Final

Question 1

What is the definition of a group?

Answer 1

Two or more people who interact with each other, and share interrelated task goals

Question 2

What are the four different types of groups?

Answer 2

Command (formal, permanent), friendship (informal, permanent), task (formal, temporary), and interest (informal, temporary)

Question 3

What is the definition of a team?

Answer 3

Two or more people, actions of individuals are interdependent, each member has a specified role, everyone has a common goal and objectives

Question 4

What is the difference between a group and a team?

Answer 4

All teams are groups, but not all groups are teams.

Question 5

What is the five stage process of group development?

Answer 5

Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjourning

Question 6

What is “forming”?

Answer 6

Stage 1 of Group Development: the group comes together for the first time, acquaintances are made, information shared, and the discovery of what is acceptable or not

Question 7

What is “storming”?

Answer 7

Stage 2 of Group Development: high degree of conflict, members attempt to find their place and influence norm development, clarifying group goals

Question 8

What is “norming”?

Answer 8

Stage 3 of Group Development: group norms emerge, and members feel a sense of unity

Question 9

What is “performing”?

Answer 9

Stage 4 of Group Development: role differentiation occurs to take advantage of task specialization, group focuses attention on the task

Question 10

What is “adjourning”?

Answer 10

Final stage of Group Development: assessing performance, plans implemented for transitioning roles

Question 11

What are the team elements associated with effectiveness?

Answer 11

Shared leadership, team personality, psychological safety, and social loafing

Question 12

How does shared leadership affect team effectiveness?

Answer 12

Shared leadership (where all members participate in power, responsibilities and accountability) usually results in greater cohesiveness, collective identity, better creativity, and intrinsic motivation

Question 13

How does team personality affect team effectiveness?

Answer 13

Combination of member personalities, can be either complementary or supplementary (can cause either good or bad results depending on the personality trait in question)

Question 14

How does psychological safety affect team effectiveness?

Answer 14

Psychological safety (being able to speak up without fear of embarrassment, rejection, or punishment) will create a positive environment for a team dynamic, resulting in better relationships, increased creativity

Question 15

How does social loafing affect team effectiveness?

Answer 15

Social loafing leads to increased stress, decreased satisfaction, increased tension

Question 16

What are the challenges and benefits of conflict in teams?

Answer 16

Challenges: distrust, disruptions to progress, power struggles, personality struggles
Benefits: idea diversity, enhance problem solving

Question 17

What is “the good, the bad, and the ugly” of team conflict?

Answer 17

The Good: task conflict where differences in opinion/perspective/view relating to tasks
The Bad: progress conflict, where disagreements form around how work should be accomplished (distribution of workload, member roles, timelines)
The Ugly: relationship conflict, interpersonal struggles and resentment due to personality clashes

Question 18

How do you manage team conflict?

Answer 18

Create a safe space for speaking up, encourage confidence and courage, recognize when people are feeling uncomfortable, and coach them through the conflict. Mining: extracting buried conflicts (great for avoidant teams), and real-time permission (reminder that conflict is necessary)

Question 19

What kinds of conflict do multicultural teams face, and how to adapt?

Answer 19

Different styles of communication, trouble with accents and fluency, differing attitudes towards hierarchy, and different decision making norms. Can be addressed with adaptability, structural intervention, managerial intervention, exiting members, and cultural intelligence

Question 20

Discuss the paradox of the team

Answer 20

The paradox of team, manager, and individual. Foster support AND conflict. Focus on performance AND development. Balance authority AND autonomy.

Question 21

What is the difference between power and authority?

Answer 21

Power is informal authority, whereas authority is legitimate power. Power is the ability to influence in social relationships, where authority is the the right to seek compliance from others

Question 22

What are the five bases of power?

Answer 22

Referent (charismatic power), Expert, Legitimate (cultural, social, or designation), Reward, Coercive

Question 23

What are the behavioural consequences of power use?

Answer 23

Coercive power usually leads to minimum compliance, and internal resistance. Reward and legitimate power offer compliance, but no intrinsic motivation. Expert and referent power offer both compliance and commitment

Question 24

What is counter power?

Answer 24

Counter power is the extent to which a party has the means to resist influence from another (think of a unionized workforce) – ignore > fight > bargain > comply.

Question 25

When is political power most likely to be used?

Answer 25

Politics (the use and exercise of power) are more likely to be used in environments featuring high competition, high complexity, and subjective or ambiguous criteria

Question 26

What are strategic contingencies and how do these influence power?

Answer 26

Strategic contingencies: aka critical activities – how certain organizational subunit gain more power over others. Where do the central concerns of the organization lie? Who has control over resources?

This occurs when one unit has: the ability to help another with uncertainty, their contribution has little or no alternatives, and contributions are vital to the organization’s success

Question 27

What are the seven most common power tactics in organizations?

Answer 27

Controlling access to information, controlling access to persons, selective use of objective criteria, controlling the agenda, use of outside experts, bureaucratic gamesmanship, coalitions/alliances

Question 28

How can managers limit unethical political behaviour in organizations?

Answer 28

Reduce system uncertainty (clear evaluations, immediate and related rewards to performance, clear job responsibilities); reduce competition (minimize resource competition, and emphasize overall goals of the organization); break existing political alliances (remove or split up dysfunctional subgroups, adjust reward systems), and prevent future alliances (promote apolitical attitudes, and provide training)

Question 29

What is the definition of conflict?

Answer 29

A situation when a party perceives that their interests are negatively opposed or affected by another party – based on PERCEPTIONS

Question 30

What are the four types of organization conflict?

Answer 30

Goal conflict: when one party desires a different outcome than another
Cognitive conflict: when one party holds different ideas or opinions than another
Affective conflict: when one party’s feelings or emotions (attitudes) are incompatible with another
Behavioural conflict: when one party does or says something that is unacceptable to another

Question 31

What are the 7 sources of organizational conflict?

Answer 31

Task interdependencies: increased collaboration&raquo_space;> increased risk of conflict, and high task interdependency heightens relationship intensity
Status inconsistencies: managers often have more flexibility in their schedules and tasks, which frontline employees may see as unfair
Jurisdictional ambiguities: may be unclear where responsibilities lie
Communication problems: misunderstandings, frustrations at withheld information
Dependence on common resource pool: zero-sum game, conflict is almost inevitable
Lack of common performance standards: different goals can lead to conflict between groups
Individual differences: factors into how much conflict is present, and how severe it can be

Question 32

What are the four steps of the conflict process model?

Answer 32

Frustration > Conceptualization > Behaviour > Outcome

Question 33

Describe the frustration stage of conflict

Answer 33

Conflict originates when a party is frustrated in the pursuit of some goal or outcome

Question 34

Describe the conceptualization stage of conflict

Answer 34

Parties work to understand the problem, what their ideal solution is, what they think the other party’s ideal solution is, and various strategies that may resolve the conflict

Question 35

Describe the behaviour stage of conflict

Answer 35

Parties now attempt to implement a resolution

Question 36

Describe the outcome stage of conflict

Answer 36

Both sides determine the extent to which a satisfactory resolution has been achieved (if one party is unsatisfied, further conflict will likely occur)

Question 37

What are the five styles of conflict resolution?

Answer 37

a. Competing (assertive+uncooperative); good for when a quick, decisive action is vital, when unpopular actions needs to be implemented, or against non-competitive parties
b. Collaborating (assertive+cooperative); when both sets of concerns are important, when learning is the objective, when trying to gain commitment, or working through feelings that have interfered with a relationship
c. Compromising (neutral); when opponents have equal power
d. Avoiding (unassertive+uncooperative); if the issue is trivial, no perceived chance of alleviating concerns, or if the potential disruption outweighs a potential resolution
e. Accommodating (unassertive+cooperative); if you are wrong, in order to maintain cooperation, minimize loss, or if stability is important

Question 38

What are the two bargaining strategies for negotation?

Answer 38

Distributive bargaining – “win-lose”, goals are conflicting and resources are fixed/limited (usually a short-term relationship); resistance price is the point beyond which the opponent will not go in order to reach a settlement
Integrative bargaining – “win-win”, a settlement that will benefit both parties, without either side giving up too much (interests may be convergent or congruent, and trust/free flow of information is important)

Question 39

What are the four stages of negotiation?

Answer 39

1. Non-task time – getting to know each other, getting comfortable, small talk (differs between cultures)
2. Informational exchange – providing context, exchanging both background and general information
3. Influence & persuasion – promises, threats, questions – efficacy is subject to power, industry/cultural norms, etc.
4. Closing – either an acceptable agreement is found or not, closing of negotiations varies from culture to culture (signed contract, for example)

Question 40

How do you create and claim value during negotations?

Answer 40

Creating value: prepare and set goals, know your BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement – estimated cost of walking away from the relationship), manage the time (time pressure is bad), make the first offer (Sets the stage for further negotiations), offer concessions (good faith)
Claiming value: gather information, discover other party’s priorities, build relationships

Question 41

What is a manager?

Answer 41

Managers: plan, organize, direct and control, are often appointed to the role, obtain power from hierarchy of authority from the larger organization, receives extrinsic motivation (compliance to authority), and will often succeed or fail based on their ability to lead.

Question 42

What is a leader?

Answer 42

Leaders: have a social influence relationship, are accepted by their followers, derive their power from perception of knowledge, personality, attractiveness and/or working relationships, inspire intrinsic motivation and still requires the ability to manage.

Question 43

What makes an effective leader?

Answer 43

The quality of their relationships, drive, self-confidence, knowledge, honesty, integrity, who use referent or expert power with rationality to influence their followers. Evoking emotion through the use of language and stories helps to influence behaviour and attitudes. Ability to address both maintenance and task needs by providing members with a path to a valued goal. Going forward, they will need to be globally aware, able to manage decentralized organizations, be sensitive to diversity, and interpersonally competent.

Question 44

Explain the trait approach of leadership

Answer 44

The great man theory of leadership.
Core traits of a good leader include: drive (high effort, ambition, and tenacity), leadership motivation, honesty, integrity, self-confidence, cognitive ability, knowledge of business, and other traits including charisma, creativity and flexibility.
The idea is that personality traits tend to expressed in weak situations, where norms/rules are lacking, and incentives with clear expectations are missing (high structure = less opportunity to display personality).
While leadership qualities can be found in our genes and dispositions, these aspects still need to be developed through life experiences.
Men are observed to emerge as leaders more often, however this may be due to historical inability of women to develop or exercise leadership behaviours. Only marginal differences have been found, but men tend to lean more autocratic in leadership style.

Question 45

Explain the behavioural approach of leadership

Answer 45

Two major sets of leader behaviours: Consideration and Initiating Structure. Consideration is the “relationship oriented” side, and addresses a group’s maintenance needs (being supportive, friendly, representing interests, communicating openly, respecting ideas, and sharing concern for feelings). Initiating Structure is the “task oriented” side, and addresses the group’s task needs (scheduling work, deciding what needs to be done when and how, providing directions, planning, coordinating, problem solving, maintaining performance standards, and encouraging uniform procedures.
There are five main styles of leadership: Accommodating (yield & comply), Sound (contribute & commit), Status Quo (balance & compromise), Indifferent (evade & elude), and Controlling (direct & dominate).

Question 46

Explain Fiedler’s Contingency Model of leadership

Answer 46

Fiedler’s Contingency Model: organizations attempting to achieve group effectiveness through leadership must assess the leader according to underlying traits, the situation, and construct a proper match between the two.
o The leader’s trait: Least-Preferred-Coworker (LPC) scale, interpreted as the leader’s underlying disposition toward others with high LPC being relationship oriented, and low LPC being more task-oriented
o The situational factor: three factors determine how favourable a situation is to a leader – leader-member relations, task structure, and positional power
o Leader-situation match: leaders generally have an unchangeable and dominant style, organization’s need to design jobs situations to fit the leader for the best results
o High LPC are more effective under conditions of intermediate favourability
o Low LPC are better in high or low favourability conditions

Question 47

Explain transactional leadership

Answer 47

Transactional leaders: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, task-oriented and instrumental in approach, initiates structure and offers incentives for desired outcomes

Question 48

Explain transformational leaders

Answer 48

Transformational leaders (the “visionaries”): big movers, big shakers, inspire actions through personal values, vision, passion and belief in the mission, uses charisma (idealized influence), individual consideration (follower development), intellectual stimulation (challenging assumptions/status quo), and/or inspirational motivation

Question 49

Explain charismatic leaders

Answer 49

Charismatic leaders: people who possess legitimate power through exceptional sanctity, heroism, or exemplary character, and are a complex interplay of leader attributes and the follower’s needs/beliefs/perceptions

Question 50

Explain abusive leadership

Answer 50

Engagement of hostile behaviours (verbal and non-verbal), without the use of physical harm. Includes: criticizing in front of others, threatening job loss for intimidation, withholding necessary information, silent treatment, humiliation or ridicule. This leads to “eye for an eye” behaviour as a sort of retaliation.

Question 51

Describe the four components of the leadership process

Answer 51

The leader: takes charge and guides the activity of others, is the focus of the group, and provide what is required to fulfill both maintenance and task needs
The follower: not a passive player – defines the needs that the leader must fill, and either accepts or rejects the acts of leadership. Personality and readiness to follow determine effective leadership style (locus of control, authoritarianism, self-esteem and level of performance are key)
The context: includes the nature of the task, group goals, possible dissent, and environmental stability (aka situational factors)
The consequences: only two outcomes are importance: have the group’s MAINTENANCE needs been met, and have their TASK needs been met?

Question 52

Why is the follower the most critical piece?

Answer 52

Followers DEFINE the leader. They have expectations and needs that must be met, in the most effective way to do this depends on follower personality, their relationship with the leader, etc. Without the follower, there is no leader.

Question 53

Explain the leader-member exchange theory (LMX)

Answer 53

Focuses on consequences associated with leadership process, leader-follower relationship tends to develop quickly then remain relatively stable, quality of this relationship is affected by mutual trust, loyalty, support, respect and obligation, and high quality relationships produce the “in group” (key players associated with higher levels of performance, commitment and satisfaction, often as a result of attitudinal similarity and extroversion)

Question 54

What is the Tannenbaum and Schmidt continuum?

Answer 54

A model that displays the range of leadership styles ranging from boss centered (low participation, very autocratic) to subordinate centered (high participation, very laissez faire)

Question 55

What is the difference between Theory Y and X Leaders?

Answer 55

Theory X: assumes the average individual dislikes work and is incapable of exercising adequate self-direction and self-control (result: highly controlling leadership)
Theory Y: believes that people have creative capacity, as well as both the ability and desire to exercise self-direction and self-control (result: involvement oriented approach)

Question 56

Explain the four styles of leadership as modelled by Muczyk & Reimann (Directive/Permissive Leadership Styles)

Answer 56

Directive autocrat: retains power, makes unilateral decisions, closely supervises work activities (great for situations needing quick decision, and with new or inexperienced workers)
Permissive autocrat: high decision making power, but low leader direction - great for tasks with limited time, routine tasks, or if members have sufficient expertise
Directive democrat: high directing power, but low decision making power - good for when members have valuable ideas but one person needs to coordinate execution
Permissive democrat: when participation is informational, has motivational value, time is available, and there is sufficient self-management

Question 57

What is the Path-Goal Theory?

Answer 57

An effective leader provides organizational members with a path to a valued goal. Leader behaviour + situational forces = (combine to influence) = subordinate outcomes. The behavioural dimensions are: supportive leadership, directive leadership, participative leadership, or achievement-oriented leadership.

Question 58

What are substitutes and neutralizers in leadership?

Answer 58

Substitutes: can either supplement or take over leadership behaviour (clarifying role expectations, motivation, satisfactions, intrinsic motivation)
Neutralizers: prevent leaders from acting as they wish, no effect on followers