Deck 3: Building and Developing the Team

Question 1

In the ___ stage of group development the team is mature.

Answer 1

performing

Question 2

The Team Scholar profiled in this chapter, Deborah Ancona, discussed her research on X-Teams. What is an X-Team? What are its characteristics? Why and when are X-Teams needed?

Answer 2

An X-Team is an externally active team. X-Teams are active across their boundaries. X-Team members engage in (1) scouting to keep their pulse on what is going on in the external environment, how technologies are changing, markets are shifting, and competitors are striking; (2) ambassadorship to align team activities to strategic priorities and to advocate for team goals; and (3) task coordination to manage the dependencies between the team and other groups that provide inputs or that will complete team tasks. X-Teams have fluid membership and move through three stages of activity. First, they explore the external environment and create the outside networks needed to connect to stakeholders. Second, they make sense of the information collected in phase one and then decide on what one thing they will focus on and how they wll get there. In other words, they exploit the work from the first phase and iterate to find a real solution. Third, they work to make sure that the product or solution that they produce is exported in a way that spreads the expertise and excitement from the team to others in the organization or the market.X-Teams are needed in dynamic, uncertain contexts where the expertise and information needed to complete the team task exist outside of the team. More and more teams fall into this category as we attempt to solve complex problems in organizations with shifting boundaries and global reach.

Question 3

Discuss factors that may influence optimal team size.

Answer 3

As discussed in the text, teams of five or seven members appear to be best for most purposes. As such, deviations from those sizes should be made only in the presence of compelling reasons. Reasons for smaller sizes might include a decision or task that isn't important enough to warrant broad team membership, or the lack of availability of five members. Reasons for larger size might include the need for broad representation, as in a task or decision where many people are affected, have political stakes, or must be involved in implementation. Further, it should be remembered that the size guidelines apply for traditional interacting groups. If techniques, such as the nominal group technique, are being used that restrict interaction, it may be possible to employ larger team sizes. Conversely, it may be possible to use structuring procedures or decision rules to minimize dysfunctions in smaller groups.

Question 4

Provide four guidelines for team management suggested by the chapter's discussion of norms.

Question 5

Specify four team sizes and describe the effects of each.

Question 6

What are the primary stages of team development? Briefly discuss each.

Question 7

Briefly discuss the steps in planning the team effort.

Question 8

Briefly discuss the steps in defining the team's assignment.

Question 9

Identify four self-oriented roles in teams.

Question 10

List and briefly discuss five guidelines relating to effective management of team-member roles.

Question 11

A long-time team member says, "This team has really changed recently. The ways we were expected to behave in the past just don't seem to apply anymore." What might have happened to change team norms?

Question 12

Beyond size ___, team management becomes much more difficult.

Question 13

One guideline for staffing a team is that, if you will not be leading the team, you should appoint a ___-oriented leader.

Question 14

Conflicting expectations cause ___.

Question 15

The various "hats" we wear in life are called ___.

Question 16

The smallest team is called a ___.

Question 17

Another name for team spirit is ___.

Question 18

Extremely high levels of team spirit, excitement, and energy characterize what have been called "___ groups."

Question 19

The stage of group development following the storming stage is the ___ stage.

Question 20

___ are shared expectations about how team members should behave.

Question 21

Norms may be prescriptive or ___.

Question 22

Role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload cause role ___.

Question 23

Harmonizers, compromisers, encouragers, and expediters are examples of which of the following sets of team-member roles?

A)self-oriented roles
B)balanced roles
C)relations-oriented roles
D)task-oriented roles
E)none of the above

Question 24

Which of the following is not a way to encourage ""hot groups""?

A)Make room for spontaneity.
B)Encourage intellectual exchange.
C)Use information technology to build relationships.
D)Value truth and the speaking of it.
E)None of the above.

Question 25

A team of researchers in nuclear engineering has been working together for more than12 years. Over time, they have developed into a high performing team that has made numerous breakthrough findings through their work. Each member of the team has settled into his/her own role and the team has matured to a point where it has a clear sense of its long-term vision. In addition, the team is able to self-manage itself for the most part. What should the team leader do now?

A)Facilitate a strategic planning session with the team.
B)Expand the size of the team.
C)Work to resolve disagreements that are lingering among team members.
D)Become less directly involved in the team's activities and help the team to manage itself.
E)Facilitate the development of group norms.

Question 26

It is appropriate to vary team membership across tasks, but not over the course of a particular task.

Question 27

Members in dyads tend to get to know each other well and thus to be comfortable.

Question 28

At General Electric, action forums are broadly inclusive corporate meetings that involve key players from management, the factory floor, and even outside suppliers and customers.

Question 29

Following Lance Armstrong's fall in the 2003 Tour de France his closest rival, Jan Ullrich, waited for him to remount rather than to speed ahead and gain precious seconds. This is given as an example of social presence effects.

Question 30

Depending on the goals of a team, increasing team cohesiveness may or may not foster the best interests of the organization.

Question 31

Control based on norms is sometimes called clan control.

Question 32

Defining the team's assignment involves specifying the team's purpose, responsibilities, and needs.

Question 33

Self-oriented roles are roles that members adopt for personal gain.

Question 34

In view of the strong benefits of five- or seven-member teams, other teams sizes should never be used.

Question 35

There are three primary stages of group development.

Question 36

In general, it is better to use a four-person team than a five-person team.

Question 37

One step in planning the team effort is dividing the team's overall assignment into parts.

Question 38

The manager of a newly formed cross-functional team is trying to get her team organized. The team is composed of individuals from marketing, engineering, finance, information technology and human resources. After taking some time to ""break the ice"" with her team members, she shifts her focus to the challenging task of defining the roles of the team members. Based on the guidelines for managing team roles, which of the following should the manager do?

A)Focus on defining task-oriented roles for each team member.
B)Define roles for the overall team, but not for individual members of the team.
C)Recognize that role ambiguity and role conflict are an inherent part of the process and must be accepted.
D)Let the team members decide what their roles will be without any involvement from the leader.
E)Understand the roles you must play as a leader -- and the roles you need not play.

Question 39

GE Plastics, a division of General Electric Company, acquired rival company Borg-Warner Chemicals and faced the task of integrating two very work cultures. The ""Share to Gain"" project was started in order to develop:

A)team spirit
B)power of GE Plastics relative to that of Borg-Warner Chemicals
C)integrated computer systems
D)short-term profitability
E)tolerance for ambiguity

Question 40

Which of the following would not tend to build team cohesiveness?

A)make it attractive to be a member of the team
B)keep the team small
C)praise and publicize team accomplishments
D)identify and communicate outside threats and pressures
E)none of the above

Question 41

In which stage of group development do members become more assertive in their roles, and their personalities begin to become clearer?

A)performing
B)storming
C)norming
D)adjourning
E)forming

Question 42

In which stage of group development have conflicts largely been resolved, the team become more cohesive, and members settled into their roles?

A)norming
B)storming
C)forming
D)performing
E)adjourning

Question 43

The two sets of roles that are vital if a team is to be effective on a continuing basis are:

A)task-oriented and relations-oriented
B)self-oriented and task-oriented
C)self-oriented and other-oriented
D)relations-oriented and self-oriented
E)none of the above

Question 44

Which of the following is a relations-oriented role?

A)initiator
B)dominator
C)avoider
D)encourager
E)information seeker

Question 45

The team size associated with either one member being unhappy or coalitions constantly having to shift is the:

A)four-person team
B)dyad
C)triad
D)five person team
E)six person team

Question 46

The Ryder Cup "Teams in the News" example illustrated the benefits of having a team leader choose top players and then "just get out of the way."

Question 47

In dyads, members give opinions but are reluctant to ask for opinions.