Exam 13: Managing Teams

In a short essay, discuss the management of global teams as it relates to group structure.

Which of the following statements about groups is true?

The Retreat The first-line managers were sent on a retreat to the Blue Mountains outside Sydney for their inaugural strategic planning retreat.Few people knew each other, but their task was clear: design a new performance appraisal system for subordinates that will be effective and usable.Their years of complaining about the old system had landed them with this new responsibility dumped right in their lap.They had four days to become brilliant, and everyone was a little on edge.The first day, little was accomplished except for the jockeying to see who would be the official leader.Finally, Jim seemed to wrangle control and helped provide the first real direction for the group.By the second day the group seemed to begin working well.They spent the morning deciding how they would make decisions within the group and how to manage the idea-generation process.The third and fourth days saw the new managers move amazingly quickly, with ideas flowing freely.By the end of the fourth day, they had a workable system developed and they felt satisfied.That night they all signed the new document to be presented to the regional manager the next day.They all felt a twinge of regret at having to break up the group and return to normal work life. -Refer to The Retreat (Scenario).In the third and fourth days of the retreat, the managers were in the ________ stage of group development.

Conflicting Opinions The two vice presidents were in heated debate.Deb feels that the old traditional form of marketing their company isn't working anymore and that loyal customers would stay regardless.She feels the company needs to 'spice it up a bit' and go after new market share.Ian strongly disagrees.He feels the company is doing fine; they have a good base of loyal customers and new aggressive approaches may lose them without any guarantee of gaining new customers.Regardless of who is right, their battle was causing a stir in the organisation.Some felt that conflict like this hurt the company and made it appear weak to employees and stockholders.Others felt that this conflict over marketing strategies was bound to occur eventually and may even help the company.Still others even encouraged the conflict, thinking it kept the company from getting stuck. -Refer to Conflicting Opinions (Scenario).Conflict that supports the organisation's goals is considered ________.

Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the textbook as a conflict-resolution option?

Strato Engineering Recently Strato Engineering, a technology product company, began the use of four different teams.One team aims (1)to develop the next generation of the company's model CVF-D.The team is composed of the product development manager, chief engineer, director of procurement, human resource director-technology, marketing research director, cost analysis director, operations director-production and the four highest sales project vendors.The preliminary projection for the lifetime of the team to prototype-production is expected to be two years due to the level of technology involved in the product.Another team (2)has also been established recently to solve a new problem with an adhesive used to attach a thin-foil material to a finished metal surface.There are three members in this team: installer, engineer and sales representative for the adhesive manufacturer, and no one particular leader.It is anticipated that it will require about two days to solve the problem.Another team (3)has been working together for four years implementing modifications to the company's current model CVF-C.It is composed of members in the areas of procurement, engineering, production, major vendors and Strato Engineering customers' procurement agents.None of the members of this team are at the same location.They utilise a variety of graphic-electronic technologies to view the product onscreen in three-dimension at each location simultaneously.At the Adelaide facility, a team (4)has been formed to stamp a new part.It requires four members and they rotate jobs every two hours.Before beginning the workday, they meet for about 10 minutes and discuss the work that needs to be completed that day.The team makes most of the day-to-day decisions about their work responsibilities. -Refer to Strato Engineering (Scenario).The team (2)that is working on the adhesive problem is a ________ team.

Conflicting Opinions The two vice presidents were in heated debate.Deb feels that the old traditional form of marketing their company isn't working anymore and that loyal customers would stay regardless.She feels the company needs to 'spice it up a bit' and go after new market share.Ian strongly disagrees.He feels the company is doing fine; they have a good base of loyal customers and new aggressive approaches may lose them without any guarantee of gaining new customers.Regardless of who is right, their battle was causing a stir in the organisation.Some felt that conflict like this hurt the company and made it appear weak to employees and stockholders.Others felt that this conflict over marketing strategies was bound to occur eventually and may even help the company.Still others even encouraged the conflict, thinking it kept the company from getting stuck. -Refer to Conflicting Opinions (Scenario).Those in the company who view the conflict over the marketing strategy as bad and harmful have a ________ view of conflict.

All of the following have a negative effect on productivity and morale of groups EXCEPT ________.

According to the group behaviour model presented in your textbook, group size is an example of what factor of group determination of effectiveness?

Groupthink is a form of group conformity in which group members withhold deviant, minority or unpopular views in order to give the appearance of agreement.

Which of the following would be considered a FORMAL group?

Your textbook suggests that groups with approximately ________ members will be most effective at decision making.

Individual characteristics of the person may influence their status within the group.

If an organisation relies on a global electronically-communicating network of more than 50 individuals from 22 countries and these freelancers and their skills are brought in as needed on various projects, you would have a ________ team?

An advantage of group decisions is that they increase acceptance of a solution.

In a short essay, explain the difference between the assumptions of the traditional, human relations view and interactionist views of conflict.

The degree to which members are attracted to a group and share the group's goals is referred to as ________.

Group behaviour is ________.

What stage of group development follows norming?

Effective team leaders are increasingly taking the role of coach and facilitator.