Deck 12: Informal and Formal Groups

Question 1

The effectiveness of a meeting can be enhanced by balancing serious discussions with a bit of lighthearted fun.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Informal organizations arise spontaneously as people associate with one another.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Devil's advocates are guardians of clear and moral thinking and can help the group immeasurably by providing it with a stream of constructive criticism.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

When a group reaches a crisis in its surface agenda,hidden agendas come to life.

Question 5

A benefit of the informal organization that is seldom recognized is that its presence encourages managers to plan and act more carefully than they would otherwise.

Question 6

Electronic brainstorming is a more convenient process,but it generates fewer ideas than the traditional brainstorming process.

Question 7

A significant benefit of the informal organization is that it gives satisfaction and stability to work groups.

Question 8

When quick,decisive action is necessary,an individual approach is more effective than a group.

Question 9

The informal organization should be strong enough to be supportive,but not strong enough to dominate.

Question 10

The goal of all committees is to facilitate prompt decision making.

Question 11

The properties of groups are the same as the properties of the individuals who make up the group.

Question 12

The informal organization is a desirable source of potential formal leaders.

Question 13

Informal groups are always subject to management's direct control.

Question 14

A committee is a specific type of group in which members who have been given the authority to handle the problem at hand meet one or more times to address and resolve it.

Question 15

Checking for consensus is an example of a task leadership role.

Question 16

Some face-to-face decision-making groups converge too quickly on one alternative while overlooking others.

Question 17

A manager holds either formal power or informal power,but not both.

Question 18

The purpose of deferred judgment is to separate idea evaluation from idea censorship.

Question 19

The formal leader often engages in behaviors that help build and sustain the informal group's level of cohesiveness.

Question 20

Adapting too quickly to change is a major problem with informal organizations.

Question 21

A task leader can help a group accomplish its objectives and stay on target during a meeting by doing all of the following EXCEPT:

A) stating the problem.
B) checking for agreement.
C) pushing too hard for a decision.
D) periodically summarizing the progress being made.

Question 22

Cohesiveness is indicated by all of the following EXCEPT:

A) how strongly the employees stick together.
B) how much the employees rely on each other.
C) individual desire to remain a member of the group.
D) how the organizational goals influence the employee's personal goals.

Question 23

_____ is the process by which all ideas,even unusual and impractical ones,are encouraged without criticism or evaluation.

A) Consensus
B) Social facilitation
C) Deferred Judgment
D) Social loafing

Question 24

Informal groups generally emerge at work on the basis of all of the following EXCEPT:

A) common interests.
B) organizational goals.
C) proximity.
D) friendships.

Question 25

An informal leader:

A) normally emerges from outside the informal group.
B) often engages in behaviors that sustain the group's cohesiveness.
C) has limited power and does not work on complex tasks.
D) makes the best formal manager.

Question 26

One of the main principles of brainstorming is _____.

A) egocentrism
B) social loafing
C) deferred judgment
D) social facilitation

Question 27

In the context of influencing informal organizations,which of the following is a valid management guideline for action?

A) Ignore the effects on informal systems when taking any kind of action.
B) Keep formal activities from unnecessarily threatening informal organizations.
C) Avoid integrating the interests of informal groups with those of the formal organization.
D) Ensure that the informal organization is strong enough to dominate.

Question 28

The official task of a group is known as the _____.

A) social norm
B) hidden agenda
C) surface agenda
D) group consensus

Question 29

Which of the following is a task role?

A) Checking for consensus
B) Supporting the contributions of members
C) Facilitating participation of all members
D) Evaluating the group's effectiveness

Question 30

A _____ is a specific type of group in which members who have been delegated the authority to handle the problem at hand meet one or more times to address and resolve it.

A) committee
B) sect
C) social network
D) nominal group

Question 31

_____ are informal organization charts that usually focus on either interpersonal feelings expressed among individuals or actual behaviors exhibited.

A) Network charts
B) Gantt charts
C) Matrices
D) Scatter plots

Question 32

Informal power attaches to a(n)_____.

A) institution
B) position
C) person
D) all of the above

Question 33

Which of the following is NOT a recommended practice for participants in a brainstorming session?

A) Generating as many ideas as possible.
B) Being creative, freewheeling, and imaginative.
C) Criticizing others' ideas.
D) Building upon, extending, or combining earlier ideas.

Question 34

Which of the following statements is true of employees willing to be informal leaders?

A) Some employees feel that informal leadership is a form of job enrichment and adds variety.
B) Many employees find informal leadership as a means of fulfilling security needs.
C) Employees who become informal leaders make the best formal managers.
D) Employees who are introverts prefer informal leadership as it seldom requires them to socialize.

Question 35

Determining patterns of behaviors in informal systems can be done by:

A) observing interactions personally.
B) collecting data on communication patterns.
C) directly asking individuals involved.
D) all of the above.

Question 36

In an informal organization,workers may embrace a set of _____ different from those the organization expects of them.

A) attitudes
B) beliefs
C) sentiments
D) all of the above

Question 37

Which of the following is a way to increase cohesiveness?

A) Selecting members with completely different attitudes, backgrounds, and values
B) Providing opportunities for frequent interactions among members
C) Eliminating competitions against other groups
D) Ignoring major threats or common enemies of the group

Question 38

Which of the following statements is true about the factors of effective committees?

A) When selecting members of the committees, leaders merely need to consider the members' interest level.
B) The primary role of the task leader is to sense the mood of the group and help members become aware of it.
C) Leaders of committees lack the power and opportunity to select committee members.
D) A group of five members is often preferred for typical situations.

Question 39

Which of the following is a potential benefit of an informal organization?

A) It implements organizational changes without resistance.
B) It completely discourages negative attitudes.
C) It avoids interpersonal and intergroup conflicts.
D) It provides a safety valve for employee emotions.

Question 40

Which of the following statements is true about power in an informal organization?

A) It is delegated by managers.
B) It strictly follows the official chain of command.
C) It is likely to come from superiors in the formal hierarchy than from peers.
D) It is usually more unstable than formal authority.

Question 41

The dialectic decision process begins with:

A) a devil's advocate questioning others' ideas.
B) identifying the explicit or implicit assumptions.
C) a clear statement of a problem to be solved.
D) creating a subgroup and empowering it to make a decision.

Question 42

List the merits of the Delphi decision process.

Question 43

Which of the following statements is true of the potential outcomes of formal group processes?

A) Group members are least stimulated by the presence of other people around them.
B) Groups have lesser capacity than an individual to examine suggestions and reject the incorrect ones.
C) Participation increases the likelihood of each member's developing new interactive skills.
D) All of the above

Question 44

What are the roles of a task leader?

Question 45

Identify the problems that are associated with the informal organization.

Question 46

Which of the following is NOT an advantage of the nominal group technique?

A) Opportunity for equal participation by all members
B) Absence of domination by a single member
C) Tight control of time
D) High feelings of cohesiveness

Question 47

How is power assigned in an informal organization?

Question 48

_____ involves setting aside several minutes at the end of a meeting to examine what went well,what went poorly,and how the group's behavior could be improved in future sessions.

A) Facilitating
B) Processing
C) Polarization
D) Stimulation

Question 49

Explain the role of facilitators in a group meeting.

Question 50

In the _____,members are selected because they are experts or have relevant information to share and the time available to do so.

A) Delphi decision-making process
B) dialectic decision-making process
C) program evaluation and review technique
D) critical path method

Question 51

Which of the following does NOT help in reaching a consensus?

A) Conducting a straw poll to identify where people stand
B) Asking members to withdraw controversial proposals
C) Moving dissenting members to a subgroup and not involving them
D) Expediting closing of discussion through use of a "go-round" or "fishbowl"

Question 52

_____ is the process of helping a group attain resounding success,maximize its efficient use of time,and feel satisfied with its efforts.

A) Facilitation
B) Expediting
C) Conformity
D) Consensus

Question 53

How does a group's size tend to affect the way it works?

Question 54

List the four guidelines around which brainstorming is built.What are the limitations of brainstorming?

Question 55

Explain the role of a devil's advocate in reducing groupthink.

Question 56

How is an informal leader selected? Explain the role of an informal leader.

Question 57

_____ means group members are alert to the perceived expectations and norms of the majority,and make conscious or unconscious efforts to adapt to them.

A) Consensus
B) Conformity
C) Polarization
D) Cohesiveness

Question 58

Explain the concept of escalating commitment which is a possible weakness of a committee.

Question 59

_____ is the behavioral affliction that is defined as the temptation to be overly influenced by how the problem was presented.

A) Linearity bias
B) Framing bias
C) Egocentrism
D) Anti-statistical bias

Question 60

The alternative behavior that is in contrast to groupthink is _____.

A) devil's advocate
B) social loafing
C) polarization
D) commitment