Exam 15: Managing Groups and Teams

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Stages of Team Development at King Midas (Scenario) 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 174 is at the __________ stage.

The first stage of team development is storming.

Which of the following is a characteristic of work teams?

Cross-functional teams are composed of people from different work areas.

Group cohesiveness is the degree to which members are attracted to one another and share the group's goals.

describe the characteristics that are associated with effective teams.

Problem-solving teams consist of managers and employees from different departments or functional areas who are involved in efforts to improve work activities or to solve specific problems in the organization.

Which stage of team development is characterized by conflict over leadership and the controls that the group places on individuals?

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

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Teams at Strato Engineering (Scenario) 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 4 years implementing modifications to the company's current model CVF-C) It is composed of members in the areas of procurement, engineering and production, and 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.

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

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Manny's Many Conflicts (Scenario) Manny Gill is reflecting on several recent conflicts and how they were resolved. At work, he has spent weeks of careful negotiations with the labour union representing most of his workers. The previous round of negotiations had not gone well, and Manny saw an opportunity to try to mend the relationship between labour and management. In the end, both sides had to give up some of their demands in order to achieve a settlement before the current agreement expired. However, Manny was not about to give up any ground on his dispute with the production manager over the latest budget allocation. His position may not be popular, but Manny knew he was right! Then there was his brief encounter with Jeff, who complained that Sherry kept leaving the photocopier tray empty. Manny did not have time to deal with such squabbles, so he told Jeff to sort it out with Sherry directly. At home, he was hoping to catch the game on TV last night, but his wife wanted to watch a light romantic comedy instead. Manny agreed to watch the movie with her since it really seemed to be important to her. Besides, he could always catch the game highlights on the news at eleven! -Which conflict-resolution technique was ultimately used to achieve a settlement in the labour negotiation?

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

In a short essay describe the issues involved in managing global teams giving examples of any cultural influences on effective global team building and performance.

__________ is the degree to which group members are attracted to a group and share the group's goals.

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

describe in detail the five stages of team development.

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

According to our textbook, effective team leaders today are best described by which of the following terms?

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