Exam 16: Managing Groups and Teams

King Midas Manufacturing Co. has been utilizing groups to improve the manufacturing process, product design and packaging, vendor selection, quality control, and other organizational tasks. The groups have been starting and stopping for the last three years. Some of the most successful groups were together for only a few months, while others have been together for over a year with little success to date. Management has requested your consulting expertise in determining why there were varied successes and failures. Your analysis indicates that part of the explanation for the diverse results is based on the stage of team development. For example, Group 348 has been meeting for one month and still having some difficulty establishing a leader. At least three individuals are qualified to keep the group focused on its objectives, but they are still undecided about who should lead. Group 174 has been meeting for about two years and has nearly completed its task. They have only one more print to distribute to engineering for final consideration before prototype production can begin on the latest model of product S. Only four of the original nine members remain, and the group is winding down. Group 830 has been meeting for 11 months and is finding it difficult to get all 10 members together at one time. Several of the middle-level managers have been promoted and transferred to other functional areas or to other facilities of the company. To date, the group has had 18 members at one time or another to fill the 10 positions allocated by management and, as a result, has not yet started to focus on its objectives. On the other hand, Group 458 has been meeting for two months and seems to be progressing extremely well. You attended a meeting and observed that the group starts by chatting for about five minutes, then moves to the meeting area and begins reviewing the decisions of the last meeting. Then, Group 458 gets down to new business, focusing on their objectives and determining new assignments before concluding and returning to their functional job duties. Finally, Group 791 has been meeting for four months and appears to have close relationships among its members, considerable cohesiveness, and a focus on its objectives. -Group 791 is at the ________ stage.

The two vice-presidents were in a heated debate. Celine believed that the company's traditional marketing strategy was no longer effective at attracting new customers, but that loyal customers would stay regardless. So, she proposed an aggressive new marketing promotion to "spice things up a bit" and target new customers. Merle strongly disagreed. He felt the company was doing fine and was concerned that an aggressive new approach might scare away loyal customers without any guarantee of gaining new customers. Regardless of who was right, their battle was causing a stir in the organization. Some felt that a conflict such as this hurt the company and made it appear weak to employees and shareholders. Others felt that a conflict over marketing strategies was bound to occur eventually, and that it may even help the company. Still others even encouraged such conflict and felt it was absolutely necessary in order to achieve the best outcome. -Conflict that prevents the organization from achieving its goals is considered ________ conflict.

For permanent work groups,________ is the last stage in their development.

Robert is the CEO of a manufacturing plant.He believes that smaller teams are more effective than bigger ones.Do you think this is the right strategy? Explain in detail all the considerations why group size should be a concern when forming teams.

An individual's role in a group is not defined by the internal structure of the group.

Which of the following formal groups are essentially independent groups,which,in addition to their regular duties,take on tasks such as hiring,planning,scheduling,and performance evaluations?

Performing is the last stage in the development process of permanent work teams.

Which of the following best describes the group's internal characteristics at very low levels of conflict?

The view that conflict can be a positive force in an organization and that some conflict is absolutely necessary for an organization to perform effectively is known as the ________ view.

One negative aspect about group norms is that being part of a group can increase an individual's antisocial actions.

The ________ view of conflict argues that conflict must be avoided because it indicates a problem within the group.

Goal setting is not as important for teams as it is for individual employees.

Strato Engineering, a technology product company, recently organized Team 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-dollar 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. Team 2 has also been recently established to solve a 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. They operate without a manager and no one in particular is the leader. It is anticipated that it will require about two days to solve the problem. Team 3 has been working together for four years implementing modifications to the company's current model CVF-C. It is composed of members from procurement, engineering, and production. It also includes several vendors and Strato Engineering customers' procurement agents. None of the members of this team are at the same location. They use a sophisticated computer-aided design program to view the product onscreen in three-dimensional form at each location simultaneously. At the Oshawa facility, 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. -Team 2 is a ________ team.

Large groups consistently get better results than smaller ones,when the group is involved in ________.

Compromising is both the most assertive and cooperative approach to conflict resolution.

When the ________ stage is complete,there will be a relatively clear hierarchy of leadership within the group and agreement on the group's direction.

In the ________ stage,high levels of task performance are no longer the group's top priority.

As a consultant who specializes in group dynamics, you are observing MagPie Inc.'s self-managing teams and work groups which are in different stages of development. MagPie is a medium-sized manufacturing business and has recently started using teams in all of their operations. Team training is lacking and you have been asked to evaluate the teams and suggest actions for better cohesiveness among the team members. You have labelled the teams A, B, C, D and E, in order to conceal their names. Group D has resolved its issues of leadership and is devoting all of its energy to getting the job done. Team C, on the other hand, shows significant resistance to its appointed leader's guidance and there is a lot of argument over roles within the group. The members of Group A are getting acquainted in their meeting. The team is made up of employees from different divisions and departments and they are still getting to know each other. Team E is in the process of setting their formal rules, roles, and clarifying expectations. Everyone seems to be in agreement as to how these are done. Team B is full of hostility. At least one group member has withdrawn by sitting quietly away from the others, and is no longer participating in the discussions. -Group A appears to be at which stage?

Studies demonstrate that a low-to-moderate level of ________ conflict consistently demonstrates a positive effect on group performance because it stimulates discussions of ideas that help groups perform better.

Alejandra's work team does its own hiring and scheduling and is even responsible for evaluating each other's performance.Alejandra is part of a ________ team.