BUS 520 Midterm and Final Exam Answers

Question Type: True/False

1. An essential criterion of a true team is that the members feel collectively

accountable for what they accomplish.

1. High-performance teams turn a general sense of purpose into specific

performance objectives.

1. Members of high-performance teams have the right mix of technical,

problem-solving, decision-making, and interpersonal skills.

1. High-performance teams have strong core values that help the team
members guide their attitudes and behaviors in directions consistent with
the teams purpose.

1. High-performance teams members focus on individual effort and

excellence.

1. Teamwork usually happens naturally in a group, without much effort on

the part of members and leaders.

1. Specific objectives provide a clear focus for solving problems and resolving
conflicts.
1. Team building is a sequence of planned activities designed to gather and
analyze data on the functioning of a group and to initiate changes
designed to improve teamwork and increase team effectiveness.

1. Team building is an effective way to deal with teamwork difficulties when

they occur or to help prevent them from occurring in the first place.

1. The first step in the team-building process is data gathering and analysis.

1. The second step in the team-building process occurs when members work
together in planning for team improvements.

1. The last step in the team-building process occurs when members work
together to evaluate the results.

1. The team building process is highly collaborative.

1. Team building in the formal retreat approach takes place in the firms
headquarters facility, typically over a weekend, when the building is quiet.

1. The formal retreat approach to team building offers opportunities for

intense and concentrated effort to examine group accomplishments and
operations.

1. The outdoor experience approach to team building places group members

in a variety of physically challenging situations that must be mastered
through teamwork, not through individual work.

1. In a continuous improvement approach to team building, the team

members commit themselves to monitoring group developments and
 accomplishments on an ongoing basis and making the day-to-day changes
needed to ensure team effectiveness.

1. In a continuous improvement approach to team building, the manager,

team leader, or group members themselves take responsibility for
regularly engaging in the team-building process.

1. Special problems relating to team processes may arise as more and more
jobs are turned over to teams and as more and more traditional
supervisors are being asked to function as team leaders.

1. Effective teams have no further need for leadership efforts, after team
building, to improve team processes.

1. Problems regarding participation, goals, control, relationships, and process

are likely to occur in a new team or when new members join existing
teams.

1. According to Schein, the friendly helper is insecure, suffering uncertainties

of intimacy and control.

1. In coping with the challenge of entering a team, tough battlers are those
individuals who are frustrated by a lack of identity in the new group and
who may act aggressively or reject authority.

1. In his studies of how people cope with the challenge of entering a team,
Edgar Schein labeled individuals who act in a passive, reflective, and even
single-minded manner while struggling with the fit between individual
goals and group directions as disruptive entrants.
1. Research in social psychology suggests that the achievement of sustained
high performance by groups requires that members task needs and
maintenance needs are met.
2. Distributed leadership is the sharing of responsibility, by all members, for
meeting individual needs.

1. Maintenance activities directly contribute to the performance of important

group tasks.

1. A role is a set of expectations associated with a job or position on a team.

2. Role ambiguity occurs when a person is uncertain about his or her role in a
job or on a team.
3. Role conflict occurs when someone is unable to meet the expectations of
others.

1. The norms of a group or team represent ideas or beliefs about how

members are expected to behave.

1. The performance norm conveys expectations about how hard group

members should work and what the team should accomplish.

1. A leader can establish positive norms within groups and teams by acting
as a positive role model, reinforcing and rewarding desired behaviors,
selecting members who can and will perform, and providing support and
training for members.

1. The statement on our team, people always try to work hard is an

example of a positive high-achievement norm.

1. The statement, People on this committee are good listeners and actively
seek out the ideas and opinions of others reinforces the negative support
and helpfulness norm.
1. Cohesiveness of a group or team is the degree to which group or team
members are attracted to and motivated to remain a part of the group or
team.

1. Generally, the more cohesive the group, the greater the conformity of
members to group norms.

1. In terms of team productivity, the best-case scenario of a work teams

performance norms and cohesiveness occurs with high performance
norms and high team cohesiveness.

1. From a managers perspective, the worst-case scenario of a work teams

performance norms and cohesiveness occurs with negative performance
norms and high team cohesiveness.

1. Team cohesiveness tends to be low when members are similar in age,

attitudes, needs, and backgrounds.

1. Group cohesiveness tends to decrease when groups are physically isolated

from others and when they experience performance success or crisis.

1. A key negative aspect of inter-team dynamics is that the members of each

team may divert energies toward their mutual animosities rather than on
the performance of important tasks.

1. A positive aspect of intergroup competition occurs when the members of

each group work harder, become more focused on key tasks, and develop
more internal loyalty.
1. Inter-team dynamics are relationships between groups cooperating and
competing with one another.

1. Decentralized communication networks create high levels of member

satisfaction and work best when team tasks are complex and non-routine.