Exam 10: Understanding Work Teams

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?

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

Work should be performed by an individual if ________.

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

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?

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

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?

A trauma team in a hospital is one example of an action team with shared mental models.

How does a climate of trust improve effectiveness of teams?

Describe and discuss self-managed work teams.

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

________ 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.

The adviser role in a team is responsible for ________.

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

The goal of a work group is to share information.

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?

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.

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

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

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.