Exam 13: Managing Teams

Determining how to resolve conflict between group members is an important aspect of what function in managing a team?

Which of the following formal groups are essentially independent groups, which, in addition to their regular job, take on tasks such as hiring, performance evaluations, etc.?

Cross-functional teams are teams that use computer technology to link physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal.

The Retreat The first-line managers were sent on a retreat to the Blue Mountains outside Sydney for their inaugural strategic planning retreat.Few people knew each other, but their task was clear: design a new performance appraisal system for subordinates that will be effective and usable.Their years of complaining about the old system had landed them with this new responsibility dumped right in their lap.They had four days to become brilliant, and everyone was a little on edge.The first day, little was accomplished except for the jockeying to see who would be the official leader.Finally, Jim seemed to wrangle control and helped provide the first real direction for the group.By the second day the group seemed to begin working well.They spent the morning deciding how they would make decisions within the group and how to manage the idea-generation process.The third and fourth days saw the new managers move amazingly quickly, with ideas flowing freely.By the end of the fourth day, they had a workable system developed and they felt satisfied.That night they all signed the new document to be presented to the regional manager the next day.They all felt a twinge of regret at having to break up the group and return to normal work life. -Refer to The Retreat (Scenario).When the management group was deciding on their decision rules, they were in the ________ stage of group development.

Resolving conflicts by placing another's needs and concerns above one's own is termed forcing.

The use of comments from team peers to evaluate employees is an example of ________.

A norm is a set of expected behaviour patterns attributed to someone who occupies a given position in a social unit.

According to the textbook, which of the following is NOT identified as a type of conflict that differentiates functional from dysfunctional conflict?

The Retreat The first-line managers were sent on a retreat to the Blue Mountains outside Sydney for their inaugural strategic planning retreat.Few people knew each other, but their task was clear: design a new performance appraisal system for subordinates that will be effective and usable.Their years of complaining about the old system had landed them with this new responsibility dumped right in their lap.They had four days to become brilliant, and everyone was a little on edge.The first day, little was accomplished except for the jockeying to see who would be the official leader.Finally, Jim seemed to wrangle control and helped provide the first real direction for the group.By the second day the group seemed to begin working well.They spent the morning deciding how they would make decisions within the group and how to manage the idea-generation process.The third and fourth days saw the new managers move amazingly quickly, with ideas flowing freely.By the end of the fourth day, they had a workable system developed and they felt satisfied.That night they all signed the new document to be presented to the regional manager the next day.They all felt a twinge of regret at having to break up the group and return to normal work life. -Refer to The Retreat (Scenario).The stage of group development characterised by their being at the retreat for a business reason is known as ________.

Strato Engineering Recently Strato Engineering, a technology product company, began the use of four different teams.One team aims (1)to develop the next generation of the company's model CVF-D.The team is composed of the product development manager, chief engineer, director of procurement, human resource director-technology, marketing research director, cost analysis director, operations director-production and the four highest sales project vendors.The preliminary projection for the lifetime of the team to prototype-production is expected to be two years due to the level of technology involved in the product.Another team (2)has also been established recently to solve a new problem with an adhesive used to attach a thin-foil material to a finished metal surface.There are three members in this team: installer, engineer and sales representative for the adhesive manufacturer, and no one particular leader.It is anticipated that it will require about two days to solve the problem.Another team (3)has been working together for four years implementing modifications to the company's current model CVF-C.It is composed of members in the areas of procurement, engineering, production, major vendors and Strato Engineering customers' procurement agents.None of the members of this team are at the same location.They utilise a variety of graphic-electronic technologies to view the product onscreen in three-dimension at each location simultaneously.At the Adelaide facility, a team (4)has been formed to stamp a new part.It requires four members and they rotate jobs every two hours.Before beginning the workday, they meet for about 10 minutes and discuss the work that needs to be completed that day.The team makes most of the day-to-day decisions about their work responsibilities. -Refer to Strato Engineering (Scenario).The team (1)that is working on the model CVF-D is a ________ team.

A New Group David had been away from his old company, Control Tech, for a while.He remembered that when he worked there 10 years ago the company was very traditional and conservative.The lines of authority and responsibility were established and clear.Now, it felt ironic that he was managing the consulting team that was going to help bring a group orientation into being.Now in addition to the traditional hierarchy, with a manager and subordinates, he saw a need to introduce teams comprised of individuals from various work areas to help solve operational problems.He also felt that for certain projects there could be groups that could function essentially independently, even taking on traditional management responsibilities such as hiring, planning, scheduling, etc.Plus, he also saw real potential for special, temporary projects to be handled by groups that would disband once the task was completed. -Refer to A New Group (Scenario).David recognised that ________ are characterised with the traditional hierarchy of a manager and subordinates.

The first stage of group development is storming.

In comparison to large groups, small groups ________.

The Retreat The first-line managers were sent on a retreat to the Blue Mountains outside Sydney for their inaugural strategic planning retreat.Few people knew each other, but their task was clear: design a new performance appraisal system for subordinates that will be effective and usable.Their years of complaining about the old system had landed them with this new responsibility dumped right in their lap.They had four days to become brilliant, and everyone was a little on edge.The first day, little was accomplished except for the jockeying to see who would be the official leader.Finally, Jim seemed to wrangle control and helped provide the first real direction for the group.By the second day the group seemed to begin working well.They spent the morning deciding how they would make decisions within the group and how to manage the idea-generation process.The third and fourth days saw the new managers move amazingly quickly, with ideas flowing freely.By the end of the fourth day, they had a workable system developed and they felt satisfied.That night they all signed the new document to be presented to the regional manager the next day.They all felt a twinge of regret at having to break up the group and return to normal work life. -Refer to The Retreat (Scenario).The group was in the ________ stage when they were competing to see who would lead the group.

The impact that group pressures for conformity can have on an individual member's judgment and attitudes was demonstrated in research by Solomon Asch.

The biggest problem with social loafing is antisocial behaviour.

Conflicting Opinions The two vice presidents were in heated debate.Deb feels that the old traditional form of marketing their company isn't working anymore and that loyal customers would stay regardless.She feels the company needs to 'spice it up a bit' and go after new market share.Ian strongly disagrees.He feels the company is doing fine; they have a good base of loyal customers and new aggressive approaches may lose them without any guarantee of gaining new customers.Regardless of who is right, their battle was causing a stir in the organisation.Some felt that conflict like this hurt the company and made it appear weak to employees and stockholders.Others felt that this conflict over marketing strategies was bound to occur eventually and may even help the company.Still others even encouraged the conflict, thinking it kept the company from getting stuck. -Refer to Conflicting Opinions (Scenario).Those in the company who view the conflict over the marketing strategy as natural and inevitable have a ________ view of conflict.

Work teams are groups whose members have diverse skills.

In a short essay, list and discuss five conflict-resolution techniques managers can use to reduce conflict.

What type of team operates without meeting face to face?