Exam 10: Managing Teams

_____ is the degree to which workers in a team have the discretion, freedom, and independence to decide how and when to accomplish their jobs.

Social loafing occurs when:

Wesellyoubuy, a consumer electronics company, received consumer complaints about its employees not being able to communicate with consumers properly. After investigating the prime reason behind these complaints, the management found that the consumer service employees were following the same strategy to address all types of consumer issues. The management immediately started a new training program for the consumer service employees where they were trained to respond to every possible query a consumer might have. Eventually, their service ratings and sales showed improvement. In this scenario, the consumer service team improved _____.

In the context of autonomy, unlike semi-autonomous work groups, employee involvement teams:

Mary's company trained her to perform managerial functions, formulate innovative strategies, and also solve technical issues. Given this information, it is likely that Mary's company provided her _____.

Vrenbrem Inc. is a multinational investment company that primarily provides finances to medium-sized enterprises. It also finances smaller start-ups that do not have adequate funding. The company has to work with a diverse clientele and has teams that are trained to handle every situation. The company provides cross-training to its teams to ensure a certain level of understanding of each member's roles. In this case, Vrenbrem is trying to increase _____.

EmployIT is a newly established recruitment company. It does not have adequate funds to rent out an office space for its employees so all the employees work from home. The employees communicate with each other through email and a third party video chat and voice call application. This scenario illustrates that the employees are part of a(n) _____.

John, a product manager, ensures that his team has regular meetings and no team member is absent during the meetings. He also ensures that all the members of his team work together in all the projects the company receives. John has modified the workplace accordingly to facilitate teamwork. In this scenario, John is attempting to increase his team's _____.

EDRright is a multinational company that primarily provides course materials for some of the largest schools and universities in the world. The work is intellectually taxing, and it involves high-stress situations. The company forms teams and provides cross-training. The company also ensures that every member has a specific role to play and feels valued to be a part of the team. In this case, EDRright is trying to increase _____.

Kinlin Corp. has a very high attrition rate, and the management is forced to transfer employees from one department to another to ensure smooth functioning of the departments. In order to ensure that no work is interrupted when members leave a department, the management should provide _____ to the members.

Self-managing teams are different from semi-autonomous work groups in that team members:

If employees can work effectively on their own, they can always work effectively in teams.

James is a manager at Grecker, a leading publishing house. The company is approached by a client who wants to publish his book in six different languages and wants the first 100 copies of the book published in 30 days. James formed a team that would work on this publishing project. He puts Mark in charge of translation. After three weeks, all the other team members finished their share of work except Mark. Mark had been procrastinating and had not completed his work. As a result, the project was indefinitely delayed. In this scenario, Mark's actions exemplify _____.

All the members of the sales team at Arkema are new hires. The team members need to work together to ensure that clients' requirements are fulfilled and weekly targets set by the company are adequately met. However, the team members are often involved in minor arguments and find it difficult to work with each other. In which of the following stages of team development is this team most likely to resolve petty differences among its members?

Which of the following is most likely a result of minority domination?

Gainsharing works best in unstable environments where employees are required to learn additional skills or knowledge.

Which of the following is true of employee involvement teams?

A team of scientists is assembled to conduct research on a new source of renewable energy. Research and development will continue for one year after which the team will be disbanded. This team is an example of a(n) _____.

Oromyx Inc., a manufacturer of home appliances, received consumer complaints about its product demonstration and installation services. The management ordered an investigation to determine the reasons behind these complaints. It was then found that the employees that were hired to demonstrate and install the appliances lacked hands-on experience with the appliances they were selling. The management immediately started a training program for the employees to get them better accustomed to the appliances. Eventually, their service ratings and sales showed improvement. In this scenario, the work team improved _____.

The product development team at Arkelea Tech. has the highest productivity in the company. The team synergy is high, and team members take joint responsibility for the execution and completion of tasks. The members of Arkelea's product development team are in the _____ of team development.