Deck 1: Making the Team: a Guide for Managers

Question 1

In general,leaders who control all the details,manage all the key relationships in the team,have all the good ideas,and use the team to execute their plan are usually ________ and ________.

A)overworked; underproductive
B)successful; well rewarded
C)well regarded; quickly promoted
D)productive; well connected

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following is a positive way that teams deal with situational surprises or unexpected changes within their task assignments?

A)A team strikes out on their own and bucks the authoritative measures causing the change.
B)Shifts responsibility for various task roles and reassembling work routines to different members of the team.
C)Insists upon the use of more resources to solve the problem from the same approach.
D)Keeps overreaction to a minimum by keeping work assignments the same and sticking with the pre-established work routine.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

According to research,what is the best advice regarding team size?

A)Teams should generally increase in size up to a maximum of 14 people.
B)Teams should generally have fewer than 10 members - with an optimal size of 5-6 people.
C)Teams should generally decrease in size down to a maximum of 3 people.
D)Teams should not be limited in size.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Many people make the mistake of looking for the causes of a problem after they find the effects of it.There may be many common factors that have nothing obviously related to the situation,or factors difficult to detect that can interfere with a successful problem solution.This situation is best known as a(n):

A)preexisting baseline.
B)hindsight bias.
C)evidence-based management.
D)sampling on the dependent variable.

Question 5

Which of the following is a way in which managers recognize their team-building responsibilities?

A)Equate managing their team with managing individual people on the team.
B)Rely on group-based forums for problem solving and diagnosis.
C)Gain all of their feedback from one-on-one meetings with team members.
D)Base their decisions on the limited information and resources.

Question 6

The most common type of team is a(n):

A)cross-functional team.
B)operations team.
C)middle-management team.
D)service team.

Question 7

When it comes to teamwork,interdependence means:

A)the team has an identifiable membership.
B)only one individual in the group will assume responsibility for the project outcome.
C)the success of individual efforts is the only important goal for members.
D)team members cannot achieve their goals single-handedly.

Question 8

The misattribution error is the tendency for managers to attribute the causes of team failure to forces beyond their personal control.According to that definition,which of the following is a misattribution error? Blaming an unsuccessful outcome on:

A)lack of preparation.
B)lack of knowledge.
C)the competitive environment/marketplace.
D)low motivation.

Question 9

In manager-led teams,the team members:

A)execute a task.
B)monitor and manage the performance of the team.
C)design the team as a performing unit.
D)design the organizational context.

Question 10

With regard to the defining characteristics of a team,all of the following are true EXCEPT:

A)teams exist to achieve a shared goal.
B)team members are interdependent regarding the achievement of a goal.
C)team members do not have the authority to manage their own work and internal processes.
D)teams are bounded and stable over a period of time.

Question 11

With regard to the disadvantages of self-directing teams,all of the following are true EXCEPT:

A)it is difficult to monitor the team's progress.
B)the team can suffer from conforming too much to team leaders.
C)teams of this type can be very costly to build.
D)the team can suffer from marginalization and struggle with team legitimacy.

Question 12

Which type of team offers the most potential for innovation,can enhance goal commitment,and provides opportunities for organizational learning and change?

A)Self-governing teams
B)Manager-led teams
C)Self-directing or self-designing teams
D)Self- managing or self-regulating teams

Question 13

When it comes to membership,boundedness refers to the ________; stability refers to ________.

A)limitations imposed by other members; nonmember view of financial stability of team decisions
B)amount of expertise of members; how concrete and available resources are to members
C)team membership identifiability; the tenure of membership
D)promises made by new members; the emotional fortitude of members

Question 14

All of the following are risks with self-governing teams EXCEPT:

A)misdirection.
B)team goals and interests may be at odds with organizational interests.
C)poor decision-making due to lack of awareness to company goals and interests.
D)poor potential in terms of team commitment and participation.

Question 15

Managers often think they can know and predict everything regarding a problem,even when a situation has a completely unpredictable outcome.This,after the fact,"I knew it all along" belief fallacy is known as:

A)the hindsight bias.
B)an inert knowledge problem.
C)interdependence.
D)the social system context.

Question 16

One of the most frustrating aspects of teamwork is:

A)sustaining high motivation.
B)a high level of turnover.
C)not being able to select one's preferred team members.
D)ineffective leadership.

Question 17

Self-directing teams are best suited for:

A)people who cannot take direction.
B)teams whose leaders are incompetent.
C)complex,ill-defined,and ambiguous problems.
D)simple,well-defined,and clear problems.

Question 18

A team where a manager or a leader determines the overall purpose or goal of the team,but team members are at liberty to manage the means by which they meet that goal is called a:

A)manager-lead team.
B)self-managing team.
C)self-directing team.
D)self-governing team.

Question 19

With regard to the characteristics of a manager-led team,all of the following are true EXCEPT:

A)has a dedicated,full-time,higher-ranking supervisor.
B)provides the organization with the most amount of control over the team and the work they perform.
C)the members provide peer-feedback for one another.
D)is a very efficient type of team because of the centrality of goals and control.

Question 20

When we ask,"Why should organizations bother to build and maintain effective teams," all of the following challenges facing organizations might be addressed through teams EXCEPT:

A)improving multi-generational collaboration and teaming.
B)dealing with competition in one's industry.
C)globalization.
D)economic understanding.

Question 21

The term "interdependence" as it relates to a team refers to the tenure of the members.

Question 22

With regard to the question of team size (i.e.,how big the team should be),all of the following are true EXCEPT:

A)most of the time,teams should be fewer than 10 members.
B)managers tend to make teams too large.
C)it is wise to compose teams using the smallest number of people who can do the task.
D)larger teams are more cohesive,and want to stay together.

Question 23

Managers frequently fault the wrong causes for team failure.Often,what is the real key causal factor in underperforming teams?

A)External,uncontrollable forces,such as market competition
B)The difficult personalities on the team
C)The manager's talent acquiring team resources
D)Faulty team design

Question 24

After a study was done of teams at Xerox,several defining features of superbly performing teams emerged which included: clear direction,a team task,material resources,rewards,goals,strategic norms and:

A)the authority to manage their work.
B)cultural homogeneity.
C)a centralized decision-making structure.
D)large team size.

Question 25

In contrast to a team,a working group differs from a team because:

A)the working group members are interdependent.
B)the working team members have collective responsibilities and rewards for their production outcome.
C)the working team members are not interdependent and are not working toward a shared goal.
D)the working team relies on their manager's social network for success.

Question 26

Unless companies and managers take the time to understand the different work and value systems of different generations of workers,multigenerational teams will work under frustrating conditions.Values that should be considered when composing a team of different generational members include the importance of family,team versus individual orientation,achievement orientation and:

A)the number of contacts the person has in their social network.
B)the person's need for feedback,attention,and coaching.
C)the person's negotiation skills.
D)how well the person understands the corporate culture of the team.

Question 27

The dominant feature of tactical teams is ________; the dominant feature of problem-solving teams is ________; the dominant feature of creative teams is ________.

A)expertise; training; communication
B)training; expertise; communication
C)trust; clarity; autonomy
D)clarity; trust; autonomy

Question 28

In 2015,more than one-in-three American workers were Millennials,now the largest segment of the U.S.workforce.

Question 29

Changes in corporate structure and increases in specialization imply that there will be new boundaries among team members in an organization,such as:

A)always working in a face-to-face environment.
B)decreased need to work in a virtual team.
C)increased use of manager-led teams.
D)team members must integrate their knowledge through increased coordination and synchronization with suppliers,peers,and customers.

Question 30

Which of the following techniques is one of the most effective ways for teams to learn and improve?

A)Repetition
B)Failure
C)Success
D)Incentives and competition

Question 31

A leader who coaches,directs,and instructs their team,but has team members who help the leader learn from their perspective,is a team who engages in:

A)single-loop learning.
B)double-loop learning.
C)team longevity.
D)expert learning.

Question 32

The key to a manager unlocking the pervasive,inert knowledge in their team lies in:

A)the manager's social network.
B)how the manager uses examples to illustrate and convey concepts to their team.
C)the manager's talent with lecture-based teaching.
D)the team's boundedness and stability.

Question 33

A cardiac surgery team is an example of a ________ team; the Sandia Nuclear Weapons laboratory team is an example of a ________ team.

A)problem-solving; creative
B)tactical; creative
C)problem-solving; tactical
D)tactical; problem-solving

Question 34

Of the following types of skills,which one is least important to consider when selecting members for a team?

A)Technical skills
B)Intuitive skills
C)Task-management skills
D)Interpersonal skills

Question 35

Effective managers make mistakes,but they don't make the same mistakes over and over again.When a manager commits to continually learning and benefitting from their mistakes and experiences,this model is called:

A)human scaling.
B)evidence-based management.
C)expert learning.
D)the hindsight bias.

Question 36

With the ability to communicate with others anywhere on the planet,people and resources that were once remote can now be reached quickly,easily,and inexpensively.This has facilitated and encouraged the development of the ________ team.

A)virtual
B)tactical
C)strategic
D)multigenerational

Question 37

To be successful in the long run,teams need ongoing resources and support,information,education,and:

A)regular team building retreats.
B)competition amongst team members and an unaligned incentive structure.
C)an authoritarian manager.
D)goals and good communication skills.

Question 38

For tactical teams to be successful,there must be ________ and ________.

A)the freedom to innovate; the ability to question assumptions
B)the ability to think out of the box; the ability to work remotely
C)ambiguous problems; limited emphasis on formal organizational structures
D)a high degree of task clarity; unambiguous role definition

Question 39

Of the following teams,which one is a predominantly problem-solving team?

A)Research team at the Centers for Disease control
B)Surgical team at the Mayo Clinic
C)Drive train assembly team at Honda
D)IDEO product design team

Question 40

A ________ is a group of expert specialists each of whom has a specific role position,performs brief tasks that are closely synchronized with others,and can perform those actions in different environmental conditions.

A)hybrid team
B)crew
C)self-governing team
D)clique

Question 41

When a leader believes that she has nothing to learn from a subordinate but the subordinate could learn a lot from her,this is an example of single-loop learning.

Question 42

One of the biggest threats to creative teams is the uneven participation of members.

Question 43

The most common type of team is an operations team,followed by cross-functional,service and lastly,middle management teams.