Deck 9: Understanding Work Teams

Question 1

Eva is not getting the results she needs from her data base administration team. She believes that this problem is occurring because the administration team is a virtual team. Which of the following is one of the things that Eva should do to create an effective virtual team?

A) Conduct training for improving interpersonal skills
B) Allow more independence among members.
C) Monitor progress of the team closely.
D) Include peer evaluation in the appraisal system.
E) Avoid publicizing team successes company wide.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The Boeing Company created a team made up of employees from production, planning, quality control, tooling, design engineering, and information systems to automate shims on the company's C-17 program. This team is most likely to be an example of a ________ team.

A) command
B) cross-functional
C) self-managed
D) problem-solving
E) task

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following statements is true regarding self-managed work teams?

A) Self-managed work teams typically consist of forty to fifty employees.
B) Self-managed work teams typically manage conflicts well.
C) Members of self-managed work teams typically report lower job satisfaction.
D) Self-managed work teams are typically composed of employees from different departments who work independent of each other.
E) In the case of self-managed work teams, supervisory positions take on decreased importance.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Which of the following statements is true regarding a work team?

A) Today teams are rarely used in organizations.
B) Teams are less flexible than traditional departments.
C) A work team generates positive synergy through coordinated effort.
D) Work teams are less responsive to changing events than traditional departments.
E) Teams impedes employee participation in decision making.

Question 5

Which of the following types of teams is most likely to be assembled to improve the efficiency of a company's production process?

A) cross-functional
B) problem-solving
C) self-managed
D) critical
E) task

Question 6

With reference to the team effectiveness model, which of the following is one of the key components of an effective team, included under the category of contextual factors?

A) team efficacy
B) climate of trust
C) common purpose
D) social loafing
E) specific goals

Question 7

________ teams are groups of employees who perform highly related or interdependent jobs and take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors.

A) Critical
B) Self-managed work
C) Cross-functional
D) Problem-solving
E) Task

Question 8

Which of the following statements best defines a work group?

A) The performance of a work group is generally greater than the sum of its inputs from individual members.
B) A work group interacts primarily to share information, rather than to engage in work that requires joint effort.
C) A work group consists of 3 or more people who take on self-supervising responsibilities.
D) A work group consists of 3 or more people from across departmental or functional lines.
E) A work group is a group comprised of 10 or more people who belong to the same department.

Question 9

A team consists of employees from the same department who meet for a few hours each week to discuss ways of improving the work environment but they do not have the authority to unilaterally implement any of their suggestions. This is most likely to be a ________ team.

A) cross-functional
B) virtual
C) self-managed
D) problem-solving
E) task

Question 10

Which of the following statements is true regarding a cross-functional team?

A) A cross-functional team is made up of employees from different hierarchical levels.
B) A cross-functional team is made up of employees from the same department.
C) Today cross-functional teams are rarely used in well established organizations.
D) In the case of a cross-functional team, the early stages of development are typically very short.
E) Cross-functional teams are used for developing new ideas and coordinating complex projects.

Question 11

Which of the following is not one of the key components of effective teams?

A) team efficacy
B) a well-established company identity
C) adequate resources
D) member flexibility
E) leadership and structure

Question 12

________ teams are an effective way to allow people from diverse areas within an organization to exchange information, develop new ideas and solve problems, and coordinate complex projects.

A) Self-managed
B) Problem-solving
C) Cross-functional
D) Task
E) Command

Question 13

________ results in a level of performance that is greater than the sum of the individual inputs.

A) Synergy
B) Positive affect
C) Emotional labor
D) Cognitive dissonance
E) Emotional dissonance

Question 14

Which of the following is not a difference between work groups and work teams? Work groups ________, and work teams ________.

A) shave neutral synergy, have positive synergy
B) rely on independent accountability, rely on mutual and independent accountability
C) require joint efforts, are the summation of the individual contribution
D) have random and varied skills, have complimentary skills
E) share information, rely on collective performance

Question 15

Which of the following helps explain the current popularity of teams? Teams ________.

A) are easier to manage
B) better utilize employee talents
C) are less expensive
D) promote socialization and cohesion
E) increase the speed of decision making.

Question 16

Which of the following teams are more likely to be made up of employees from about the same hierarchical level but different work areas?

A) problem-solving
B) self-managed
C) cross-functional
D) task
E) rapid action

Question 17

Which of the following statements is true regarding virtual teams?

A) Virtual teams are less task oriented than face-to-face teams.
B) In the case of virtual teams there is less social rapport and direct interaction among members.
C) Virtual teams report more satisfaction with the group interaction process than do face-to-face teams.
D) Virtual teams exchange more social-emotional information than face-to-face teams do.
E) For increasing the efficiency of a virtual team, managers should empower the team and avoid monitoring its progress closely.

Question 18

Which of the following types of teams allows for collaboration between team members who are physically dispersed?

A) problem-solving teams
B) self-managed teams
C) task teams
D) virtual teams
E) command teams

Question 19

Self-managed teams typically consist of ________ employees.

A) two to four
B) four to eight
C) ten to fifteen
D) twenty to thirty
E) forty to fifty

Question 20

Which of the following statements is true regarding a work group?

A) Individuals working in a workgroup are dependent on each other.
B) Work groups primarily engage in collective work that requires joint effort.
C) Work groups do not generate any positive synergy through coordinated effort.
D) Information sharing is not the primary function of a work group.
E) The performance level of the workgroup is greater than the summation of each group member's individual contribution.

Question 21

Which of the following terms indicates the degree to which members of a work unit (group, team, or department) share a common attribute, such as age, sex, race, or educational level?

A) demographic environment
B) residential mobility
C) organizational demography
D) population dynamics
E) employee mobility

Question 22

According to the concept of organizational demography, if team members have dissimilar experiences, it will lead to ________.

A) increased employee satisfaction
B) decreased level of conflicts
C) higher employee motivation
D) higher employee turnover
E) higher team efficacy

Question 23

Which of the following factors typically improves the creativity of a diverse team?

A) specific goals
B) team size
C) proper leadership
D) member flexibility
E) team efficacy

Question 24

Team members with good listening, feedback, and conflict resolution skills are examples of ________ skills.

A) technical
B) problem-solving
C) decision-making
D) interpersonal
E) cognitive appraisal

Question 25

Teams that are composed of people who score high on ________ are more creative and innovative.

A) emotional stability
B) agreeableness
C) openness to experience
D) extraversion
E) conscientiousness

Question 26

Generally speaking, the most effective teams have ________ members.

A) two to four
B) three to five
C) five to nine
D) ten to fifteen
E) fifteen to twenty

Question 27

To realize their creative potential, diverse teams need to focus on their ________.

A) similarities
B) resources
C) role allocation
D) differences
E) team efficacy

Question 28

People scoring high on ________ are valuable in teams because they're good at backing up fellow team members and at sensing when that support is truly needed.

A) conscientiousness
B) positivity
C) emotional stability
D) agreeableness
E) openness to experience

Question 29

Teams that consist of team members that score ________ are more likely to perform poorly.

A) high on conscientiousness
B) low on openness to experience
C) high on emotional stability
D) low on extraversion
E) low on agreeableness

Question 30

The team effectiveness model classifies the key components of effective teams into three general categories; context, composition, and process. Which of the following variables belongs to the composition category?

A) adequate resources
B) conflict level
C) team efficacy
D) performance evaluation system
E) personality of team members

Question 31

Which of the following statements is true regarding size of teams?

A) Generally speaking, the most effective teams have twelve to fifteen members.
B) When teams have excess members, cohesiveness declines.
C) As team size increases, social loafing decreases.
D) When teams have excess members mutual accountability increases.
E) As team size increases, coordination problems tend to decrease.

Question 32

A high-ability team is composed of mostly intelligent members. Which of the following statements is true regarding a high-ability team?

A) High-ability teams are also less adaptable to changing situations as compared to low-ability teams.
B) When tasks are simple, high-ability teams perform better than low-ability teams.
C) High-ability teams should be reserved for tackling the tough problems.
D) Low-ability teams can more effectively apply existing knowledge to new problems than high-ability teams.
E) When the task entails considerable thought, lower-ability teams perform better than high-ability teams.

Question 33

________suggests that attributes such as age or the date of joining should help us predict turnover.

A) Employee mobility
B) Organizational demography
C) Residential mobility
D) Demographic environment
E) Population dynamics

Question 34

Effective teams begin their work by ________.

A) allocating roles to team members according to their personalities and preferences
B) analyzing the team's mission
C) developing a climate of trust among team members
D) developing team efficacy
E) designing specific goals

Question 35

According to the team effectiveness model, which of the following is a process variable that influences effectiveness of a team?

A) leadership and structure
B) team efficacy
C) member flexibility
D) performance evaluation and reward systems
E) abilities of members

Question 36

Leadership is especially important in ________, in which different teams coordinate their efforts to produce a desired outcome.

A) technical teams
B) self-managed teams
C) problem-solving teams
D) management teams
E) multi-team systems

Question 37

A team that has a good plan, but is also willing to adjust their master plan and adapt when conditions call for it demonstrates high ________, an important variable in successful team processes.

A) goal specificity
B) goal congruency
C) social loafing
D) diversity
E) reflexivity

Question 38

In a ________ team, the manager's job becomes more about managing outside the team.

A) technical
B) self-managed
C) problem-solving
D) task
E) virtual

Question 39

Araceli is a team member in a large corporation. She never speaks in team meetings because she has seen members talk behind each others' backs after the meetings. Members are constantly monitoring the other members' work, looking for a mistakes to point out in a meeting. According to the information provided, which contextual factor is most likely hindering the success of Araceli's team?

A) adequate resources
B) climate of trust
C) team structure
D) performance evaluations
E) leadership

Question 40

In addition to evaluating and rewarding employees for their individual contributions, management should consider using ________ to reinforce team effort and commitment.

A) personalized incentives
B) consistent wages for all team members
C) individual performance evaluations
D) fixed hourly wages
E) profit sharing

Question 41

Which of the following is most likely to increase team efficacy?

A) providing measurable goals
B) helping the team achieve small successes
C) improving the reflexivity of the team
D) ensuring that team goals are challenging
E) reducing the number of members on a team

Question 42

Evidence suggests self-managed teams have not fared well in Mexico because ________.

A) the culture in Mexico has high tolerance for ambiguity
B) the employees in Mexico strongly respect hierarchical authority
C) the culture in Mexico is characterized by low power distance
D) the culture of Mexico is individualistic in nature
E) the culture in Mexico has short term orientation

Question 43

Members of successful teams put a tremendous amount of time and effort into discussing, shaping, and agreeing on ________ which then provides direction and guidance under any and all conditions.

A) the level of individual contribution
B) allocation of resources
C) a common purpose
D) allocation of roles
E) developing team efficacy

Question 44

As compared to individual work, teamwork ________.

A) involves fewer meetings
B) takes more time
C) needs less resources
D) decreases communication demands
E) decreases the need for conflict management

Question 45

________ illustrates a process loss from using teams.

A) Emotional contagion
B) Cognitive dissonance
C) Social loafing
D) Positivity offset
E) Emotional dissonance

Question 46

On teams performing nonroutine activities, ________ conflicts stimulate discussion, promote critical assessment of problems and options, and can lead to better team decisions.

A) relationship
B) efficacy
C) resource
D) task
E) social

Question 47

Coasting on the group effort is termed ________.

A) emotional labor
B) cognitive dissonance
C) social loafing
D) positivity offset
E) self-concordance

Question 48

In the case of a team, when each member's contribution is not clearly visible, ________.

A) team efficacy tends to increase
B) team cohesiveness tends to decrease
C) motivation of the team members tends to increase
D) team members tend to decrease their efforts
E) mutual accountability of the team members tends to decrease

Question 49

Which of the following techniques can be used for increasing effectiveness of teams?

A) Implement a reward system that encourages competitive efforts.
B) The appraisal system should take into consideration peer evaluation.
C) Avoid giving promotions and pay raises for individual contributions.
D) Training should be provided to those candidates who lack team skills.
E) The reward system should discourage cooperative efforts.

Question 50

Teams fit well in countries that score ________.

A) high on power distance
B) high on collectivism
C) low on uncertainty avoidance
D) high on long term orientation
E) low on restraint

Question 51

If team members have similar mental models then it means that the team members have similar ________.

A) roles within the team
B) self-efficacy
C) knowledge and skills
D) beliefs about how the work gets done
E) attitude towards social loafing

Question 52

Alberto's team is evaluating and developing the data base for the water pollution data of three cities. He wants to improve the team efficacy of his team. Which of the following actions can Alberto take to increase team efficacy before the project starts?

A) plan a team outing for the team members
B) make sure that his team is not comprised of more than nine people
C) spend considerable time evaluating team members and allocating proper roles for each
D) provide client's software and database training for all the team members
E) create team goals that are very challenging

Question 53

Evidence shows that teams that switch from a competitive to a cooperative system do not ________.

A) make poor decisions
B) make rushed decisions
C) share information
D) have conflicts
E) distrust each other

Question 54

Exercises that help individuals become team players include workshops on ________.

A) negotiation
B) individualism
C) goal setting
D) event planning
E) recruiting

Question 55

You need to hire an analyst for an important project team. It is essential that the new employee work well on the already established team in order to meet the project's challenging deadlines. The most talented candidate doesn't have any team experience and when asked in the interview about his team experience he replied, "I prefer to work alone. I'm much more efficient alone." What should you do?

A) Hire him and train him.
B) Hire him and hope that he learns.
C) Hire him and redesign the job.
D) Look for a different candidate.
E) Hire him and assign him a mentor.

Question 56

Effective teams have confidence in themselves and believe they can succeed. This confidence is called ________.

A) social facilitation
B) goal congruence
C) social loafing
D) team efficacy
E) self serving bias

Question 57

Work should be performed by an individual if ________.

A) the work is complex and requires different perspectives
B) the work creates a common purpose or set of goals for the people in the group that is more than the aggregate of individual goals
C) the work is simple and does not require diverse input
D) several tasks that are interdependent are to be performed for completing the work
E) performing the work requires learning a new technology or understanding a new system

Question 58

Which of following statements is true regarding a reward system that attempts to create good team players?

A) The reward system should encourage competitive efforts.
B) Rewards given to individuals should be based on peer evaluation.
C) The reward system should ignore individual contributions.
D) Performance-based rewards could include a bonus based on achievement of team goals.
E) The reward system should discourage cooperative efforts.

Question 59

When teams are under acute stress, they are particularly likely to have ________.

A) inaccurate mental models
B) high team efficacy
C) goal congruence
D) a self-serving bias
E) high reflexivity

Question 60

Which type of conflict is almost always dysfunctional?

A) task conflict
B) efficacy conflict
C) relationship conflict
D) resource conflict
E) goal conflict

Question 61

As a result of self-managed teams, supervisory positions may be eliminated.

Question 62

After interviewing all 7 team members, you determine that one of the team members performs routine administrative tasks that are rarely visible to any of the other team members. You suspect that this team member may be loafing off and lagging in his duties. You could most likely improve that team member's output by ________.

A) encouraging him to work more independently
B) making his work clearly visible to the other team members
C) empowering the team member to make decisions
D) providing him with administrative training
E) giving him additional assignments to complete

Question 63

Which of the following statements is true regarding a culturally diverse team?

A) Elements of diversity do not interfere with team processes.
B) Culturally homogeneous teams have more difficulty learning to work with each other and solving problems than culturally heterogeneous teams.
C) Generally, newly formed culturally diverse teams underperform when compared to newly formed culturally homogeneous teams.
D) Cultural diversity within a team is not advisable for those tasks that call for a variety of viewpoints.
E) Solving problems is more difficult for culturally homogeneous teams than it is for culturally heterogeneous teams.

Question 64

In the case of a work team, individual efforts result in a level of performance greater than the sum of those individual inputs.

Question 65

The primary goal of a work team is information sharing.

Question 66

Joan, your director of accounting, has created a team of seven employees from the accounts payable department who meet for three hours a week to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency and the work environment. This is an example of a ________ team.

A) problem-solving
B) self-managed
C) cross-functional
D) virtual
E) task-resolution

Question 67

Virtual teams tend to be less task oriented than face-to-face teams.

Question 68

Compared to traditional departments, teams tend to be less flexible and less responsive to changing events.

Question 69

Self-managed teams do not typically manage conflicts well.

Question 70

Cross-functional teams are made up of employees from about the same hierarchical level, but from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task.

Question 71

Jack, your director of manufacturing, has created a team of eleven employees from quality control. Jack gives the team members the responsibility of planning and scheduling their own work, and making operating decisions. Also, members of this team evaluate each other's performance. This is an example of a ________ team.

A) problem-solving
B) self-managed
C) cross-functional
D) virtual
E) task-resolution

Question 72

Provided that all of the team members are equally qualified, which of the following teams is likely to be the least challenging to manage?

A) A team comprised of members drawn equally from all of the company's offices, because culturally diverse teams tend to operate with minimal conflict.
B) A team comprised primarily of members from the United States, because employees from countries with individualistic values tend to function well in teams.
C) A team comprised primarily of members from Canada, Britain, and Australia, because cultures of these countries are characterized by high power distance.
D) A team comprised of members from both Japan and Mexico, because employees from these countries tend to focus on individual accomplishments.
E) A team comprised primarily of members from either Japan or another Asian-Pacific country, because employees from countries with collectivist values tend to adjust easily to team structures.

Question 73

You are a member of a team of eight individuals from the same department who meet for a few hours each week to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency, and the work environment. You are most likely a member of a self-managed work team.

Question 74

Virtual teams report less satisfaction with the group interaction process than do face-to-face teams.

Question 75

Janice is your director of sales. Since her team members are located in Europe, Asia, and North America, she has decided to use instant messaging to tie her team members together in order to develop a marketing strategy for a new product line. This is an example of a ________ team.

A) problem-solving
B) self-managed
C) cross-functional
D) virtual
E) task-resolution

Question 76

During an interview with one team member, you learn that several members of the team have had conflicts regarding the content of a task to which the team was recently assigned. Are these conflicts likely to be reducing the group's productivity?

A) Yes, because interpersonal conflicts always hurt a team's performance.
B) No, because conflicts based on personal animosity rarely affect team operations.
C) Yes, because task-related conflicts lead to poor team decisions.
D) No, because task-related conflicts usually benefit the performance of a team.
E) Yes, because disagreements about tasks usually lessen groupthink.

Question 77

Diversity is an asset for teams where tasks ________.

A) require a variety of viewpoints
B) are simple
C) involve emotional labor
D) are highly technical
E) required for completing the work are highly interdependent

Question 78

Work groups typically generate more positive synergy than do work teams.

Question 79

Your company has recently landed a contract to design and manufacture a new state-of-the-art electronic device for the military. This will be a very complex project, requiring many different types of skills. Which of the following types of teams is most suited for the project?

A) problem-solving
B) self-managed
C) cross-functional
D) virtual
E) task-resolution

Question 80

Teams are an effective means for management to democratize organizations and increase employee motivation.