Exam 15: Managing Groups and Teams

Since effective teams are continually making adjustments as to who does what, team members require good __________ skills.

On a baseball team, a shortstop who "raises his fist" as a signal indicating he will cover second base in the event of an attempted steal, is exhibiting what characteristic of effective teams?

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. The Retreat (Scenario) The first-line managers were sent on a retreat to Niagara Falls for their inaugural strategic planning meeting. Few people knew one another, 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 wrestle 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 sense of regret at having to break up the group and return to normal work life. -When the management team left Niagara Falls to return to their normal jobs, they had just completed the __________ stage of team development.

The human relations view of conflict held that conflict must be avoided because it indicates a problem within the group.

The intent of many team-building exercises is to ____________.

In which of the following conflict resolution techniques are conflicts resolved by seeking an advantageous solution for all the parties involved?

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Conflicting Opinions (Scenario) The two vice-presidents were in a heated debate. Celine believed that the company's traditional marketing strategy was no longer effective at attracting new customers, and that loyal customers would stay regardless. So, she proposed an aggressive new marketing promotion to "spice things up a bit" and target new customers. Merle strongly disagreed. He felt the company was doing fine and was concerned that an aggressive new approach might scare away loyal customers without any guarantee of gaining new customers. Regardless of who was right, their battle was causing a stir in the organization. Some felt that a conflict such as this hurt the company and made it appear weak to employees and shareholders. Others felt that a conflict over marketing strategies was bound to occur eventually, and that it may even help the company. Still others even encouraged such conflict and felt it was absolutely necessary in order to achieve the best outcome. -Those in the company who encourage the conflict over the marketing strategy have a(n) __________ view of conflict.

A strong sense of group identity and camaraderie develop in the __________ stage of team development.

Once a work group has been formed, its operation is not affected by external conditions.

The view that conflict can be a positive force in an organization and that some conflict is absolutely necessary for an organization to perform effectively is known as the __________ view.

Command groups, cross-functional teams, self-managed teams, and task forces are all examples of informal groups.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. The Retreat (Scenario) The first-line managers were sent on a retreat to Niagara Falls for their inaugural strategic planning meeting. Few people knew one another, 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 wrestle 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 sense of regret at having to break up the group and return to normal work life. -The group was in the __________ stage when they were competing to see who would lead the group.

Juan is encouraging some of the quieter team members to express their thoughts about the new proposal. Juan is performing a(n) group member __________ role.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Teams at Strato Engineering (Scenario) Strato Engineering, a technology product company, recently organized Team 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-dollar 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. Team 2 has also been recently established to solve a 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. They operate without a manager and no one in particular is the leader. It is anticipated that it will require about two days to solve the problem. Team 3 has been working together for 4 years implementing modifications to the company's current model CVF-C) It is composed of members in the areas of procurement, engineering and production, and also includes several vendors and Strato Engineering customers' procurement agents. None of the members of this team are at the same location. They use a sophisticated computer-aided design program to view the product onscreen in three-dimensional form at each location simultaneously. At the Oshawa facility, 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. -Team 1 is a __________ team.

Research has shown that highly cohesive groups are always more productive than less cohesive ones.

Which of the following best describes the group's internal characteristics at very low levels of conflict?

The interactionist view of conflict holds that some conflict is absolutely necessary for effective group performance.

Bringing together organizational members from marketing, accounting, human resources, and finance to work on a task would be an example of a(n) __________ team.

Which conflict resolution technique involves high levels of both cooperativeness and assertiveness?

Studies demonstrate that __________ conflicts are almost always dysfunctional.