Exam 9: Foundations of Group Behavior

Aaron Dias was working on the last shift for the day at All Needs, a retail store owned by an Asian man, when he opened the cash register and stole some money thinking that nobody would witness him stealing. However, one of the customers watched him steal the money and reported it to the manager the next day, and Aaron was terminated. Subsequently, the manager became extremely strict with all his Caucasian employees and was often heard abusing them by saying, "You guys are all the same." This scenario depicts ________.

The popular thinking is that to increase creativity in groups, for instance, norms should be loosened. However, research on gender-diverse groups indicates that strong political correctness (P.C.) norms increase group creativity.

Our tendency to take personal pride or offense for the accomplishments of a group we are a part of is the territory of the ________ theory.

The chief advantage of the nominal group technique is that it permits the group to meet formally but does not restrict independent thinking, as does the interacting group.

An individual's personal characteristics, like good looks or friendly personality, represent one of the dimensions of the status characteristics theory.

Ingroups and outgroups pave the way for social identity threat.

Norms can cover any aspect of group behavior.

Hubert Gray needs an instruction manual developed for his new product. This is the last step of the project and he has severe budget constraints. He needs a small team of technical writers to work together closely to write the manual on fairly short notice. He needs them to communicate ideas quickly, creatively, and affordably. Which of the following group techniques should Hubert consider?

ICE is a non-profit organization that runs awareness campaigns and research programs that provide data to initiate the process of legislative changes on various aspects of the environment like forest cover, nuclear fuel, endangered species and others. The ICE operates through networks of grass-root level researchers who are grouped into flexible project teams whose roles and duties change with each new project. The ICE believes its employees to be like family, and an informal environment pervades its functioning without any compromises being made in the efficiency. Recently, the project manager of the rainwater harvesting pilot project in the suburbs has been informed of two delays in the project. When the third extension request came to him, he looked into the matter by speaking individually with the five team members. Which of the following complaints by the team members, if true, would indicate the presence of social loafing in the team?

Tabby Tolman is a project coordinator at Tristar Solutions. Whenever a new project comes her way, she holds a project meeting and follows it up with repeated meetings to address any concerns the team members may have and to monitor their progress. However, with the peak of the business season arriving, she has been holding just one project initiation meeting for every project to save on time. She has become increasingly worried about the team's progress with no inputs coming from the members, and she has had no time to check with them. With two weeks left to go for a high priority project of a month's duration, she has now begun to see some work coming through and is relieved. This development reflects that the group is at the stage of ________.

________ refers to the adjustment of one's behavior to align with the norms of the group.

High-status individuals may be more likely to deviate from norms when they have low identification (social identity) with the group.

When compared to individual decision making, group decision making has a disadvantage in the area of ________.

A group decision-making method in which individual members meet face-to-face to pool their judgments in a systematic but independent fashion is the ________ technique.

Joe Sullivan and Mark Holland, members of the top management at EuAir, an European airlines, were preparing for a meeting to discuss strategies to combat the recent rise in fuel prices. Before the meeting began, Joe and Mark were discussing how oil prices significantly impact the health of the world economy. Joe spoke of how higher oil prices since 1999, partly the result of OPEC supply management policies, contributed to the global economic downturn in 2000-2001. Mark agreed but added that the right kind of strategy could help them overcome this challenge, and that they could even use the situation to hike fares and generate additional revenues. Which of the following statements, if true, would denote the occurrence of groupshift in Joe's opinions during the meeting?

________ is when we connect with the aggregate characteristics of our groups.

Studies show that groups tend to experience a transition precisely halfway between a first meeting and the official deadline.

According to the status characteristics theory, what are the three sources of status?

Michael is devout and very active in his church. He is also a very dedicated employee. His manager offers him a promotion, but the new role will require him to work Sundays. Michael would like the promotion but realizes that it would force him to miss some church activities. In this situation, Michael is most likely to experience ________.

Groupthink is most commonly seen in the group decision-making approach using ________.