Exam 6: A: Groups in Organizations

Similar to project teams,task force groups generally create products and implement processes.

Long-standing work teams lack well-defined organizational responsibilities because membership will change over time.

Norms are rules that dictate expected behavior in a group.

The development of shared realities and the culture of an organization are organizational communication processes.

Communities of Practice generally come together voluntarily with no specific reporting structures or accountabilities.

Project teams have the same traditions as long-standing work teams.

Social support groups are a vital part of an organization.

Focus groups are formed to take responsibility for final recommendations and the implementation of change.

We are least comfortable in groups where group goals and personal goals are compatible.

Steering committees provide an organization,the advantage of broad participation in the overseeing of a project.

High-reliability organizations do not establish formal communication protocols.

A union is a formal organizational group.

Our government is not an example of a long-standing team because,as the members change,so do the responsibilities of the positions they hold.

Most organizational groups are bona fide groups.

Groups are formed to fulfill organizational needs,but the underlying assumption is that individual efforts can exceed the efforts of numbers in completing tasks.

Recent research regarding project teams indicated that during the initial stages of formation,high-performance work teams had high opinions of peers and did not place much value on technical expertise.

Generally speaking,the more positively we feel about our personal communication competencies,the less able we are to work successfully in groups.

The effectiveness of group interactions is not directly related to the effectiveness of group outcomes.

The most obvious example of an industry that utilizes prefabricated groups is the fast-food industry.

Timmerman and Scott found that the structural characteristics if groups such as size,number of locations,number of time zones,and organizational type influence the type of technology members use for communication.