Exam 9: Understanding Group and Team Performance

Which communication network is characterized by everyone talking to everyone else?

Leonard is a group member who holds a different opinion than the other group members, and the other members spend a lot of time talking to him to try to change his mind. Leonard would be known as a _____.

Sara noticed that everyone looked up to her manager. He has a lot of influence on department decisions, and all of the workers knew he would listen to their suggestions. The importance and prestige Sara's manager has is an example of _____.

_____ refers to an individual's importance and prestige.

Which of the following is a characteristic of a group with low cohesiveness?

Gretchen decides to join a study group. She attends the group for the first time and arrives about 10 minutes early for the meeting. She is surprised to see that no other group members have arrived. In fact, no one showed up until ten minutes past the posted start time. Gretchen realizes that arriving late is deemed appropriate behavior by the group. This would be an example of a group _____.

Team _____ provide(s) a way to talk about the behaviors that are expected of group members. For example, at the first day of cheerleading practice, the coach told the girls they were expected to be on time to every practice, to rehearse the routines at home, and to have fun.

While Kelly knows she can't let everyone go at three o'clock, her boss can because he is an officer at the company. Her boss's ability to influence behavior is an example of power.

Which of the following is an example of primary tension?

Discuss leadership roles.

After Jennifer's group in her communication class had met twice, they finally began to get serious about selecting a topic for their project. Several of the group members wanted to do a project concerning the parking situation on campus, because they thought it would be easy to understand. Tyler, a member of student government, wanted to do a project on the use of student fees, because he had worked on that already and had a lot of information. Each person in the group had a favorite topic, and no one wanted to consider the other topics. Most of the discussion revolved around trying to persuade the others to choose a given topic. Which phase is this group experiencing?

Which of the following correctly depicts the relationship between group cohesiveness and group productivity?

Sarah observes that she usually keeps her theater group happy and that her friend Maureen offers the group encouragement. The patterns of communication observed by Sarah would be described as _____ roles.

The fourth phase of group interaction, in which group members express positive feelings toward one another and toward the group is the _____ phase.

If Carlos has power because people like him, he has _____ power.

What does the text suggest as a way to balance group roles?

Laird's project group in his communication class selected the topic of improving services for nontraditional students on campus. Each member in the group had volunteered to talk to a different member of the university staff, and several members had volunteered to search the Internet for what other schools might be doing. Ricardo had volunteered to be moderator and was efficient at running the group meetings. On their fifth meeting, members of the group shared information they had gathered. What phase is this group experiencing?

Ian is a member of a smaller group of people within his group who formed a common bond among themselves. This smaller group is known as which of the following?

Tiffany looks up to her older sister and often asks her advice on personal matters. This is an example of referent power.

The role you assume in a group may depend on who else is in the group.