Ch. 10 Understanding Work Teams
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.
The goal of a work group is to share information.
TRUE
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.
Which of the following is not one of the key components of effective teams?
company reputation
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
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
Problem-solving teams can ________.
provide recommendations after a discussion amongst department members
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.
A trauma team in a hospital is one example of an action team with shared mental models.
TRUE
Conscientiousness and openness to experience are two personality dimensions of the Big Five personality model that predict better performance in teams.
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.
TRUE
In self-managed teams, supervisory positions may be eliminated.
TRUE
Organizational demography suggests that attributes such as age or the date of joining should help the organization in ________.
predicting employee turnover in the company
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.
For creating good team players, an organization's reward system must be reworked to encourage competitive efforts rather than cooperative ones.
FALSE
Using teams makes sense when the assignment involves independent tasks.
FALSE
Explain how organizations can create team players.
The primary options for trying to turn individuals into team players include: a) Selection. Some people already possess the interpersonal skills to be effective team players. When hiring team members, in addition to the technical skills required to fill the job, care should be taken to ensure that candidates can fulfill their team roles as well as technical requirements. Many job candidates don't have team skills. This is especially true for those socialized around individual contributions. When faced with such candidates, managers basically have three options. The candidates can undergo training to "make them into team players." If this isn't possible or doesn't work, the other two options are to transfer the individual within the organization to a unit without teams (if this possibility exists) or don't hire the candidate. In established organizations that decide to redesign jobs around teams, it should be expected that some employees will resist being team players and may be untrainable. Unfortunately, such people typically become casualties of the team approach. b) Training. On a more optimistic note, a large proportion of people raised on the importance of individual accomplishments can be trained to become team players. Training specialists conduct exercises that allow employees to experience the satisfaction that teamwork can provide. They typically offer workshops to help employees improve their problem-solving, communication, negotiation, conflict-management, and coaching skills. Employees also learn the five-stage group development model. c) Rewards. The reward system needs to be reworked to encourage cooperative efforts rather than competitive ones. Promotions, pay raises, and other forms of recognition should be given to individuals for how effective they are as a collaborative team member. This doesn't mean individual contributions are ignored; rather, they are balanced with selfless contributions to the team. Examples of behaviors that should be rewarded include training new colleagues, sharing information with teammates, helping to resolve team conflicts, and mastering new skills that the team needs but in which it is deficient.
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.
Which of the following statements is not true regarding multiteam systems?
They perform better when lines of communication are restricted.
The adviser role in a team is responsible for ________.
encouraging the search for more information
The work of your group would be better done in teams if the members of the team are ________.
interdependent
Work should be performed by an individual if ________.
the work is simple and does not require diverse input
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.
Work groups are characterized by ________.
the goal of sharing information among members
What is meant by member preferences? How can it be altered?
All employees do not enjoy working in teams and, given the option, many employees will select themselves out of team participation. 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. This result suggests that when selecting team members, managers should consider individual preferences along with abilities, personalities, and skills. High-performing teams are likely to be composed of people who prefer working as part of a group. However, there are ways to encourage people who prefer working alone to engage in teamwork. Training specialists conduct exercises that allow employees to experience the satisfaction teamwork can provide. Workshops help employees improve their problem-solving, communication, negotiation, conflict-management, and coaching skills. Further, an organization's reward system must be reworked to encourage cooperative efforts rather than competitive ones. Lastly, demonstrating to these employees the intrinsic rewards, such as camaraderie, that employees can receive from teamwork may be helpful.
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.
FALSE
Problem-solving teams discuss a problem, generate potential solutions, and implement them successfully.
FALSE
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.
FALSE
Specificity refers to the degree to which a team reflects on and adjusts its master plan when necessary.
FALSE
Teams and traditional departments have the same level of flexibility and responsiveness to external changes.
FALSE
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.
Discuss the effect of team size on effectiveness of teams.
Generally speaking, the most effective teams have five to nine members. And experts suggest using the smallest number of people who can do the task. Unfortunately, managers often err by making teams too large. It may require only four or five members to develop diversity of views and skills, while coordination problems can increase exponentially as team members are added. When teams have excess members, cohesiveness and mutual accountability decline, social loafing increases, and more people communicate less. Members of large teams have trouble coordinating with one another, especially under time pressure. Teams should ideally consist of nine or fewer members.
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.
What is a cross-functional team?
Cross-functional teams are made up of employees from about the same hierarchical level, but from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task. This is an effective means for allowing people from diverse areas within an organization to exchange information, develop new ideas and solve problems, and coordinate complex projects.
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.
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.
How do mental models contribute to task conflicts?
Effective teams share accurate mental models—organized representations of key elements within a team's environment that team members share. If team members have the wrong mental models, which is particularly likely in teams under acute stress, their performance suffers. The similarity of team members' mental models matters, too. If team members have different ideas about how to do things, the team will fight over methods rather than focus on what needs to be done.
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.
FALSE
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.
What is social loafing? How can the management undermine the tendency of social loafing?
Individuals can engage in social loafing and coast on the group's effort because their particular contributions can't be identified. Effective teams undermine this tendency by making members individually and jointly accountable for the team's purpose, goals, and approach. Therefore, members should be clear on what they are individually responsible for and what they are jointly responsible for on the team.
How does a climate of trust improve effectiveness of teams?
Interpersonal trust among team members facilitates cooperation, reduces the need to monitor each other's behavior, and bonds members around the belief that others on the team won't take advantage of them. Team members are more likely to take risks and expose vulnerabilities when they believe they can trust others on their team. Trust is the foundation of leadership. It allows a team to accept and commit to its leader's goals and decisions.
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.
________ are defined as organized mental representations of the key elements within a team's environment that team members share.
Mental models
________ 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
Describe and discuss self-managed work teams.
Self-managed work teams are groups of employees (typically 10 to 15 in number) who perform highly related or interdependent jobs and take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors. Typically, this includes planning and scheduling of work, assigning tasks to members, collective control over the pace of work, making operating decisions, taking action on problems, and working with suppliers and customers. Fully self-managed work teams even select their own members and have the members evaluate each other's performance. As a result, supervisory positions take on decreased importance and may even be eliminated.
________ illustrates a process loss from using teams.
Social loafing
A climate of trust among team members is a contextual factor relating to team effectiveness.
TRUE
Leadership of multiteam systems is also much different than for standalone teams. While leadership of all teams affects team performance, a multiteam leader must both facilitate coordination between teams and lead each team.
TRUE
More and more organizations are resorting to teams as they represent a better way to use employee talents.
TRUE
Research shows we are better off putting our efforts into creating an egalitarian atmosphere and choosing our teammates based on what they can contribute to our team.
TRUE
The term team cohesion means members are emotionally attached to one another and motivated toward the team because of their attachment. Team cohesion is a useful tool to predict team outcomes.
TRUE
Virtual teams should be managed differently than face-to-face teams in an office, partially because virtual team members may not interact along traditional hierarchical patterns.
TRUE
When teams have excess members, cohesiveness and mutual accountability decline.
TRUE
How must roles be allocated to ensure effective team performance?
Teams have different needs, and members should be selected to ensure all the various roles are filled. Teams with more experienced and skilled members perform better. However, the experience and skill of those in core roles who handle more of the workflow of the team and who are central to all work processes are especially vital. Nine potential team roles have been identified, and successful work teams have selected people to play all these roles based on their skills and preferences. To increase the likelihood the team members will work well together, managers need to understand the individual strengths each person can bring to a team, select members with their strengths in mind, and allocate work assignments that fit with members' preferred styles.
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 cobranding. 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.
The team effectiveness model identifies three categories of key components making up effective teams. What are these three categories? Give examples of each category.
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.
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.
What are some special challenges that virtual teams face? For virtual teams to be effective, what should management ensure?
Virtual teams may suffer from less social rapport and less direct interaction among members. They aren't able to duplicate the normal give-and-take of face-to-face discussion. Especially when members haven't personally met, virtual teams tend to be more task-oriented and exchange less social-emotional information. Not surprisingly, virtual team members report less satisfaction with the group interaction process than do face-to-face teams. For virtual teams to be effective, management should ensure that (a) trust is established among team members (research has shown that one inflammatory remark in a team member e-mail can severely undermine team trust); (b) team progress is monitored closely (so the team doesn't lose sight of its goals, and no team member "disappears"); and (c) the efforts and products of the virtual team are publicized throughout the organization (so the team does not become invisible).
Which of the following pairs of personality dimensions contribute to high team effectiveness?
conscientiousness and openness to experience
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.
Which of the following statements is true regarding size of teams?
When teams have excess members, cohesiveness declines.
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.
Compare the role of a leader in (a) a self-managed team, (b) a multiteam, and (c) a diverse 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. 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) 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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
The extensive use of work teams benefits organizations by ________.
generating a potential for creating greater outputs without increasing inputs
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
Virtual teams are characterized by ________ in comparison to teams which interact face-to-face.
low social rapport and direct interaction
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
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
Which of the following will be useful in creating team players?
negotiation training
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
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
Which of the following must be avoided if one wants to create and maintain an effective team?
relationship conflicts
Cultural diversity is an asset for teams where tasks ________.
require a variety of viewpoints
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
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
When individuals engage in ________, they coast on the group's effort because their particular contributions cannot be identified.
social loafing
Effective teams translate their common purpose into ________ goals.
specific
When teams are performing nonroutine activities, ________ stimulate discussion, promote critical assessment of problems and options, and can lead to better team decisions.
task conflicts
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
The current popularity of teams can be attributed to the fact that ________.
they represent a better way to use employee talents
Which of the following types of teams allows for collaboration between team members who are physically dispersed?
virtual teams