Deck 10: Groups and Teams

Question 1

Intragroup conflict occurs within groups whereas intergroup conflict occurs among groups.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

"Status" refers to a group's shared standards that guide the behavior of its individual members.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

A task force is a group put together by an organization for a particular purpose,such as to design a new product or to work on a particular problem,and usually for a limited period of time.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Social loafing generally increases as group size increases.

Question 5

Global teams known as "equalizers" accept and build upon their differences and use them to enhance their creativity.

Question 6

In the context of team development,skills refer to highly developed behavioral and cognitive capabilities that are necessary to carry out team tasks and meet team goals.

Question 7

In the storming stage of group development,there are often conflicts over group goals or the means to reach them.

Question 8

As group size increases,process costs decrease.

Question 9

A command group is a type of informal group.

Question 10

An autonomous group has no formally appointed supervisor but the members coordinate their organizational work as if they all report to the same formally appointed supervisor.

Question 11

During the forming stage of group development,group members build consensus on basic issues.

Question 12

Norms do not necessarily apply to all members of the group.

Question 13

Informal groups have little effect on the attitudes and performance of their members in relation to organization tasks and objectives.

Question 14

A highly cohesive group is more likely to reject any deviance from its norms,even if it represents creative ideas that could ultimately be useful to the group.

Question 15

A sudden challenge to the group can create specific and vivid responses that form the basis for how members should be expected to respond in the future.These are known as imported behaviors.

Question 16

Role conflict is a situation in which two members of a group are performing the same role.

Question 17

Richard Hackman suggests that managers should focus solely on output when they are evaluating group performance.

Question 18

A command group consists of a supervisor or manager and all those who report to that person.

Question 19

A group has additional characteristics beyond a team,including a higher degree of interdependent,coordinated interaction and a stronger sense of members' personal responsibility for achieving specified group outcomes.

Question 20

When dealing with group conflict,a manager should try to increase the ratio of relationship to substantive conflict.

Question 21

Which of the following is true of an informal group in an organization?

A) It is formed by an organization's mandate.
B) It has no effect on the attitudes and performances of members at work.
C) Membership is usually temporary and the group is formed for a definite period.
D) Membership is voluntary and members choose to interact with one another.

Question 22

Which of the following is an example of a supervisory group?

A) project groups in a college
B) a budget committee
C) a car pool group
D) a clerical unit in a company

Question 23

Which of the following is an example of a command group?

A) Stan is on the safety committee at D&R.
B) Starcraft Services is shifting to a new office and asks for volunteers to conceptualize and design the place.
C) Ed is a supervisor for a brick-laying team at a construction site.
D) Bree and her friends from various departments get together to plan a movie night once a month.

Question 24

During the ________ of group development,members cautiously exchange information and conflicts begin to emerge.

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

Question 25

Which of the following is a difference between teams and groups?

A) Teams generally rely on unilateral action and have little coordinated interaction.
B) Members of a team take more personal responsibility for achieving team goals than group members do.
C) Group members take greater personal responsibility for specified outcomes than team members.
D) Groups have a a higher degree of interdependent, coordinated interaction.

Question 26

Which of the following is true regarding a committee?

A) The members of a committee have different permanent jobs.
B) Membership is voluntary and informal.
C) Committees are relatively permanent.
D) Committees are not originated by the organization.

Question 27

Which of the following is a characteristic of project groups?

A) These are constructed for a specific and limited purpose.
B) These are not originated by the organization.
C) They do not have a defined beginning and a specified ending date.
D) These groups are relatively permanent.

Question 28

As the basic work units of an organization,________ are relatively permanent groups and consist of a supervisor or manager and all those who report to that person.

A) committees
B) command groups
C) project groups
D) task forces

Question 29

Which of the following is true of a command group?

A) It is put together for a definite, limited period of time.
B) Membership is voluntary and not initiated by the organization.
C) It is relatively enduring and group membership changes relatively slowly.
D) It is ad hoc in nature and members report to different supervisors.

Question 30

Sometimes,companies hire intact groups away from other companies instead of developing their own new group,in order to jump start some new initiative.This practice is known as ________.

A) line-out
B) line-up
C) lift-out
D) lift-off

Question 31

A(n)________ is one whose members choose to interact voluntarily with one another,not by organizational mandate.

A) command group
B) supervisory group
C) informal group
D) formal group

Question 32

ICE,Inc.has called upon a group of the Management Information System handlers to oversee the design and implementation of a new company-wide information system over the next two months.This group is an example of a ________.

A) command group
B) project/task force
C) cross-functional team
D) committee

Question 33

________ are designated,created,and sanctioned by the organization to carry out its basic work and fulfill its overall mission.

A) Formal groups
B) Informal groups
C) Friendship groups
D) Voluntary groups

Question 34

Which of the following is an example of a task group?

A) The manufacturing assembly units at JEG, an automotive parts company, see rapid turnover.
B) The project design team at LPR consists of members from three departments.
C) The safety committee at N&S is made up of members from each department in the company.
D) A number of employees at Lemontree watch a movie together every Friday night.

Question 35

A marketing group for an office supply company meets with their supervisor on the first Friday of every month to review their advertising programs and promotional activities.This group is an example of a(n)________.

A) committee
B) command group
C) project/task force
D) autonomous work group

Question 36

Which of the following is an example of a committee?

A) A six-member team at N&S has been set up to plan the launch of the company's newest product.
B) LPR has set up a group to conduct the yearly promotion review function.
C) A group of employees at Lemontree go to lunch together every Monday.
D) The manufacturing assembly units at JEG, an automotive parts company, were recently reshuffled.

Question 37

During the "forming" stage of group development,the group members usually ________.

A) get acquainted with each other
B) express their differing opinions
C) build consensus on basic issues
D) carry out cooperative actions

Question 38

ABC Enterprises plans to assign the duty of reviewing its quarterly budget to six of its employees.These employees will be members of a ________.

A) committee
B) task force
C) work group
D) command group

Question 39

Which of the following accurately depicts the sequence of the stages of group development?

A) storming, forming, norming, and performing
B) storming, norming, forming, and performing
C) forming, storming, norming, and performing
D) forming, norming, storming, and performing

Question 40

Amy has put together a team of eight employees to conduct a review of the company's safety practices.This function is new to most group members and nearly all of them have come up to Amy personally to clarify their doubts about how the group will function and what their responsibilities will be.What stage of group development is Amy's team in?

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

Question 41

________ refers to a situation in which the expected behaviors for a group member are not clearly defined.

A) Role overload
B) Role ambiguity
C) Role conflict
D) Role insufficiency

Question 42

During the performing stage of group development,________.

A) the members take actions as a coherent entity
B) the members learn what is expected of them
C) the members get acquainted with each other
D) the members begin to express their different opinions

Question 43

During the ________ stage of group development,a consensus about the group's issues begins to appear and the members start identifying with the group and its goals.

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

Question 44

Which of the following statements is true regarding status issues in groups?

A) Status differences have no influence on the interactions within a group.
B) Higher-status members tend to receive fewer communications than lower-status members.
C) Higher-status members often defer to lower-status members when groups are making decisions.
D) A group's decision-making ability is inhibited if the status differences within the group are too extreme.

Question 45

The chairperson of a budget committee at N&S falls ill and yields his position to a new hire who had served many years on the budget committee in her previous organization.The new chairperson's first act is to e-mail a new set of committee procedures to other members.In this case,the committee's norms are about to be affected most clearly by ________ and ________.

A) early behaviors; critical events
B) early behaviors; explicitly stated standards
C) explicitly stated standards; imported behaviors
D) imported behaviors; early behaviors

Question 46

When a group's size increases,the sense of personal responsibility for its output or performance on the part of each individual member tends to decrease.This phenomenon is known as ________.

A) social loafing
B) social conformity
C) group cohesion
D) group conflict

Question 47

Social loafing in work groups ________.

A) decreases as the size of the group increases
B) increases as the size of the group decreases
C) increases when individual contributions are easy to identify
D) decreases when individual contributions are easy to identify

Question 48

Alice is a barista at a coffee shop in her town.Though the baristas are expected to be friendly and interact with customers,Alice finds it difficult to spend enough time with individual customers when she is also required to serve a minimum quota of customers during her shift.Alice is experiencing ________.

A) role reversal
B) role conflict
C) role ambiguity
D) role overload

Question 49

Which of the following is an observable attribute of diversity?

A) tenure
B) ethnicity
C) values
D) skills

Question 50

The N&S design team recently took on eight more people to cope with a sudden influx of work.However,the management noticed that productivity did not increase significantly after the new members joined,and even decreased in some cases.This can be attributed to ________.

A) the negativity effect
B) social loafing
C) effort optimism
D) cognitive biases

Question 51

Which of the following is a potential affective consequence of diversity within groups?

A) innovation
B) amount and quality of new ideas
C) decreased frequency of communication
D) satisfaction

Question 52

Beth has just briefed her group of nine about their roles and responsibilities,but she notices that the members are not yet very comfortable exchanging information with each other.She also observes that the members frequently end up arguing with each other because each has a different idea of how the group should function.Beth's group is in the ________ stage of group development.

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

Question 53

________ emerges when a member has to fulfill two or more contrasting sets of expectations.

A) Role insufficiency
B) Role conflict
C) Role overload
D) Role ambiguity

Question 54

________ is an underlying attribute of diversity.

A) Gender
B) Race
C) Skills
D) Age

Question 55

The standing or prestige that a person has in a group,which can be based on a number of factors such as perceived leadership abilities,seniority,or special skills,is known as ________.

A) status
B) role
C) legacy
D) norm

Question 56

A ________ is a standard,shared by the group,that guides the behavior of its individual members.

A) cachet
B) norm
C) legacy
D) status

Question 57

The optimal size for a group in the workplace ________.

A) refers to the largest number of people who can do the task
B) has a neutral effect on each member's level of participation
C) varies based on the types of tasks facing the group
D) increases exponentially as the organization grows

Question 58

Which of the following is a potential cognitive consequence of diversity within groups?

A) amount and quality of new ideas
B) identification with the group
C) increased frequency of communication outside the group
D) conflict within the group

Question 59

Groups composed of individuals who are very dissimilar to each other are known as ________.

A) heterogeneous groups
B) analogous groups
C) homologous groups
D) homogeneous groups

Question 60

Which of the following is true regarding norms?

A) All norms apply equally to all members of a group.
B) An individual's actions are more predictable in the absence of norms.
C) Norms tend to increase ambiguity for the members of a group.
D) Norms provide members with cues about how to behave.

Question 61

________ conflict arises when group members possess divergent ideas or approaches to attaining goals.

A) Task
B) Substantive
C) Relationship
D) Process

Question 62

A self-managing work group is also known as a(n)________.

A) autonomous work group
B) global work group
C) virtual work group
D) supervisory work group

Question 63

A(n)________ has no formally appointed supervisor but the members coordinate their organizational work as if they all reported to the same formally appointed supervisor.

A) command work group
B) informal work group
C) self-managing work group
D) cross-functional work group

Question 64

Cathy's ten-member team are all of different nationalities.The team has been in existence for the last 14 months.Although there have been no instances of infighting among the members,the team has achieved only a 2% increase in sales volume rather than the project increased of 10%.What type of a global team is this?

A) seekers
B) preservers
C) equalizers
D) creators

Question 65

The product development team at JEG were working together for a year and were very comfortable with an informal style of working.However,the new manager who stepped in preferred to use a more formal style during meetings and team interactions,as this was the way he had always worked.Which of the following is most similar to this situation?

A) The marketing team at N&S had to change their methods of planning campaigns after the manager decided that the old ways of working were too inefficient.
B) After reviewing the design team's work methods, the CEO of Orangetree insisted that the team begin to maintain formal records of team meetings and activities.
C) A spate of layoffs in competing firms encouraged manager of the sales team at LPR to change the team's way of working and set higher performance standards for the staff.
D) Zygsys has always given employees autonomy in pacing their work, but a new member cited the experience from a former team and suggested that managers set all work schedules.

Question 66

High levels of group cohesion ________.

A) decrease the potential for intergroup cooperation
B) decrease the adherence to group norms
C) decrease the possibility of developing groupthink
D) decrease individual satisfaction of group members

Question 67

The close adherence to the group's norms by its individual members is known as ________.

A) conformity
B) synthesis
C) cohesion
D) solidarity

Question 68

The three basic types of group conflicts are ________ conflict.

A) task, process, and cognitive
B) task, cognitive, and relationship
C) task, affective, and emotional
D) task, process, and relationship

Question 69

________ teams channel their members' efforts and attention into unproductive conflicts and interpersonal attacks.

A) Seeker
B) Destroyer
C) Equalizer
D) Creator

Question 70

Which of the following is a skill that competent teams must possess?

A) adaptability and flexibility
B) mutual trust
C) task sequencing
D) team cohesion

Question 71

In order to develop new financial instruments for sale to its clients,a bank brings together a cross-functional team consisting of members from the finance,legal,and marketing units.Which of the following is a problem that is likely to arise from such a cross-functional team?

A) The widely varying initial perspectives of team members can increase conflicts.
B) The knowledge of the team is not specialized and this will hamper effectiveness.
C) The team will not have sufficient technical knowledge for the project.
D) The diverse backgrounds of team members will stifle creativity.

Question 72

The tendency for a strong consensus among most group members to override any individual member's dissent is known as ________.

A) solidarity
B) coherence
C) groupthink
D) synthesis

Question 73

________ is the degree to which members are motivated to remain in a group.

A) Cohesion
B) Conformity
C) Consistency
D) Reliability

Question 74

The three general types of global teams are ________.

A) destroyers, equalizers, and creators
B) destroyers, equalizers, and warriors
C) destroyers, preservers, and creators
D) destroyers, warriors, and seekers

Question 75

Which of the following will tend to increase conformity in a group?

A) disagreement over the relevance of the group's norms
B) close adherence to the norms of the group
C) conflicting norms and objectives
D) divergent actions by members of the group

Question 76

A team was set up by a group of Asian,Australian,and North American universities in order to allow students to transfer easily between each institution.However,the team achieved little,with the members from different nations accusing each other of being bullying,insensitive,and unprofessional.Which one of the following terms characterizes this multinational group?

A) creators
B) seekers
C) equalizers
D) destroyers

Question 77

________ teams directly accept and build on their differences and use them to enhance their ingenuity.

A) Warrior
B) Seeker
C) Carrier
D) Creator

Question 78

________ conflict focuses on differences in ideas about the nature of issues facing a group and the group's objectives.

A) Task
B) Affective
C) Relationship
D) Process

Question 79

Which of the following should managers do to decrease conflict in a cross-functional team?

A) decrease members' ownership in group decisions
B) limit transparency regarding members' personal agendas
C) encourage "mindfulness" after examining divergent points of view
D) encourage individual effort over group synergy

Question 80

Which of the following is knowledge that competent teams must possess?

A) team orientation
B) shared vision
C) task sequencing
D) adaptability and flexibility