Chapter 8 Team Dynamics

Question 1

Teams

Answer 1

Groups of two or more people who interact and influence each other, are mutually accountable for achieving common goals associated with organizational objectives, and perceive themselves as a social entity within an organization.

Question 2

3 Characteristics of teams

Answer 2

1) team permanence
2) skill diversity
3) authority dispersion

Question 3

why do informal groups exist?

Answer 3

1) People are social animals and have a drive for bond.
2) Social identity theory states that our group affiliations define us as individuals
3) We join groups because we can accomplish more as a group than as individuas
4) we are comforted by the mere presence of other people and are therefore motivated to be near them in stressful situations

Question 4

Social Networks

Answer 4

Social structures of individuals or social units that are connected to each other through one or more forms of interdependence.

Question 5

Teams generate 3 motivating forces

Answer 5

1) employees have a drive to bond and are motivated to fulfil the goals of groups to which they belong. This felt obligation is particularly strong when the employee’s social identity is connected to the team
2) employees have high accountability to fellow team members, who monitor performance more closely than a traditional supervisor
3) each team member creates a moving performance standard for the others

Question 6

Process losses

Answer 6

Resources (including time and energy) expended toward team devel- opment and maintenance rather than the task.

Question 7

Brooks’s Law

Answer 7

The principle that adding more people to a late software project only makes it later.

Question 8

Social loafing

Answer 8

The problem that occurs when people exert less effort (and usually perform at a lower level) when working in teams than when working alone.

Question 9

Reasons for social loafing

Answer 9

1) It is more likely to occur when individual performance is hidden or difficult to distinguish from the performance of other team members
2) social loafing is more common when the work is boring or the team’s overall task has low task significance
3) social loafing is more prevalent among team members with low conscientiousness and low agreeableness personality traits, as well as low collectivist values.
4)Social loafing is more widespread when employees lack motivation to help the team achieve its goals. Lack of motivation also occurs when employees believe other team members aren’t pulling their weight

Question 10

Ways to reduce social loafing

Answer 10

1) form smaller teams
2) measure individual performance
3) specialize tasks
4) increase job enrichment
5) Increase mindfulness of team obligations
6) select motivated team oriented employees

Question 11

3 key features of team effectiveness

Answer 11

1) teams exist to serve some organizational purpose, so effectiveness is partly measured by the achievement of that objective
2) a team’s effectiveness relies on the satis- faction and well-being of its members
3)

Question 12

Team effectiveness Model

Answer 12

1) Organization and Team Environment
2) Task Design
3) Team processes
4) Team effectiveness

Question 13

Task interdependence

Answer 13

The extent to which employees must share materials, information, or expertise with others to perform their jobs.
High task interdependence also motivates most people to be part of the team and to coordinate with each other.

Question 14

Levels of Task Interdependence

Answer 14

1) Pooled Interdependence (Not very)
2) Sequential Interdependence
3) Reciprocal Interdependence (very much)

Question 15

Team Composition 5 C’s Model

Answer 15

1) Cooperating
2) Coordinating
3) Communicating
4) Comforting
5) Conflict resolving

Question 16

Homogenous teams

Answer 16

members of homogeneous teams experience higher satisfaction, less conflict, and better interpersonal relations. As a result, homogeneous teams tend to be more effective on tasks requiring a high degree of cooperation and coordination, such as emergency response teams
the opposite is diverse teams

Question 17

Team Processes

Answer 17

cognitive and emotional dynamics of the team that continually change with the team’s ongoing evolution and development
includes team development, norms, roles, cohesion, trust, and team mental models

Question 18

Team Development Stages

Answer 18

1) Forming
2) Storming
3) Norming
4) Performing
5) Adjourning

Question 19

Norms

Answer 19

The informal rules and shared expectations that groups establish to regulate the behaviour of their members.

Question 20

Role

Answer 20

A set of behaviours that people are expected to perform because they hold specific formal or informal positions in a team and organization.

Question 21

6 of most important influences on team cohesion

Answer 21

1) Member Similarity: A well-established research find-
ing is that we are attracted more to co-workers who are similar to us
2) Team Size: Smaller teams tend to have more cohesion than larger teams
3) Member Interaction: Teams tend to have more cohesion when their members interact with one another fairly regularly
4) Somewhat difficult entry. Teams tend to have more cohesion when entry to the team is restricted. The more elite the team, the more prestige it confers on its members, and the more they tend to value their membership in the unit.
5) Team success. Team cohesion increases with the team’s success because people are attracted to groups that fulfil their needs and goals
6) External competition and challenges. Teams tend to have more cohesion when they face external competition or a challenging objective that is important to them

Question 22

Conditions on which team cohesion and team performance depend on

Answer 22

1) team cohesion has less effect on team performance when the team has low task interdependence
2) the effect of cohesion on team performance depends on whether the team’s norms are aligned or conflict with organizational objectives

Question 23

Hierarchy of trust foundations

Answer 23

1) Calculus based: logically assumed trust
2) Knowledge based: not based on past experience but on trust in their competence, i.e. trust in a physician
3) Identification based trust: highest level of trust that is established after creating a mutual understanding and an emotional bond. It increases with a person’s social identity with the team

Question 24

Mental Models

Answer 24

Knowledge structures that we develop to describe, explain, and predict the world around us.

Question 25

Team Mental Models

Answer 25

are cognitive images that team members form about the team’s tasks, relationship dynamics, and knowledge repository

Question 26

Team building

Answer 26

improve team performance through speeding up or improving team development processes
1) task focused interventions
2) improving problem solving skills
3) clarifying role perceptions
4) improving interpersonal relations and becoming a more cohesive team

Question 27

Self Directed Teams

Answer 27

Cross-functional work groups that are organized around work processes, complete an entire piece of work requiring several inter- dependent tasks, and have substantial autonomy over the execution of those tasks

Question 28

Remote Teams

Answer 28

Teams whose members operate across space, time, and organizational boundaries and are linked through information technologies to achieve organizational tasks.

Question 29

4 most common problems with team decision making

Answer 29

1) Time Constraints
2) Evaluation Apprehension
3) Pressure to conform
4) Over confidence

Question 30

Production Blocking

Answer 30

A time constraint in team decision making due to the procedural requirement that only one person may speak at a time.

Question 31

Evaluation Apprehension

Answer 31

Occurs when individuals are reluctant to mention ideas that seem silly because they believe that others in the decision-making team are silently evaluating them

Question 32

Brainstorming

Answer 32

A freewheeling, face-to-face meeting where team members aren’t allowed to criticize but are encouraged to speak freely, generate as many ideas as possible, and build on the ideas of others.

Question 33

4 team structures that improve creativity in a team setting

Answer 33

Brainstorming, brain writing, electronic brain writing, nominal group technique

Question 34

Brainwriting

Answer 34

A variation of brainstorming whereby participants write (rather than speak about) and share their ideas.

Question 35

Electronic brain writing

Answer 35

A form of brainwriting that relies on networked computers for submitting and sharing creative ideas.

Question 36

A Nominal Group Technique

Answer 36

A variation of brainwriting consisting of three stages: participants () silently and independently document their ideas, (‘) collectively describe these ideas to the other team members without critique, and then (-) silently and independently evaluate the ideas presented.