Making the Team, 6e (Thompson) Chapter 1 Making the Team: A Guide for Managers
1 Multiple Choice Questions
1) When it comes to teamwork, interdependence means:
A) the team has an identifiable membership.
B) only one individual in the group will assume responsibility for the project outcome.
C) the success of individual efforts is the only important goal for members.
D) team members cannot achieve their goals single-handedly.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 4
Diff: Easy
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Written and oral communication
2) When it comes to membership, boundedness refers to the ________; stability refers to ________.
A) limitations imposed by other members; nonmember view of financial stability of team decisions
B) amount of expertise of members; how concrete and available resources are to members
C) team membership identifiability; the tenure of membership
D) promises made by new members; the emotional fortitude of members
Answer: C
Page Ref: 4
Diff: Easy
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Written and oral communication
3) With regard to the defining characteristics of a team, all of the following are true EXCEPT:
A) teams exist to achieve a shared goal.
B) team members are interdependent regarding the achievement of a goal.
C) team members do not have the authority to manage their own work and internal processes.
D) teams are bounded and stable over a period of time.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 4 & Ex. 1-1
Diff: Easy
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Written and oral communication
4) When we ask, "Why should organizations bother to build and maintain effective teams," all of the following challenges facing organizations might be addressed through teams EXCEPT:
A) improving multi-generational collaboration and teaming.
B) dealing with competition in one's industry.
C) globalization.
D) economic understanding.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 6-7
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Written and oral communication
5) In manager-led teams, the team members:
A) execute a task.
B) monitor and manage the performance of the team.
C) design the team as a performing unit.
D) design the organizational context.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 12-13
Diff: Easy
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Written and oral communication
6) With regard to the characteristics of a manager-led team, all of the following are true
EXCEPT:
A) has a dedicated, full-time, higher-ranking supervisor.
B) provides the organization with the most amount of control over the team and the work they perform.
C) the members provide peer-feedback for one another.
D) is a very efficient type of team because of the centrality of goals and control.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 12-13
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Written and oral communication
7) A team where a manager or a leader determines the overall purpose or goal of the team, but team members are at liberty to manage the means by which they meet that goal is called a:
A) manager-lead team.
B) self-managing team.
C) self-directing team.
D) self-governing team.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 13
Diff: Easy
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Written and oral communication
8) Self-directing teams are best suited for:
A) people who cannot take direction.
B) teams whose leaders are incompetent.
C) complex, ill-defined, and ambiguous problems.
D) simple, well-defined, and clear problems.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 15
Diff: Easy
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Written and oral communication
9) Which type of team offers the most potential for innovation, can enhance goal commitment, and provides opportunities for organizational learning and change?
A) Self-governing teams
B) Manager-led teams
C) Self-directing or self-designing teams
D) Self- managing or self-regulating teams
Answer: C
Page Ref: 15
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Written and oral communication
10) With regard to the disadvantages of self-directing teams, all of the following are true
EXCEPT:
A) it is difficult to monitor the team's progress.
B) the team can suffer from conforming too much to team leaders.
C) teams of this type can be very costly to build.
D) the team can suffer from marginalization and struggle with team legitimacy.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 15
Diff: Easy
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Written and oral communication
11) All of the following are risks with self-governing teams EXCEPT:
A) misdirection.
B) team goals and interests may be at odds with organizational interests.
C) poor decision-making due to lack of awareness to company goals and interests.
D) poor potential in terms of team commitment and participation.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 16
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Written and oral communication
12) The misattribution error is the tendency for managers to attribute the causes of team failure to forces beyond their personal control. According to that definition, which of the following is a misattribution error? Blaming an unsuccessful outcome on:
A) lack of preparation.
B) lack of knowledge.
C) the competitive environment/marketplace.
D) low motivation.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 17
Diff: Easy
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Ethical understanding and reasoning
13) In general, leaders who control all the details, manage all the key relationships in the team, have all the good ideas, and use the team to execute their plan are usually ________ and ________.
A) overworked; underproductive
B) successful; well rewarded
C) well regarded; quickly promoted
D) productive; well connected
Answer: A
Page Ref: 18
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
14) Which of the following is a way in which managers recognize their team-building responsibilities?
A) Equate managing their team with managing individual people on the team.
B) Rely on group-based forums for problem solving and diagnosis.
C) Gain all of their feedback from one-on-one meetings with team members.
D) Base their decisions on the limited information and resources.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 17
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Application of knowledge
15) Which of the following is a positive way that teams deal with situational surprises or unexpected changes within their task assignments?
A) A team strikes out on their own and bucks the authoritative measures causing the change.
B) Shifts responsibility for various task roles and reassembling work routines to different members of the team.
C) Insists upon the use of more resources to solve the problem from the same approach.
D) Keeps overreaction to a minimum by keeping work assignments the same and sticking with the pre-established work routine.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 18
Diff: Challenging
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
16) The most common type of team is a(n):
A) cross-functional team.
B) operations team.
C) middle-management team.
D) service team.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 20
Diff: Easy
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Written and oral communication
17) According to research, what is the best advice regarding team size?
A) Teams should generally increase in size up to a maximum of 14 people.
B) Teams should generally have fewer than 10 members - with an optimal size of 5-6 people.
C) Teams should generally decrease in size down to a maximum of 3 people.
D) Teams should not be limited in size.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 20
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Application of knowledge
18) One of the most frustrating aspects of teamwork is:
A) sustaining high motivation.
B) a high level of turnover.
C) not being able to select one's preferred team members.
D) ineffective leadership.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 20-21
Diff: Easy
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
19) Managers often think they can know and predict everything regarding a problem, even when a situation has a completely unpredictable outcome. This, after the fact, "I knew it all along" belief fallacy is known as:
A) the hindsight bias.
B) an inert knowledge problem.
C) interdependence.
D) the social system context.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 23
Diff: Easy
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
20) Many people make the mistake of looking for the causes of a problem after they find the effects of it. There may be many common factors that have nothing obviously related to the situation, or factors difficult to detect that can interfere with a successful problem solution. This situation is best known as a(n):
A) preexisting baseline.
B) hindsight bias.
C) evidence-based management.
D) sampling on the dependent variable.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 22-23
Diff: Easy
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Analytical thinking
21) A leader who coaches, directs, and instructs their team, but has team members who help the leader learn from their perspective, is a team who engages in:
A) single-loop learning.
B) double-loop learning.
C) team longevity.
D) expert learning.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 24
Diff: Easy
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
22) The key to a manager unlocking the pervasive, inert knowledge in their team lies in:
A) the manager's social network.
B) how the manager uses examples to illustrate and convey concepts to their team.
C) the manager's talent with lecture-based teaching.
D) the team's boundedness and stability.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 24
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Written and oral communication
23) In contrast to a team, a working group differs from a team because:
A) the working group members are interdependent.
B) the working team members have collective responsibilities and rewards for their production outcome.
C) the working team members are not interdependent and are not working toward a shared goal.
D) the working team relies on their manager's social network for success.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 5
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
24) Changes in corporate structure and increases in specialization imply that there will be new boundaries among team members in an organization, such as:
A) always working in a face-to-face environment.
B) decreased need to work in a virtual team.
C) increased use of manager-led teams.
D) team members must integrate their knowledge through increased coordination and synchronization with suppliers, peers, and customers.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 7
Diff: Challenging
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
25) With the ability to communicate with others anywhere on the planet, people and resources that were once remote can now be reached quickly, easily, and inexpensively. This has facilitated and encouraged the development of the ________ team.
A) virtual
B) tactical
C) strategic
D) multigenerational
Answer: A
Page Ref: 7
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
26) Unless companies and managers take the time to understand the different work and value systems of different generations of workers, multigenerational teams will work under frustrating conditions. Values that should be considered when composing a team of different generational members include the importance of family, team versus individual orientation, achievement orientation and:
A) the number of contacts the person has in their social network.
B) the person's need for feedback, attention, and coaching.
C) the person's negotiation skills.
D) how well the person understands the corporate culture of the team.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 7
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Written and oral communication
27) For tactical teams to be successful, there must be ________ and ________.
A) the freedom to innovate; the ability to question assumptions
B) the ability to think out of the box; the ability to work remotely
C) ambiguous problems; limited emphasis on formal organizational structures
D) a high degree of task clarity; unambiguous role definition
Answer: D
Page Ref: 8
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Analytical thinking
28) A ________ is a group of expert specialists each of whom has a specific role position, performs brief tasks that are closely synchronized with others, and can perform those actions in different environmental conditions.
A) hybrid team
B) crew
C) self-governing team
D) clique
Answer: B
Page Ref: 9
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
29) Of the following teams, which one is a predominantly problem-solving team?
A) Research team at the Centers for Disease control
B) Surgical team at the Mayo Clinic
C) Drive train assembly team at Honda
D) IDEO product design team
Answer: C
Page Ref: 9
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Application of knowledge
30) After a study was done of teams at Xerox, several defining features of superbly performing teams emerged which included: clear direction, a team task, material resources, rewards, goals, strategic norms and:
A) the authority to manage their work.
B) cultural homogeneity.
C) a centralized decision-making structure.
D) large team size.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 13
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
31) Managers frequently fault the wrong causes for team failure. Often, what is the real key causal factor in underperforming teams?
A) External, uncontrollable forces, such as market competition
B) The difficult personalities on the team
C) The manager's talent acquiring team resources
D) Faulty team design
Answer: D
Page Ref: 17
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
32) Which of the following techniques is one of the most effective ways for teams to learn and improve?
A) Repetition
B) Failure
C) Success
D) Incentives and competition
Answer: B
Page Ref: 17
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
33) To be successful in the long run, teams need ongoing resources and support, information, education, and:
A) regular team building retreats.
B) competition amongst team members and an unaligned incentive structure.
C) an authoritarian manager.
D) goals and good communication skills.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 18
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
34) Effective managers make mistakes, but they don't make the same mistakes over and over again. When a manager commits to continually learning and benefitting from their mistakes and experiences, this model is called:
A) human scaling.
B) evidence-based management.
C) expert learning.
D) the hindsight bias.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 24
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
35) A cardiac surgery team is an example of a ________ team; the Sandia Nuclear Weapons laboratory team is an example of a ________ team.
A) problem-solving; creative
B) tactical; creative
C) problem-solving; tactical
D) tactical; problem-solving
Answer: D
Page Ref: 8-9
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Analytical thinking
36) The dominant feature of tactical teams is ________; the dominant feature of problem-solving teams is ________; the dominant feature of creative teams is ________.
A) expertise; training; communication
B) training; expertise; communication
C) trust; clarity; autonomy
D) clarity; trust; autonomy
Answer: D
Page Ref: 79-81
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
37) With regard to the question of team size (i.e., how big the team should be), all of the following are true EXCEPT:
A) most of the time, teams should be fewer than 10 members.
B) managers tend to make teams too large.
C) it is wise to compose teams using the smallest number of people who can do the task.
D) larger teams are more cohesive, and want to stay together.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 85-86
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
38) Of the following types of skills, which one is least important to consider when selecting members for a team?
A) Technical skills
B) Intuitive skills
C) Task-management skills
D) Interpersonal skills
Answer: B
Page Ref: 88
Diff: Easy
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
2 True/False Questions
1) The term "interdependence" as it relates to a team refers to the tenure of the members.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 4
Diff: Easy
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
2) In 2015, more than one-in-three American workers were Millennials, now the largest segment of the U.S. workforce.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 7
Diff: Easy
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
3) The most common type of team is an operations team, followed by cross-functional, service and lastly, middle management teams.
Answer: FALSE
Page Ref: 20
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
4) When a leader believes that she has nothing to learn from a subordinate but the subordinate could learn a lot from her, this is an example of single-loop learning.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 24
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
5) One of the biggest threats to creative teams is the uneven participation of members.
Answer: TRUE
Page Ref: 8
Diff: Easy
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
3 Essay Questions
1) What are the benefits and disadvantages of self-managing teams?
Page Ref: 13
Diff: Moderate
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
2) There are a lot of myths and unfounded assumptions about the function of teams. Rather than believe the falsehoods, what are some of the truths about when it's best to use teams, and how they perform, change, and grow?
Page Ref: 16
Diff: Difficult
Skill: Synthesis
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
3) Good teams can still fail under the wrong circumstances. Describe why team retreats are often ineffective at fixing conflicts between team members.
Page Ref: 19
Diff: Challenging
Skill: Analysis
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
4) Why is the accurate diagnosis of team problems such a difficult task for many team leaders and do sampling on the dependent variable and hindsight bias hurt or help managers?
Page Ref: 22-23
Diff: Challenging
Skill: Application
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
5) What is the advantage of double-loop learning over single-loop learning and how can leaders combat the inert knowledge problem?
Page Ref: 24
Diff: Challenging
Skill: Concept
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork