Deck 15: Effective Groups and Teams

Question 1

All teams are groups, and all groups are teams.

Answer 1

False
Explanation: A group may be defined as two or more people who interact with each other to accomplish certain goals or meet certain needs.A team is a group whose members work intensely with one another to achieve a specific common goal or objective.As these definitions imply, all teams are groups, but not all groups are teams.

Question 2

In order to take advantage of the potential for synergy, managers should

A)create groups where the members have identical personalities.
B)be strongly directive with the group.
C)appoint members with complementary skills and knowledge.
D)avoid empowerment.
E)reward individual performances instead of the group as a whole.

Answer 2

C
Explanation: To take advantage of the potential for synergy in groups, managers need to make sure that groups are composed of members who have complementary skills.

Question 3

Groupthink is when group members strive to agree with each other instead of trying to make an accurate assessment of the situation.

Answer 3

True
Explanation: Groupthink is faulty group decision making that results when group members strive for agreement at the expense of an accurate assessment of the situation.

Question 4

The degree to which members of a group are attracted to or loyal to the group is called group cohesiveness.

Question 5

When group members are reciprocally interdependent, managers are advised to create large groups.

Question 6

Which of the following statements is true with respect to groups and teams?

A)All groups are considered as teams.
B)Teams have no restrictions on the number of members in them, unlike groups.
C)The intensity with which members work together is always higher in a team than in a group.
D)All groups are informal and all teams are formal.
E)There is a specific, overriding common goal or objective for groups but not for teams.

Question 7

Members of small groups are better able to see the importance of their personal contributions for their group's success when compared to members of other small groups.

Question 8

Group identity and healthy competition are consequences of group cohesiveness.

Question 9

High levels of cohesiveness can cause group members to be less focused on group goal accomplishment.

Question 10

Employees of a multinational organization will mostly likely opt for asynchronous technologies when large differences in time zones make it impossible for them to communicate on a real-time basis.

Question 11

Employees of self-managed work teams sometimes have individual jobs.

Question 12

Deviance signals that a group did not respond when one of its members violated group norms.

Question 13

Managers can take advantage of the potential for synergy in groups by composing the group with members who have complementary skills and knowledge relevant to the group's work.

Question 14

As group size increases, social loafing decreases.

Question 15

Leaders that emerge naturally from a group are called informal leaders.

Question 16

To further promote innovation among team members, the manager should avoid

A)offering guidance to the group.
B)coaching the group in developing certain skills.
C)closely directing or supervising the group.
D)providing the resources the group needs.
E)assisting the group in its requirements.

Question 17

The tendency of individuals to put in more effort when they work in groups than when they work alone is called social loafing.

Question 18

_______ groups are established by managers to attain organizational goals.

A)Friendship
B)Control
C)Formal
D)Interest
E)Advocacy

Question 19

When top managers design an organization's structure and establish a chain of command, they are essentially creating ad hoc committees.

Question 20

__________ is performance gains that result when individuals and departments coordinate their actions.

A)Synergy
B)Conformance
C)Deviance
D)Groupthink
E)Social loafing

Question 21

The CEO of ABC Company forms a top-management team to develop the strategic marketing plan for the organization and selects members who possess different expertise, skills, knowledge, and experience.The team, in this case, has been created with emphasis mainly on

A)diversity.
B)individualism.
C)groupthink.
D)social loafing.
E)autocracy.

Question 22

_____ are informal groups composed of employees who enjoy one another's company and socialize with one another.

A)Command groups
B)Virtual teams
C)Interest groups
D)Task forces
E)Friendship groups

Question 23

JME Manufacturing put together a group of employees from marketing, engineering, manufacturing, and quality control to come up with a new product idea.This is an example of a(n) _____ group.

A)informal
B)friendship
C)advocacy
D)cross-functional
E)top-management

Question 24

Which of the following statements is true about a command group?

A)A command group is an example of an informal group.
B)A command group is composed of employees who enjoy one another's company and socialize with one another.
C)A group of interns who work in a hospital and have lunch together twice a week constitute a command group.
D)A command group is composed of the CEO, the president, and the heads of the most important departments.
E)Subordinates who report to the same supervisor compose a command group.

Question 25

Which of the following is true about the members of a large group when compared to those of a small group?

A)Members interact more with each other in larger groups.
B)Members of large groups tend to be more motivated.
C)Members of large groups find it easier to share information with one another.
D)Members of large groups have more resources at their disposal.
E)Members of large groups tend to be more committed.

Question 26

A group of workers form a(n) _____ so that the members can interact with each other socially both on and off the job.

A)task force
B)cross-functional group
C)command group
D)informal group
E)virtual team

Question 27

A group of machinists in a manufacturing plant who report to the same shop foreman is an example of

A)an informal group.
B)a virtual group.
C)a cross-functional group.
D)a self-managed work group.
E)a command group.

Question 28

When the CEO of an organization redesigns the organizational chart to define different reporting relationships among the organization's managers, she is essentially creating _____ groups.

A)informal
B)friendship
C)command
D)virtual
E)interest

Question 29

For a self-managed team to be most effective, a manager must

A)solve all the problems for the team as they arise.
B)provide close supervision for all the team activities.
C)choose members for the team solely on the basis of their educational qualifications.
D)provide training in the required fields to all the team members.
E)give team members limited autonomy and responsibility for their tasks.

Question 30

_____ are work groups that are empowered to assume responsibility and autonomy to complete identifiable pieces of work for an organization.

A)Informal groups
B)Interest groups
C)Command groups
D)Top-management teams
E)Self-managed work teams

Question 31

Team members within a particular group are generally more fixated on coming to a common, agreeable solution over accurately assessing the problems that the group is facing.This type of faulty group decision making is called

A)cognitive dissonance.
B)halo effect.
C)synergy.
D)groupthink.
E)social loafing.

Question 32

A small group of marketers from different departments of an organization get together for lunch every Friday so they can discuss various topics.This is an example of

A)a control group.
B)a virtual team.
C)an informal group.
D)a command group.
E)a self-managed work team.

Question 33

Environment-conscious members of an organization have taken up an initiative to reduce the number of styrofoam cups and sheets of paper used by the company.They organize meetings by themselves on a weekly basis where they discuss methods of making their company more eco-friendly.The members, in this case, constitute a(n) _____ group.

A)virtual
B)formal
C)command
D)interest
E)friendship

Question 34

A group of telephone operators in a telecommunications company who report to the same supervisor are part of a(n)

A)research and development team.
B)informal group.
C)command group.
D)interest group.
E)control group.

Question 35

Which of the following statements is true of task forces?

A)Task forces that are relatively permanent are often referred to as ad hoc committees.
B)Task forces are composed of employees who enjoy one another's company and socialize with one another.
C)Task forces are committees of managers or nonmanagerial employees from various departments or divisions who meet to solve a specific, mutual problem.
D)Task forces are groups that managers or nonmanagerial employees form to help achieve their own goals or meet their own needs.
E)A group of interns who work in a hospital and have lunch together twice a week constitute a task force.

Question 36

Managers at Clementiq Inc.established a group comprising engineers from Germany, Japan, and the United States for the design and manufacture of a new product for the organization.This is known as a(n) _____ team.

A)cross-cultural
B)informal
C)top-management
D)advocacy
E)interest

Question 37

_____ are task forces that are relatively permanent.

A)Interest groups
B)Informal groups
C)Standing committees
D)Virtual groups
E)Working committees

Question 38

______ is a group of managers who are responsible for designing the long-range strategic plan for an organization.

A)An informal team
B)A cross-cultural group
C)A top-management team
D)A friendship group
E)An interest group

Question 39

Norman recently joined a team of technicians who work face-to-face.The team members have the expertise and experience needed to develop new products.Norman joined a(n)

A)top-management team.
B)informal team.
C)research and development team.
D)interest group.
E)virtual team.

Question 40

The management of a popular sporting equipment manufacturer, as a part of their advertising strategy for their latest product, has put together a team to market their product across the country._____ groups are put together for this purpose.

A)Formal
B)Top-management
C)Control
D)Friendship
E)Interest

Question 41

During which stage of group development does group camaraderie begin to emerge?

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

Question 42

When Keisha, the manager of Transporters Inc., put together a new marketing team, she assigned clear roles and responsibilities to all the members of the team and appointed Kyle to lead the team.Kyle is a(n)

A)formal leader.
B)informal leader.
C)role manager.
D)role maker.
E)unofficial leader.

Question 43

_____ is the set of behaviors and tasks that a member of a group is expected to perform because of his or her position in the group.

A)A group role
B)Virtual teamwork
C)Synergy
D)Groupthink
E)A group norm

Question 44

Which of the following statements is true about groups that are smaller in size?

A)Members of small groups tend to be less motivated.
B)Members interact less with each other in small groups.
C)Managers of small work groups obtain a smaller advantage from division of labor.
D)Members of small groups find it harder to share information with one another.
E)Managers of small work groups tend to be less committed.

Question 45

____ task interdependence exists when the work of each group member is completely dependent on the work performed by the other group members.

A)Total
B)Pooled
C)Sequential
D)Serial
E)Reciprocal

Question 46

Which of the following statements is true about group tasks?

A)Assembly lines and mass-production processes are characterized by pooled task interdependence.
B)With sequential interdependence, it is easy to identify individual performance.
C)For groups with pooled interdependence, managers are often advised to reward group members for group performance.
D)For groups with pooled interdependence, managers should determine the appropriate group size primarily from the amount of work to be accomplished.
E)Pooled task interdependence exists when group members must perform specific tasks in a predetermined order.

Question 47

The idea-creation team for Universal-Smile Cards includes an artist whose job is to create and draw the illustrations that will accompany new cards.The artist's job of creating and drawing illustrations for her development team is called a

A)virtual role.
B)group norm.
C)group role.
D)person specification.
E)charismatic role.

Question 48

_____ exists when group members must perform specific tasks in a predetermined order.

A)Sequential task interdependence
B)Partial task interdependence
C)Pooled task interdependence
D)Reciprocal task interdependence
E)Complete task independence

Question 49

Members of research and development teams are required to come up with better or innovative products for their organization.In order to do so, the members in a team need to constantly interact and share information with each other and need to be highly coordinated in order to be most effective.From these observations, it can be concluded that _____ exists within a research and development team.

A)pooled task interdependence
B)total task independence
C)reciprocal task interdependence
D)sequential task interdependence
E)no task dependence

Question 50

The manager of a sales group has presented the weekly target on the number of sales her group must achieve.For this particular target to be achieved, she decides to reward the members of her group solely based on the number of sales each member makes.The type of task dependency that will exist in this case is _____ task interdependence.

A)sequential
B)ordered
C)pooled
D)simultaneous
E)reciprocal

Question 51

Motivation in groups with _____ interdependence will be highest when managers reward group members based on individual performance.

A)serial
B)sequential
C)progressive
D)pooled
E)reciprocal

Question 52

The members of a particular group are getting to know one another and attempting to reach an understanding of how each of them should act within the group.This stage of group development is called

A)storming.
B)norming.
C)forming.
D)adjourning.
E)performing.

Question 53

Managers need to empower self-managed teams, provide sufficient autonomy to them, and ensure that its members are motivated in the _____ stage of group development.

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

Question 54

When managers see the need to modify the roles of members within an existing group, members of the group are encouraged to take on additional responsibilities.This is called

A)social loafing.
B)role making.
C)synergy.
D)social inertia.
E)role homogeneity.

Question 55

At the weekly managers meetings, Jamie, the advertising manager, is expected to update the members on the company's future advertising efforts and strategies.In this case, Jamie is expected to conform to his

A)groupthink.
B)group role.
C)synergy.
D)stereotype.
E)task interdependence.

Question 56

When developing groups, it is highly unlikely that the members of a group will come to common understandings immediately.There will almost always be disagreements and a conflict of ideas.This stage of group development is called

A)forming.
B)norming.
C)performing.
D)storming.
E)adjourning.

Question 57

_____ exists when group members make separate, independent contributions to group performance.

A)Sequential task interdependence
B)Total task dependence
C)Reciprocal task interdependence
D)Simultaneous task interdependence
E)Pooled task interdependence

Question 58

Most members of a group follow ______, which are shared guidelines or rules of behavior.

A)groupshifts
B)person specifications
C)group norms
D)labor divisions
E)group roles

Question 59

An assembly line is an arrangement of workers, machines, and equipment in which the product being assembled passes consecutively from one process to another in a particular order until completed.From this definition of an assembly line, it can be inferred that an assembly line group exemplifies

A)pooled task interdependence.
B)a virtual team format.
C)a top-management team format.
D)reciprocal task interdependence.
E)sequential task interdependence.

Question 60

A task force submits its final report on the project that they had been working on before disbanding.At which stage is the group operating?

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

Question 61

Which of the following is a consequence of group cohesiveness?

A)effectively managed diversity
B)group identity and healthy competition
C)group size
D)level of conformity to group norms
E)success

Question 62

Which of the following statements is true about group cohesiveness?

A)As groups become more successful, they become increasingly attractive to their members, and their cohesiveness tends to decrease.
B)Low levels of cohesiveness can be increased by reducing or eliminating competition among groups.
C)When group cohesiveness is low, group members do not find their group particularly appealing and have little desire to retain their group membership.
D)If a group is high in cohesiveness and small in size, managers should consider dividing the group in half and assigning different tasks and goals to the two newly formed groups.
E)As group cohesiveness decreases, the emphasis placed on group goal accomplishment increases within a group.

Question 63

Managers often form and maintain _____ to make sure important issues continue to be addressed.

A)top-management teams
B)command groups
C)virtual groups
D)self-managed work teams
E)standing committees

Question 64

______ is the tendency of group members to exert less effort when they work in groups than they would exert if they were acting alone.

A)Synergy
B)Sequential task interdependence
C)Reciprocal task interdependence
D)Social loafing
E)Group cohesiveness

Question 65

In order to make the most effective contribution to an organization's competitive advantage, managers should strive to achieve a(n) _____ level of cohesiveness in the organization's groups.

A)low
B)moderate
C)high
D)nonexistent
E)extremely high

Question 66

Sometimes managers form a(n) _____ group because they want to achieve their own goals.

A)interest
B)informal
C)friendship
D)formal
E)command

Question 67

_____ is the degree to which the members of a group are attracted to membership in the group.

A)Groupthink
B)Group deviance
C)Pooled task interdependence
D)Division of labor
E)Group cohesiveness

Question 68

A team member would most likely engage in social loafing when

A)the group is excessively large.
B)individual contributions to a group are identifiable.
C)valuable contributions of individual members are emphasized.
D)rewards are linked to individual performance.
E)the group size is at an appropriate level.

Question 69

Which of the following factors increase(s) group cohesiveness?

A)significantly large group size
B)effectively managed diversity
C)elimination of competition among groups
D)low level of participation within groups
E)lack of success and poor performances by teams

Question 70

A group will perform poorly due to its failure to change its dysfunctional norms when the members of the group have

A)low conformity.
B)moderate conformity.
C)high conformity.
D)moderate deviance.
E)high deviance.

Question 71

Judy is a new member of her organization's research and development team.The weekly appraisal indicated that her output had dropped significantly when compared to her output when she worked individually.Judy's behavior exemplifies

A)synergy.
B)group conformity.
C)cohesion.
D)social loafing.
E)task interdependency.

Question 72

Which of the following statements is true about social loafing?

A)Clearly communicating to group members why each person's contributions are valuable to the group is an effective means by which managers and group members can reduce social loafing.
B)Rewarding group contributions reduces social loafing.
C)Ensuring a large group size reduces social loafing.
D)One way that managers can effectively eliminate social loafing is by making group contributions identifiable so that group members perceive that low and high levels of group effort will be noticed.
E)One way that managers can effectively eliminate social loafing is by forming groups with a significantly higher number of members than the number of members needed to accomplish group goals.

Question 73

The higher the cohesiveness of a group, the higher the _____ in the group.

A)level of deviance
B)level of social loafing
C)level of participation
D)level of individualism
E)emphasis on individual goals

Question 74

_____ can include members who are not actually employees of the organization.

A)Virtual teams
B)Command groups
C)Informal teams
D)Self-managed teams
E)Formal teams

Question 75

Ella is a member of a team that must design a new product.The team leader proposed a process that would enable the team to complete the project quickly.The proposal did not address all the factors involved to produce a high quality product.Ella did not agree with the proposal, but she did not express her opinions because she did not want to appear unsupportive among the other team members.This is an example of

A)group polarization.
B)synergy.
C)social loafing.
D)groupthink.
E)groupshift.

Question 76

Which of the following is a consequence of high group cohesiveness?

A)lower levels of participation within the group
B)high deviance in groups
C)high emphasis on group goal achievement
D)decreasing levels of conformity to group norms
E)decreasing levels of group attractiveness

Question 77

Which of the following statements is true of group cohesiveness?

A)To promote cohesiveness in groups, managers should form groups that are significantly large in size.
B)If a group is high in cohesiveness and small in size, managers should consider dividing the group in half and assigning different tasks and goals to the two newly formed groups.
C)Decreasing levels of group cohesiveness result in little deviance in groups.
D)As group cohesiveness decreases, the emphasis placed on group goal accomplishment increases within a group.
E)As groups become more successful, they become increasingly attractive to their members, and their cohesiveness tends to increase.

Question 78

Angelo is the manager of the finance department and he is on a management team with managers from the marketing and production departments.Angelo's management team is a(n)

A)cross-cultural team.
B)formal group.
C)cross-functional team.
D)interest group.
E)top management group.

Question 79

A member of a task force does not work as much as the others in the team, as he is confident that the others will account for his slacking.This group member is exhibiting

A)cohesion.
B)synergy.
C)group conformity.
D)groupthink.
E)social loafing.

Question 80

The members of a cross-functional team have an informal agreement that whenever a team member goes out of town on business, that team member will leave a phone number where he or she can be reached by the other members of the team.This arrangement is known as

A)a virtual norm.
B)a group norm.
C)a virtual role.
D)a group role.
E)a group law.