Deck 8: Developing Effective Teams

Question 1

Which of the following clearly qualifies as a team according to the distinctions between standard small groups and teams provided in the text?

A) Twenty homeowners debating revisions of their homeowners' association rules
B) A cheerleading squad developing routines for a national cheerleading competition
C) A group of friends playing golf
D) A jury deliberating a criminal case

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following qualifies as a team?

A) Board of Directors for the local community college
B) The Student Senate at your college
C) A task force constituted to change college policy on hiring practices
D) Your college debate squad

Answer 2

D

Question 3

To be effective, teams should have

A) clear, cooperative, challenging goals, and these goals should be consistent with universal cultural values.
B) clear, competitive, challenging, and consistent goals.
C) clear, cooperative, challenging, and complementary goals.
D) clear, cooperative, challenging goals, and be committed to these goals.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

A superordinate goal is

A) a specific kind of cooperative goal that overrides differences that members may have because it supersedes (replaces) less important competitive goals.
B) the best of a team's multiple goals.
C) the most unusual team goal.
D) the strongest team goal in terms of strength of values among team members.

Question 5

Which of the following qualifies as "team slayers"-killers of teamwork and teambuilding?

A) Egocentrism
B) Cynicism
C) Verbal and nonverbal abuse
D) All of the above

Question 6

Team empowerment consists of

A) group potency, meaningfulness, autonomy, and impact.
B) group hierarchy, meaningfulness, autonomy, and impact.
C) ad hoc teams, autonomy, carefulness, and impact.
D) group quest, potency, autonomy, and meaningfulness.

Question 7

Autonomy in teams means

A) teams have no supervision.
B) a perception that the team's task is important and worthwhile.
C) exercising freedom, independence, and discretion when working in teams.
D) team decisions must be approved by those higher up in the organizational hierarchy.

Question 8

Individual accountability

A) has no place in team building because it discourages some members from performing.
B) establishes a maximum, extremely high standard of effort and performance for each team member to share the fruits of team success.
C) establishes a minimum standard of effort and performance for all team members.
D) establishes a ceiling that all team members must reach, not a floor below which no one must sink.

Question 9

Which of the following is an impediment (hindrance) to team empowerment?

A) Not everyone embraces the concept of empowered teams.
B) Rewards are distributed according to team, not individual, success.
C) Participation in decision making is spread across all team members.
D) Organizational leaders provide encouragement.

Question 10

Symbolic convergence theory asserts that

A) team members need to come together and build shared values to succeed.
B) team identity is created by stories, called fantasies, that provide a shared interpretation of events that bind members and offer a shared identity.
C) team goals are symbolic of a larger truth about teams and how they function in an individualistic culture such as the United States.
D) team identity can be created by converging on those differences in points of view that exist within group membership.

Question 11

Cynicism

A) is a "can't-do" attitude.
B) the attitude that most destroys teamwork and team effectiveness.
C) communicates negativity, predicts failure, and criticizes team members who attempt to inspire.
D) All of the above

Question 12

Fantasy chains are

A) one method of instilling team identity.
B) a string of disconnected, unrelated stories that amplify the fantasy theme of a team.
C) a series of solidarity symbols.
D) None of the above

Question 13

IDEO is an example of

A) an organization built on principles of hierarchical order and roles.
B) a self-managing work team.
C) a failed experiment in teambuilding.
D) None of the above

Question 14

Your team has a shared belief that they can be effective as a team and meet just about any challenge. Your team exhibits

A) group potency.
B) an element of empowerment.
C) autonomy.
D) Both a and b

Question 15

Team empowerment can be maximized by

A) decreasing the choices available to teams.
B) team members expressing optimistic "can do" attitudes.
C) establishing a hierarchy of decision making so all team members know clearly who makes the decisions for the team.
D) allowing teams to make recommendations for improvements that will ultimately be decided by those higher in the organizational hierarchy.

Question 16

Your team works on a task that team members view as largely worthless, and even when the task is finished quickly and effectively, those in leadership positions outside of your team ignore the results of your work. From this description, which of the key elements of team empowerment is missing?

A) Group potency
B) Meaningfulness
C) Impact
D) Both b and c

Question 17

Impediments (obstacles) to team empowerment include

A) team-based, not individually-based, reward systems.
B) insufficient structural support for teams within an organization.
C) a hierarchical decision-making process.
D) team leaders who do not fully embrace self-managing teams.

Question 18

Key elements in building teams should include

A) choosing team members with experience and problem-solving abilities.
B) embracing diversity of membership.
C) providing communication training for members.
D) creating a competitive communication climate to extract the best from members.

Question 19

Which of the following is usually an effective way to establish a team identity?

A) Wear uniforms and use terms such as "we" and "us" and avoid terms such as "they" or "them."
B) Identify individual team members who make mistakes and blame them for team failure as a motivating technique to improve overall team performance.
C) Give awards to individual team members who score the most points for the athletic team or who sell the most products on a sales team.
D) Create fantasy themes for the group.

Question 20

Teams differ from standard small groups in which of the following ways?

A) Teams exhibit a higher level of cooperation.
B) Teams usually have members with more diverse skill.
C) Teams have a stronger group identity.
D) Teams require fewer resources and less time commitment.

Question 21

Virtual groups and virtual teams are not identical. They differ in which of the following ways?

A) Virtual teams require a greater degree of cooperation.
B) Virtual teams typically need greater diversity of knowledge and skills to solve problems.
C) Virtual teams typically have stronger group identity.
D) Virtual teams usually have stronger commitment from members.

Question 22

Team empowerment is the process of enhancing the capabilities and influence of individuals in groups.

Question 23

You join a group of highly experienced and technically skilled members whose task is to produce creative solutions to complex technical problems. Such experience and technical know-how virtually assure that this will be a very effective team.

Question 24

Expelling a "bad apple" team member is never a good option because the difficult group member may have the most relevant knowledge and skills.

Question 25

A strong ego is a critical characteristic of an effective team member.

Question 26

The attitude that most destroys teamwork and team effectiveness is cynicism.

Question 27

Convincing research reveals that teams are most effective when members possess certain personality traits such as agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extroversion.

Question 28

A team should establish as many goals as it can, the more goals the better, to be sufficiently challenged and effective.

Question 29

A team functions most effectively when team members have identical skill sets.

Question 30

A group charge is the task of the team, such as making decisions about improving cafeteria food on campus.

Question 31

All team members wear black berets and leather vests. These serve as solidarity symbols to develop team identity.

Question 32

There are two kinds of accountability in teams: individual accountability and team accountability.

Question 33

Hierarchy in traditional organizations is the enemy of team empowerment.

Question 34

Teams usually require a formal designation of member roles.

Question 35

Roles for team members should not be designated if a team is expected to be effective. Team members should be allowed to choose roles that they feel best suited to play.

Question 36

The essence of all teams is collaborative interdependence.

Question 37

A team is defined as a small number of people with complementary skills who act independently, are equally committed to a common mission, subscribe to a competitive approach to accomplish that mission, and hold themselves accountable for team performance.

Question 38

A pseudo-team gives the appearance of being a team and of engaging in teamwork without exhibiting the substance of teams and teamwork.

Question 39

Individual accountability in teams means emphasizing individual member failures.

Question 40

All cultures studied so far value decisive decision making and try to avoid a lengthy decision-making process characterized by chewing over all possible options before choosing.

Question 41

The general leadership pattern for most teams should be participative, not directive.

Question 42

Rewards for teams should be distributed based on individual effort or ability.

Question 43

Fear is usually an excellent motivator for team members.

Question 44

Psychological safety in groups is defined as the feeling that team members are free to make mistakes, ask questions, and take risks without penalty.

Question 45

Successful virtual team members typically have good communication skills, high emotional intelligence, an ability to work independently, and an ability to recover from mistakes and failures.