Exam 10: Understanding Groups and Teams

Refer to the Scenario below to answer the questions that follow. King Midas (Scenario) King Midas Manufacturing Co.has been utilizing groups to improve the manufacturing process,product design and packaging,vendor selection,quality control,and other organizational tasks.The groups have been starting and stopping for the last three years.Some of the most successful groups were together for only a few months,while others have been together for over a year with little success to date.Management has requested your consulting expertise in determining why there were varied successes and failures. Your analysis indicates that the stage of group development is part of the explanation for the diverse results.For example,Group 348 has been meeting for one month and still having some difficulty establishing a leader.At least three individuals are qualified to keep the group focused on its objectives,but they are still undecided about who should lead. Group 174 has been meeting for about two years and has nearly completed its task.They have only one more print to distribute to engineering for final consideration before prototype production can begin on the latest model of product S.Only four of the original nine members remain,and the group is winding down. Group 830 has been meeting for 11 months and is finding it difficult to get all 10 members together at one time.Several of the middle-level managers have been promoted and transferred to other functional areas or to other facilities of the company.To date,the group has had 18 members at one time or another to fill the 10 positions allocated by management and,as a result,has not yet started to focus on its objectives. On the other hand,Group 458 has been meeting for two months and seems to be progressing extremely well.You attended a meeting and observed that the group starts by chatting for about five minutes,then moves to the meeting area and begins reviewing the decisions of the last meeting.Then,Group 458 gets down to new business,focusing on their objectives and determining new assignments before concluding and returning to their functional job duties. Finally,Group 791 has been meeting for four months and appears to have close relationships between its members,considerable cohesiveness,and a focus on its objectives. -Group 791 is at the ________ stage.

Refer to the Scenario below to answer the questions that follow. The Retreat (Scenario) The first-line managers were sent on a retreat to Niagara Falls for their inaugural strategic planning meeting.Few people knew each other,but their task was clear: design a new performance appraisal system for subordinates that would be effective and usable.Their years of complaining about the old system had dumped this new responsibility 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. -The group was in the ________ stage when they were competing to see who would lead the group.

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

Some organizational tasks are better done individually than in a team or group.

If cohesiveness is ________ and goals are ________,productivity decreases.

Paul is used to leading the academic teams he is part of at school.In his current team,he is being an excellent follower and has helped behind the scenes with a few conflicts.He is filling which role?

________ teams use technology to link physically dispersed members to achieve a common goal.

Someone that loves brainstorming is an example of a ________.

Roles are acceptable standards shared by a group's members.

________ teams are involved in efforts to improve work activities or to solve specific problems within a particular department or functional area of a company.

Refer to the Scenario below to answer the question that follows. The New Professor (Scenario) Dan Powell recently received a Ph.D.and has begun teaching at a large university.Prior to his first day of class,Dan's department head met with him to discuss the department's expectations and standards regarding classroom discipline,course rigour,and grading.Later that week Dan met with other professors in a faculty meeting.During that meeting,a number of issues were discussed,and although Dan did not agree with all of them,he did not feel comfortable expressing his position because he was a new assistant professor and the others were more senior.However,in watching the reactions of other professors,he got the feeling that some of them disagreed with a few issues too,but did not want to say anything because doing so might be disruptive. -Midway through his first semester,one of the teams in Dan's class came to him with a problem.Of the four team members,all of them were doing their jobs except Stacey.The group had agreed to have Stacey as a member since they all knew she had a high GPA and worked hard on all of her individual assignments.However,as a team member,the group agreed that they were not getting Stacey's best efforts.They felt like she was not working as hard as a group member as she would as an individual.Dan quickly diagnosed the problem as ________.

The willingness of effective team members to do anything that has to be done to help the team succeed is known as ________.

When the forming stage is complete,there will be a relatively clear hierarchy of leadership within the group and agreement on the group's direction.

Discuss how to decide whether or not to use teams.

Which of the following is good advice for a team leader that is trying to increase group cohesiveness?

________ is the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually.

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

In a global team,team members should guard against ________,which can be a source of discord and resentment among team members.

Bill is a new manager in a department with four established managers.Bob may determine what behaviours are expected of him in which of the following ways?

Refer to the Scenario below to answer the questions that follow. The Retreat (Scenario) The first-line managers were sent on a retreat to Niagara Falls for their inaugural strategic planning meeting.Few people knew each other,but their task was clear: design a new performance appraisal system for subordinates that would be effective and usable.Their years of complaining about the old system had dumped this new responsibility 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. -In the third and fourth days of the retreat,the managers were in the ________ stage of group development.