Exam 12: Teams: Processes and Communication

Conflict management is an action process.

Process gain is synonymous with

Briefly describe creative behavior and decision-making taskwork processes, and give one example of each.

Which of the following is an example of an ambassador activity?

Define team process, and differentiate between process gain and process loss.

John F. Kennedy's decision to go forward with the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, NASA's decision to launch the space shuttle Challenger in unusually cold weather, and Enron's board of directors' decisions to ignore illegal accounting practices are famous examples of

________ refer(s) to specific types of feelings and thoughts that coalesce in the minds of team members as a consequence of their experience working together.

________ can be beneficial to teams if it stimulates conversations that result in the development and expression of new ideas.

Explain the role of a devil's advocate in relation to group cohesion.

According to research, task conflict results in increased team effectiveness irrespective of the trust in the team and the manner in which the conflict is managed.

Kat is not worried about offering contrary or radical ideas in team meetings because both the team leader and the team members are supportive of new or even seemingly strange ideas and don't laugh at or criticize each other. Kat has a strong feeling of psychological safety within her team.

The phenomenon of a team delivering "less than the sum of its parts" can be explained by the term

Many years ago, Sprint Telecommunications aired an advertisement intended to demonstrate the clarity of reception Sprint customers could expect. The ad showed a rancher, who had used a different company, complaining that he had ordered 100 oxen from his supplier and instead received 100 dachshunds. The mix-up was probably due to the presence of ________ in the communication process.

Daphne is the top performing nurse on the maternity ward at Downtown General Hospital. In advance of her annual performance review, her supervisor, Raul, begins observing her work behavior more closely to facilitate a more thorough review. One day, a doctor begins berating a nurse for not notifying him of a patient's change in medication, and Daphne steps in to defuse the situation by explaining that the medication was changed from to a brand name drug to an identical generic version. Another day, Raul watches as Daphne works with two other nurses to sort out how best to deal with the aggressive husband of a woman recovering from a five-week premature delivery. Additionally, Raul sees that Daphne keeps a daily calendar of events and tasks. Going into the performance review, Raul concludes that Daphne is exhibiting a high degree of

The more communication flows through fewer members of the team, the higher the degree of

The advertising agency Positive Impressions lands a large new corporate client. The accounts manager, Julie, assembles a team of 12 people from across the company's many departments to assess and plan how best to serve the client's needs. Weeks pass, and things seem to be going well. Julie holds some off-site meetings at a local brew pub, and as a result, the team members appear comfortable with each other, telling occasional jokes and engaging in friendly competition at the company's foosball table during breaks. Meetings are often productive, with a variety of viewpoints expressed, and while not everyone agrees with every idea, mutual respect within the team is evident, with one small exception. Josephine, from accounting, and Eric, from operations, argue over small details. They typically have heated discussions outside of team meetings, with Eric coming to Josephine's desk to complain about her requests for what Eric perceives as excessive paperwork and unnecessary budgetary constraints. Julie is concerned that the tension between Eric and Josephine might affect the overall productivity of the team. Keeping the concepts behind interpersonal processes in mind, which of the following actions should Julie take?

A special surveillance and rescue team is being deployed to counter the menace of pirates in the Indian Ocean. Nick, Sid, and Kevin are the core members of the team. Nick was elected as the leader of the team. Sid is responsible for monitoring the team's progress toward its goals. Kevin took on the role of motivator and confidence builder for the team. This team has worked together before and has developed a high level of common understanding regarding the team and its mission. Members also strongly believe that the team can be effective across a variety of situations and tasks. As a standard practice, before deployment, the team members observe how other members perform their roles by shadowing and going through simulations. The standard pre-deployment practice of the team represents which aspect of cross-training?

A repair order came in to the city garage for bus number 11. Melanie, one of the newer mechanics, took the order and laughed. "What?" said Geoffrey, the shop manager. Melanie said, "It's bus 11, yet again." "Let me guess," said Geoffrey. "The order says the engine is making 'weird noises.'" Melanie confirmed his assumption, and Geoffrey told her to ignore the report because nothing was wrong with the bus. Then he called over another mechanic, Raphael. Geoffrey said, "We got another 'weird noise' problem. Guess which bus?" Without pausing, Raphael replied with a smirk, "Number 11. Don't waste your time fixing it, Melanie. Nothing's wrong." Raphael then shouted out to the group of mechanics in the garage, "How many of you have tried to fix number 11's weird noises, but found nothing wrong?" Four other mechanics raised their hands. "See? Tighten the belts, and send it on its way," Raphael said to Melanie. Later that day, Melanie gave the engine a cursory look, tightened a few belts, and sent the bus back into service. The next day, bus 11 was involved in a minor accident when its brakes failed. What should Geoffrey do to prevent this type of thing from happening again?

The degree of centralization is higher in a network structure where more communication flows through fewer members.

Transition processes are relevant before the team actually begins to conduct the core aspects of its work; they have no role between periods of work activity.