Exam 11: Group Decision Making and Problem Solving

The Campus Safety committee is discussing whether underage drinking on campus is to blame for recent vandalism in dorms. As such, they are in the fact-finding and analysis step in the Standard Agenda.

A meeting agenda is a road map for a discussion that helps a group focus on its tasks.

You are a professional blogger and have been tasked with writing a brief blog post about effective group decision making. Your blog post will most likely be linked to by business websites and posted to other similar blogs. Write your post and remember to title your post.

This symptom of groupthink is expressed when a group member says: "Bob wanted to come to this meeting, but I told him that it wasn't necessary."

All five cultural dimensions (individualism-collectivism, high/low power distance, masculine-feminine values, high/low context, and monochronic-polychronic time) have implications for motivating group members to participate fully in group decision making and problem solving. Choose three cultural dimensions and explain how knowing more about a member's cultural orientation can help you motivate that person to become a highly productive and satisfied group member.

According to Irving Janis, groupthink is the deterioration of group effectiveness caused by

Your textbook lists guidelines for achieving group consensus. Identify and discuss three guidelines for reaching consensus, and highlight three actions that should be avoided when trying to reach group consensus. Provide at least one example for each of the guidelines discussed.

All of the following guidelines will help you chair an effective meeting except:

Which of the following strategies should be used when seeking consensus?

If you want to minimize the chances of groupthink, you should pursue all of the following strategies except:

Which of the following is not an effective guideline for successful brainstorming?

There are seven basic steps in the Standard Agenda: task clarification, problem identification, fact finding and analysis, solution criteria and limitations, solutions suggestions, solution evaluation and selection, and solution implementation. Describe the primary purpose of each step as well as the potential consequences of ignoring each step.

"Should we move to a three-party system based on the latest poll results?" is a question of value.

Consensus works best when group members trust one another and expect honesty, directness, and candor.

__________ occurs when group members reluctantly give in to group pressures or to an external authority in order to appear as though everyone agrees.

Which group problem solving technique has two phases-idea generation and idea evaluation and voting?

In a brainstorming session, quantity is more important than the quality of ideas.

Your textbook identifies four prerequisites for effective group decision making and problem solving. Identify and explain the importance of three of these prerequisites.

"Which candidate should we support as president of the student government association?" is an example of a question of

In a standard business meeting agenda, which of the following items should come after the chair has called the meeting to order?