Exam 13: Understanding Groups and Managing Work Teams

In a brief essay, discuss how managers can use selection to shape team behavior.

The problem with many problem-solving teams is that they don't have the authority to act on their decisions.

Teams composed of individuals who have rarely actually met one another in person are called ________.

The use of work teams creates the potential for an organization to generate ________.

Approximately 80 percent of all Fortune 500 companies use teams.

Group norms have little to do with how hard a group member works.

The team that meets each week in room 201 has a goal of creating a new cell phone model. The team consists of an engineer, a designer, a computer software specialist, and a marketing specialist. The team has full authority to make and implement its own decisions. This is likely to be a ________.

In a short essay, compare work groups and work teams.

Team efficacy is a measure of how ________ a team is.

In a short essay, discuss how social loafing can affect a team and how it can be combated.

Formal groups tend to form around friendships and common interests.

A major benefit of global teams is ________.

Conscientiousness seems to be a key ingredient in successful teams.

A team that is suffering attacks by managers from another division needs someone to fulfill this team role.

The Retreat (Scenario) The first-line managers of ELH Inc. were sent on a retreat to Silver Falls for their inaugural strategic planning meeting. Few people knew each other, but their task was clear: design a new performance appraisal system for subordinates that would be effective and usable. The first day, little was accomplished except for the jockeying to see who would be the official leader. Finally, Jim seemed to wrangle control and helped provide the first real direction for the group. By the second day, the group seemed to begin working well. They spent the morning determining group standards with respect to how they would make decisions within the group and how to manage the idea-generation process. On the third and fourth days, the managers got down to work and moved amazingly quickly, with ideas flowing freely. By the end of the fourth day, they had a workable system developed, and they felt satisfied. That night they all signed off on a new document to be presented to the regional manager the next day. They all felt a twinge of regret at having to break up the group and return to normal work life. -When the management group was determining standards and establishing how it would make decisions, it was in the ________ stage of group development.

In the group development process, the group carries out its primary work during this stage.

Large groups appear to perform better when the goal of the group is to ________.

Effective teams should avoid conflict at all costs.

The primary reason for why social loafing occurs is that output contributions from ________ easily be measured.

Which statement is true of accountability?