Deck 8: Team Dynamics

Question 1

Two important elements of the team's environment are the team's size and composition.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Social identity theory partly explains why people join informal groups.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

All teams are groups,but some types of groups are not teams.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Teams work better when there are several layers of management and team members are encouraged to communicate mainly through their immediate supervisor.

Question 5

Research concludes that individuals working alone are usually more successful than teams at identifying problems and developing alternatives to problems.

Question 6

A team's effectiveness is partly measured by how well its members' needs are fulfilled.

Question 7

Teams are groups with some degree of task interdependence and a common objective.

Question 8

As exemplified by the Toyota Motor Company,office layout and other physical space characteristics influence the team's ability to accomplish tasks as well as shape team member perceptions about being part of a team.

Question 9

Effective team leaders act as coaches and enablers.

Question 10

Informal groups exist primarily to complete tasks for the organisation that management doesn't know about.

Question 11

Team members are held together by their interdependence and need for collaboration to achieve common goals.

Question 12

Under stressful or dangerous conditions,people are more likely to stay together than disperse,even when the other people are strangers.

Question 13

Teams are best suited for tasks with low interdependence among team members.

Question 14

Forming smaller teams and measuring individual rather than team performance tends to increase the likelihood of social loafing.

Question 15

Companies with the best team dynamics are more likely to have team-based rewards and a physical arrangement that encourages face-to-face dialogue.

Question 16

All groups are teams,but some types of teams are not groups.

Question 17

Teams are groups of two or more people who have equal influence over each other regarding the team's goals and means of achieving those goals.

Question 18

Reward systems,communication systems and physical space are three elements of the organisational and team environment.

Question 19

Organisational behaviour scholars have concluded that employees always work better in teams than alone.

Question 20

Social loafing is more common among people with collectivist values.

Question 21

Team norms usually remain the same even when the group is disbanded and replaced with people with different values and experiences.

Question 22

In effective teams,each member must possess the full set of competencies to perform the team's entire task alone.

Question 23

Teams develop their first real sense of cohesion during the norming stage of team development.

Question 24

Controlling key variances and joint optimisation are two elements found in all team building activities.

Question 25

Highly cohesive teams invariably perform organisational objectives better than teams with moderate or low cohesiveness.

Question 26

Teams tend to have less cohesion when entry is restricted.

Question 27

The norming stage of team development is marked by interpersonal conflict as team members compete for leadership and other positions on the team.

Question 28

Knowledge-based trust is based on the belief that the other party will deliver its promises because punishments would be applied if they fail to deliver those promises.

Question 29

The optimal team size exists when the team is as small as possible,yet has enough people to accomplish the task.

Question 30

To maximise cohesiveness,the team should be as small as possible without jeopardising its ability to accomplish the task.

Question 31

Students experience pooled interdependence when they are lined up at the laser printers trying to get their assignments done just before a class deadline.

Question 32

Team members rarely conform to team norms unless other team members apply reinforcement or punishment.

Question 33

The forming,storming and norming model of team development is different from the team development experiences that most students report in their team projects.

Question 34

The only way to alter team norms is to disband the group.

Question 35

Reciprocal interdependence is the highest level of task interdependence in organisations.

Question 36

Teams are more effective when they are formed around work processes and are given more autonomy to accomplish their work.

Question 37

Self-directed work teams control most work inputs,work processes and output quality.

Question 38

Homogeneous teams with relatively few members and a high level of interaction tend to have high cohesiveness.

Question 39

Self-directed work teams are typically responsible for a specialised skill,such as accounting or maintenance.

Question 40

Heterogeneous teams tend to be more effective than homogeneous teams on simple tasks requiring a high degree of cooperation and coordination.

Question 41

An important rule in brainstorming is that no one is allowed to evaluate or criticise another team member's ideas.

Question 42

Self-directed work teams are designed for production processes but not for administrative or service activities.

Question 43

The best known limitation of teams is:

A) Individuals' output
B) Team building
C) Risk of productivity loss
D) Risk of solution based ideas

Question 44

Although informal groups are not created to serve organisational objectives,they have a profound influence on:

A) Organisations and individual employees
B) Wellbeing in an organisation
C) Social networking
D) None of the options listed here is correct

Question 45

Self-directed work teams operate best when they are highly interdependent with other work teams.

Question 46

Virtual teams have more cohesiveness when they are able to meet face-to-face.

Question 47

When people are reluctant to mention ideas because they may be regarded as 'silly' this is called evaluation apprehension.

Question 48

Due to the lack of face-to-face communication,virtual teams tend to have fewer problems with status differences.

Question 49

Brainstorming sessions tend to spread more enthusiasm among participants than do electronic brainstorming sessions.

Question 50

Four team based activities which potentially improve team decision making in team settings are constructive conflict,brainstorming,electronic brainstorming and nominal group technique.

Question 51

Teams are groups of two or more people who interact with and influence each other,and are mutually accountable for achieving common goals associated with:

A) Aims
B) Togetherness
C) Organisational objectives
D) All of the options listed here are correct

Question 52

The nominal group technique removes the problems of evaluation apprehension and production blocking.

Question 53

The shift towards knowledge-based rather than production-based work has made virtual teamwork feasible.

Question 54

People invest considerable time and effort forming and maintaining:

A) Individualistic views
B) Social relationships
C) Affiliations
D) All of the options listed here are correct

Question 55

One task characteristic that is particularly important for teams is:

A) Pooled interdependence
B) Budget interpretation
C) Employee motivation
D) Task interdependence

Question 56

A symptom of groupthink is that the team feels comfortable with risky decisions because possible weaknesses are suppressed or glossed over.

Question 57

The best known limitation of teams is:

A) Individuals' output
B) Team building
C) Risk of productivity loss
D) Risk of solution based ideas

Question 58

The performance of multicultural teams will be affected by different norms,different beliefs and different perspectives from within a country and from more globally oriented staff.

Question 59

Furniture construction seems to be suited to teams because it is:

A) Complex and well structured
B) Unstructured
C) Coordinated and requires knowledge
D) Practical

Question 60

The nominal group technique tends to produce more and better ideas than do traditional interacting groups.

Question 61

Teams work better when the organisational structure:

A) Organises teams around specialised skills rather than work processes
B) Has many layers of management
C) Encourages interaction with team members rather than through supervisors
D) Organises teams around specialised skills,has many layers of management AND encourages interaction with team members

Question 62

Which of these statements is TRUE?

A) All groups are teams
B) Groups are teams with a high level of task interdependence
C) Unlike teams,groups are associated with an organisational objective
D) Some groups are just people assembled together in the same physical area

Question 63

Trust can also be understood in terms of its foundations which relate to:

A) Identification
B) Calculus
C) Knowledge
D) All of options listed here are correct

Question 64

A team that achieves its organisational goals,satisfies member needs and survives in its environment:

A) Is an effective team
B) Is called a task force
C) Has not yet reached its highest level of team development
D) Has a strong communication system but inappropriate reward system

Question 65

Employees working in a department would be considered a team only when:

A) They operate without any supervisor
B) Everyone in the department has the same set of skills
C) They directly interact with each other and coordinate work activities
D) They are all located in the same physical area

Question 66

Organisational leadership,organisational structure and reward systems are:

A) Three of the main sources of team cohesiveness
B) Three team design features
C) Three elements of the organisational and team environment
D) Three of the main causes of social loafing

Question 67

Teams have which of the following features?

A) Two or more people
B) Perceive themselves as a social entity
C) Exist to fulfil some purpose.
D) Team members influence each other

Question 68

A team is effective when:

A) It is able to maintain the team's survival
B) Members are able to fulfil their needs through membership in the team
C) It achieves its goals
D) It achieves its goals AND maintain the team's survival

Question 69

Compared to individuals working alone,teams have the potential to:

A) Make better decisions and develop better products
B) Create a more energised workforce
C) Provide superior customer service
D) All of the options listed here are correct

Question 70

Two company divisions produce completely different products but must seek funding from head office for capital expansion.The relationship between these two divisions would be best described as:

A) Pooled interdependence
B) Total independence
C) Reciprocal interdependence
D) Anticipatory interdependence

Question 71

A task force refers to:

A) Any informal group that has the same members as the permanent task-oriented group
B) Any formal group whose members work permanently and most of their time in that team
C) Any formal group whose members must be able to perform all tasks on the team
D) Any temporary team that investigates a particular problem and typically disbands when the decision is made

Question 72

Employees should almost always be organised into teams when they have:

A) Pooled interdependence
B) Counterproductive norms
C) High levels of social loafing
D) Reciprocal interdependence

Question 73

The design and effectiveness of most teams are affected by:

A) Organisational leadership
B) Reward systems
C) Communication systems
D) Organisational structure

Question 74

The organisational and team environment represents all conditions beyond the team's boundaries that influence its:

A) Effectiveness
B) Team performance
C) Capability
D) Motivation

Question 75

Which of the following is usually an informal group?

A) Task force
B) Team-oriented department
C) Management team
D) People you regularly meet for lunch

Question 76

The drive to bond and the dynamics of social identity theory both explain why people:

A) Join informal groups
B) Tend to ignore team norms whenever possible
C) Have difficulty feeling cohesiveness in teams
D) Engage in social loafing

Question 77

When forming a team,it is critical that each team member has:

A) The complete set of skills necessary to perform the team's task alone
B) The motivation to work together
C) Valuable skills that other team members do not know about
D) No previous experience working with any of the other members

Question 78

According to social identity theory:

A) Teams are never as productive as individuals working alone
B) The most effective teams have as many members as the organisation can afford
C) The team development process occurs more rapidly for heterogeneous teams than for homogeneous teams
D) People are motivated to become members of groups that are similar to themselves

Question 79

Which of the following statements about teams and task characteristics is FALSE?

A) Teams are generally more effective when each person's tasks have low interdependence with tasks performed by other team members
B) Teams are generally more effective when tasks are well structured and,therefore,easier to coordinate with other people
C) Teams usually work better on complex rather than simple tasks
D) People have a greater sense of being on a team when co-workers are linked through reciprocal rather than pooled interdependence

Question 80

In terms of team size,the general rule is that teams:

A) Cannot have more than seven or possibly eight members
B) Should have the fewest number of people possible to perform the work
C) Can be large or small without any influence on the team's effectiveness
D) Cannot have fewer than five members