levels of virtuality in teams result in higher levels of information sharing, but high levels of virtuality hinder it. This is because virtual teams are better at sharing unique information (information held by individual members but not the entire group), but they tend to share less information overall.

________ are defined as organized mental representations of the key elements within a team's environment that team members share.

Mental models Effective teams share accurate mental models which are organized mental representations of the key elements within a team's environment that team members share.

Nancy is a part of a group at work that stresses collective goals and performance. Nancy is amazed at how well the members of the team use their skills to benefit themselves and their team members. Whenever a problem arises, the team, as a whole, works to provide reasons and solutions. She enjoys working in this group as there is a lot of positive energy. This group that Nancy is a part of is a work group. Answer: FALSE

Nancy is a part of a work team. A work team generates positive synergy through coordinated effort. The individual efforts result in a level of performance greater than the sum of those individual inputs.

As organizations have restructured themselves to compete more effectively and efficiently, they have turned to teams as a better way to use employee talents.

Popularity of teams

4 types of teams

Problem solving self managed cross functional virtual

Problem-solving teams discuss a problem, generate potential solutions, and implement them successfully. Answer: FALSE

Problem-solving teams rarely have the authority to unilaterally implement any of their suggestions.

Supervisory positions take on decreased importance and are sometimes even eliminated. Self-managed teams do not typically manage conflicts well. Members of this team report higher levels of job satisfaction than other individuals.

Self managed teams

In self-managed teams, supervisory positions may be eliminated. Answer: TRUE

Self-managed work teams are groups of employees who perform highly related or interdependent jobs and take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors. Supervisory positions take on decreased importance and are sometimes even eliminated.

Which of the following is true with regard to use of individuals and teams?

Task complexity and requirement of different perspectives must be used as criteria when assigning work to teams over individuals and vice versa.

process-related factors that affect the effectiveness of the team.

Team efficacy, social loafing, specific goals, and common purpose

Which of the following is not a common characteristic of an effective team?

The team is the right size for the task—about 15-20 people. Effective teams have common characteristics. They have: +adequate resources, +effective leadership, +a climate of trust, +a performance evaluation and reward system that reflects team contributions. Effective teams also tend to be small—with fewer than 10 people, preferably of diverse backgrounds.

Organizations are looking for positive synergy that will allow the organizations to increase performance. The extensive use of teams creates the potential for an organization to generate greater outputs with no increase in inputs.

True

Problem-solving teams only make recommendations.

True

Social loafing illustrates a process gain from using teams. Answer: FALSE

When each member's contribution is not clearly visible, individuals tend to decrease their effort. Social loafing illustrates a process loss from using teams.

When teams have excess members, cohesiveness and mutual accountability decline. Answer: TRUE

When teams have excess members, cohesiveness and mutual accountability decline, social loafing increases, and more people communicate less.

Which of the following statements is true regarding size of teams?

When teams have excess members, cohesiveness declines. Generally speaking, the most effective teams have five to nine members. When teams have excess members, cohesiveness and mutual accountability decline, social loafing increases, and more people communicate less.

Which of the following accurately differentiates between work groups and work teams?

Work teams generate a potential for an organization to generate greater outputs with no increase in inputs, while work groups cannot perform this function.

Which of the following statements is true regarding a work team?

Work teams generate positive synergy through coordinated effort.

Cultural diversity does seem to be an asset for tasks that call for .

a variety of viewpoints

Compare the role of a leader in (a) a self-managed team,

a) Self-managed work teams are groups of employees who perform highly related or interdependent jobs and take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors. Supervisory positions take on decreased importance and are sometimes even eliminated. While self-managed teams do absorb many of the duties typically assumed by managers, the manager's job then involves coordinating factors outside the group.

Jean Wills, a trainer with Leverage Inc., is infuriated because the conference hall that she had booked for her morning session with a new batch of trainees will be occupied by the HR team for the day. Jean feels that the company only superficially commits to training and that it is not a priority as this lack of facilities for training is a recurring phenomenon. Recently, she had asked the HR department to supply printed copies of her material for the orientation and training modules to the new trainees, and HR refused, saying the soft copies available on the systems would suffice. Which of the following contextual areas is the source of problem between the training department and the HR department in this scenario?

adequate resources

Process variables

are events within the team that influence effectiveness.

Relationship conflicts

are those based on interpersonal incompatibilities, tension, and animosity toward others; these are almost always dysfunctional.

(b) multiteam

b) Leadership is especially important in multiteam systems, in which different teams coordinate their efforts to produce a desired outcome. Here, leaders need to empower teams by delegating responsibility to them, and they play the role of facilitator, making sure the teams work together rather than against one another.

(c) a diverse team.

c) Proper leadership can also improve the performance of diverse teams. When leaders provide an inspirational common goal for members with varying types of education and knowledge, teams are very creative. When leaders don't provide such goals, diverse teams fail to take advantage of their unique skills and are actually less creative than teams with homogeneous skills. Even teams with diverse values can perform effectively, however, if leaders provide a focus on work tasks rather than leading based on personal relationships.

Group-based appraisals, profit sharing, gainsharing, small-group incentives, and other system modifications

can reinforce team effort and commitment.

Managers facing job candidates who lack team skills should do all of the following except ________.

choose the individual with the best technical skills regardless of his or her ability to perform as a member of a team

Araceli is a team member in a large corporation. She never speaks in team meetings because she has seen members talk behind each other's backs after the meetings. Members are constantly monitoring the other members' work and looking for mistakes to point out in a meeting. According to the information provided, which contextual factor is lacking in Araceli's team?

climate of trust

With reference to the team effectiveness model, which of the following is one of the key components of an effective team, included under the category of contextual factors?

climate of trust

Araceli doesn't contribute because she does not feel like the group has a

climate of trust.

Training specialists

conduct exercises that allow employees to experience the satisfaction teamwork can provide.

With a deadline approaching, all seven members of Sharon's product development team were working round-the-clock and still the work was not completed in time. After the project was completed, Sharon spoke individually with the members to determine the cause for this delay. Many members complained, saying the work given to them was not in accordance with their roles. Some were unclear about which team member to approach when faced with a problem, and many underestimated the time and effort the project demanded. This team is characterized by ________.

dissimilar mental models If team members have the wrong mental models, which is particularly likely with teams under acute stress, their performance suffers.

The work of your group would be better done in teams if the members of the team are ________.

interdependent

Team efficacy

is a process variable that influences effectiveness of a team.

Reflexivity

is the team characteristic of reflecting on and adjusting the master plan when necessary. It is considered part of the process variables.

Virtual teams are characterized by ________ in comparison to teams which interact face-to-face.

low social rapport and direct interaction

In a problem-solving team

members share ideas or suggest how work processes and methods can be improved; they rarely have the authority to unilaterally implement any of their suggestions

In which of the following teams is leadership of most importance to coordinate the efforts of various teams in order to produce a desired outcome?

multiteam systems

Nick, the director of manufacturing at a large electronics company, has created a team of eleven employees from quality control for working on high priority projects. Nick gives the team members the responsibility of planning and scheduling their own work and making all functional decisions. Also, members of this team evaluate each other's performance. This is an example of a ________ team.

self-managed work

When individuals engage in ________, they coast on the group's effort because their particular contributions cannot be identified.

social loafing

When teams are performing nonroutine activities, ________ stimulate discussion, promote critical assessment of problems and options, and can lead to better team decisions.

task conflicts

They have no need or opportunity to engage in collective work that requires joint effort.

work group or group

Which of the following statements best defines a work group?

A work group interacts primarily to share information, rather than to engage in work that requires joint effort

These tasks are planning, assigning tasks to members, making operating decisions, taking action on problems, and working with suppliers and customers.

Self-managed work teams are groups of employees who perform highly related or interdependent jobs

Self-managed work teams

are groups of employees who perform highly related or interdependent jobs and take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors

Teams

are more flexible and responsive to changing events than traditional departments or other forms of permanent groupings. Teams facilitate employee participation in operating decisions. most of the organizations use teams.

Cross-functional teams

are teams made up of employees from about the same hierarchical level but different work areas who come together to accomplish a task.

Conscientious people

are valuable in teams because they're good at backing up other team members, and they're also good at sensing when that support is truly needed.

Multiteam Systems

collections of two or more interdependent teams that share a superordinate goal. multiteam systems are a "team of teams."

Which of the following is not one of the key components of effective teams?

company reputation A well-established company reputation is not one of the key components of effective teams.

GoAir, a low-cost airline, has created a team made up of employees from production, planning, quality control, tooling, design engineering, and information systems to automate the company's C-17 program. This team is most likely to be an example of a ________ team.

cross-functional They are an effective means of allowing people from diverse areas to exchange information, develop new ideas, solve problems, and coordinate complex projects.

The controller role in a team is responsible for ________.

examining details and enforcing rules

Which of the following reward systems is likely to reinforce team effort and commitment?

gainsharing

A work team

generates positive synergy through coordinated effort.

The extensive use of work teams benefits organizations by ________.

generating a potential for creating greater outputs without increasing inputs

Which of the following terms describes the degree to which members of a work unit share a common demographic attribute, such as age, sex, race, educational level, or length of service?

organizational demography

The team effectiveness model classifies the key components of effective teams into three general categories: context, composition, and process. Which of the following variables belongs to the composition category?

personality of team members

Virtual teams

use computer technology to unite physically dispersed members and achieve a common goal.