Deck 7: Groups and Teams in Organizations

Question 1

What are two of the three factors affect whether diversity is beneficial to a team?

A) group size; type of leadership
B) the type of task being performed; type of leadership
C) type of leadership and group stage
D) group stage and type of task being performed

Answer 1

D

Question 2

In your first attempt at managing a work team, you failed miserably.Which of your behaviours would Hackman (1998) have labelled as a mistake that leaders make when creating and leading teams?

A) You thought that even though team members were great individual performers, they would need more training on team-related skills.
B) You managed the team members as an entire team instead of managing them as individual members.
C) You gave up your authority to the team members, allowing them to attempt to delegate the work.
D) You provided organizational support for the specific team goals.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

According to Tuckman (1965), which of the following best describes what happens during the norming stage of team development?

A) the team focuses on the key task components
B) the team works out the interpersonal and work demands among each other
C) the team members socialize with each other
D) the team develops sanctions to reinforce team behaviours

Answer 3

D

Question 4

According to your text, what do studies on teams tell us about team conflict?

A) Conflict can involve both task and relationship conflict.
B) Any conflict within a team is always bad for team performance.
C) Having a "devil's advocate" decreases the quality of decisions.
D) Relationship conflict involves differences in allocation of resources.

Question 5

Which of the following is one of Allen and Hecht's (2004) conclusions about the effectiveness of teams with regard to performance?

A) Researchers have found consistent results supporting the effectiveness of teams.
B) Teams are never associated with high performance.
C) Teams reliably outperform individuals.
D) Teams don't consistently produce the gains in productivity that are reported in the literature.

Question 6

Which of the following is characteristic of team diversity?

A) Diverse groups consistently have higher performance than more homogeneous groups.
B) The effects of diversity on performance depend on how we define "diversity."
C) Over time, surface-level diversity (e.g., based on demographics) become more important to group dynamics.
D) .Diversity tends to increase group cohesion across a variety of occupations.

Question 7

Which of the following do workers have who work closely together on a project, and are dependent on each others' performance?

A) high interdependence
B) high interchangeability
C) low role definition
D) low role interaction

Question 8

Jim works in a music-recording studio.He is part of a team that records albums.Members of the team are trained in each others' jobs so that any member can fulfil any of the roles within the team.Which of the following characteristics does Jim's team have?

A) low interdependence
B) high interchangeability
C) high role definition
D) nominal interaction

Question 9

Which of the following is one of the key issues that may increase the communication among virtual team members?

A) having an external leader
B) operating within a weak corporate culture
C) having high trust among team members
D) having strong role definition

Question 10

As the leader of a team of engineers, you wonder whether it is worthwhile to try to increase their level of team efficacy.You review studies on team efficacy and find out that team efficacy is associated with which of the following?

A) lower commitment
B) decreased satisfaction
C) decreased burnout
D) lower leadership ratings

Question 11

Which of the following distinguishes work crews from teams?

A) Work crews undergo an extensive internal developmental process.
B) Work crews typically include experts who follow specific, standardized performance guidelines.
C) Work crews have strict socialization and developmental guidelines that are not applicable to work teams.
D) Work crews work on the general, overall work goals and tasks of the organization, whereas teams work on specific tasks.

Question 12

Ariel leads a highly cohesive, five-member research & development team that develops electronics.Recently, the team made a bad decision to develop a new product that didn't sell well.Ironically, all of the team members knew it was a bad decision, but no individual said anything because each member thought the rest of the team unanimously supported the decision.What type of issue does this example represent?

A) team conflict
B) groupthink
C) group norms
D) social loafing

Question 13

As shown by several studies on virtual work groups, which of the following is likely one of the key factors in predicting the increased communication and cohesiveness of virtual work groups?

A) the type of job task
B) the education level of team members
C) whether the team had previous experience with the job task
D) the extent to which team members trust each other

Question 14

Task interdependence is the extent to which your performance on team-based tasks is reliant on the performance of other members.

Question 15

Ginna's team of educational specialists are highly trained, and the members know that they have the ability to successfully perform their job tasks.What does Ginna's team have?

A) high cohesion
B) high familiarity
C) high interdependence
D) high efficacy

Question 16

A "team" can be defined as two or more people working interdependently toward the achievement of a common goal.

Question 17

Jack is the owner and CEO of Irvine Agri Inc., a small agricultural-based business.His business is made up of several work teams.In providing training to the team leaders, which of the following is most important for Jack's team leaders to learn?

A) to understand when to be more or less 'hands-on' with their teams
B) to allow the team members to deal with outside requests on their own
C) to allow the team members to solve all of their own conflict issues
D) to provide specific information, and avoid overwhelming the team with any "big picture knowledge"

Question 18

According to Tuckman (1965), at what stage does a group work out the interpersonal and work demands of the group?

A) norming stage
B) storming stage
C) performing stage
D) forming stage

Question 19

Sarah's management team members like each other, have interrelated tasks, and take pride in their outcomes.According to Festinger (1950), what does their group have?

A) high cohesion
B) high productivity
C) high role definition
D) high efficacy

Question 20

After teaching an introduction to I/O psychology for many years, Chelsea notices that the students put less effort into team projects than into their own individual projects.What is this situation known as?

A) team conflict
B) groupthink
C) team efficacy
D) social loafing

Question 21

There are several theories of how teams develop.Summarize the two discussed in this chapter, and compare and contrast them.

Question 22

Typically working in teams is related to negative social relationships and attitudes.

Question 23

Groupthink tends to take place in low-functioning, low cohesive groups.

Question 24

Team cohesion and performance are positively related, especially when the performance focuses on behaviours and efficiency.

Question 25

Interchangeability is the extent to which members interact with each other while completing job tasks.

Question 26

Richard Hackman (1998) argued that bypassing organizational structures so that teams will have more freedom is one of the mistakes that leaders make when creating and leading teams.

Question 27

Virtual work groups involve two or more interdependent team members who are working at a distance from each other.

Question 28

Teams who use a "devil's advocate" in their decision making processes tend to have lower quality of decisions.