Chapter 11
Intergroup
Development
TEST QUESTIONS
True/False Questions
1. Complex organizations tend to create situations of independence where the
performance of one group is not dependent upon another group.
2. Coordination between operating groups within an organization tends to occur
naturally and there is little need for coordinated effort of the organization to
achieve excellence.
3. Groups in conflict with one another spend a high degree of their effort, time, and
energy directed toward the conflict instead of toward goal accomplishment.
4. Teamwork implies that all members of a team are contributing to an overall
objective though they should not go so far as to subordinate personal prominence.
5. “Open loop” refers to elements such as departments receiving feedback from other
elements within the organization.
6. One objective of OD is to increase cooperation among organization subsystems.
7. Suboptimization occurs when a group optimizes its own goals but loses sight of the
larger organization goals.
8. Intergroup conflict is generally increased when both groups perceive there to be a
noticeable difference in the degree of power and influence between themselves.
9. Interpersonal conflicts may result from conflicting functions, objectives, career
aspirations, or personalities. These conflicts stay at the personal level and do not
become elevated to the intergroup or departmental level.
10. Group behavior research suggests that cooperation in some situations, such as when
the task is complicated and requires sharing of information, promotes productivity.
11. For groups in competition with one another, the winning group will likely become
more cohesive and the losing group will become more concerned for their
members’ psychological needs.
12. Organizational conflict must not necessarily be reduced or eliminated, but managed
to enhance individual, group, and organizational effectiveness.
13. With high concern for self and low concern for others, the “obliging conflict style”
attempts to attain personal objectives and often ignores the needs of others, forcing
win-lose situations.
14. Although some behavioral scientists suggest that there is one best style to resolve
conflict, most suggest an examination of styles, so that the most appropriate style
for a given situation can be applied.
15. The increasing popularity of decentralized structures and matrix organization, in
which many organization members wind up reporting to two or more bosses, has
increased executives reliance on authority and reduced the reliance on interpersonal
conflict management skills.
16. To deal with intergroup conflict, the OD practitioner seeks interventions that
decrease interaction and the frequency of communication between groups in order
to avoid the number of contacts between groups.
17. OD techniques are aimed at avoiding “win–lose” situations while emphasizing
“win–win” aspects of the situation.
18. OD techniques for dealing with intergroup problems include the Avoidance-
Maintenance Theory and Conservancy Methodology.
19. Confrontation refers to the process in which the parties directly engage each other
and focus on the conflict between them.
20. Third-party consultation is one method of intergroup development that strives to
increase communication and initiate intergroup problem solving.
21. Third-party consultation attempts to create a difference in power in order to resolve
conflict between two groups.
22. For groups who have leaders who are less articulate or forceful in their
presentations, a practitioner following third-party interventions may need to
regulate the discussion.
23. In third-party consultation, the practitioner may need to encourage a group to
moderate their enthusiasm if that group is more highly motivated to resolve the
conflict than the other group.
24. The organization mirror is a technique designed to give work units feedback on
how other elements of the organization view them.
25. In intergroup team development terminology, an interface is any point at which
contact between individuals is essential to achieving a result.
26. Intergroup team building, often called laboratory learning, typically consists of
meetings taking one or two weeks.
27. Most OD practitioners advise that team development within a group occur soon
after team building between teams.
28. Near the conclusion of the intergroup team building meeting, the groups develop an
action plan for solving problems and assigning responsibilities for the action plan.
29. Unlike other OD intervention techniques, there is hard evidence of positive results
from intergroup team building meetings.
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Multiple-Choice Questions
30. Complex organizations tend to _____.
a. create a situation of interdependence between departments
b. create autonomy between departments
c. inherently find that communications improve between departments
over time
d. increase in effectiveness since the organizational structure is more
sophisticated than in simple organizations
e. all of the above
31. Team interdependence is _____.
a. unimportant in organizations
b. dysfunctional energy
c. intentional sabotage
d. mutual dependence between groups
e. noncompliance of work rules
32. Groups in conflict with one another tend naturally to spend a high degree of their
effort, time, and energy directed _____.
a. toward accomplishing the goals
b. toward improving coordination between groups
c. toward the conflict instead of toward accomplishing the goals
d. toward resolving the conflict
e. answers a, b, and d
33. _____ often determines organization effectiveness.
a. Competition between work groups
b. Collaboration between work groups
c. Technical training
d. A win-lose strategy
e. answers a and d
34. Subsystem interfacing implies _____.
a. boundary spanning with the external environment
b. exchanges across departmental boundaries
c. keeping within departmental boundaries
d. structuring subsystems on a functional basis
e. improved policies being issued from the OD department
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35. Each organization is a system formed of subsystems. For the purposes of intergroup
development, which of the following is not a subsystem?
a. division
b. work team
c. department
d. group
e. corporation
36. The manager’s ability to deal with conflict between work-teams becomes
increasingly important because _____.
a. conflict exists in every situation
b. typical organizations cannot handle conflict
c. a large amount of the manager’s time is spent in resolving conflict
d. conflict is unproductive
e. departmental boundaries must be maintained
37. The potential for conflict between teams depends on _____.
a. how incompatible the goals are
b. the extent to which required resources are scarce and are shared
c. the degree of interdependence of task activities
d. all of the above
e. answers a and c
38. Conflict between groups tend to be more apparent when _____.
a. the groups are interdependent
b. the groups are performing unrelated tasks and they are within close
proximity to each other
c. the groups do not depend on one another for information
d. members rarely need to contact or work with one another
e. none of the above
39. What is it called when the goals of operating divisions promote a division’s self
interest at the expense of the larger organization?
a. intergroup conflict
b. intergroup competition
c. role ambiguity
d. intergroup development
e. suboptimization
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40. Collaboration and integration between interdependent groups will more likely
_____. a. cause increased conflict
b. decrease suboptimization
c. create better group leaders
d. lead to situations of win-loose behavior
e. answers a and d
41. Conflict that occurs between the Air Force and the Army over who should provide
tactical air support is an example of _____.
a. structural imbalance
b. dominating behavior
c. perceived power imbalance between groups
d. healthy suboptimization
e. intergroup competition
42. Common sources of group conflict are _____.
a. role conflict and role ambiguity
b. upper management communications
c. competition and perceived power imbalances
d. all of the above
e. answers a and c
43. Common sources of group conflict are _____.
a. competition and perceived power imbalances
b. conflicts arising from different personalities and career aspirations
c. role conflict and role ambiguity
d. all of the above
e. answers a and c
44. Role conflict exists in a group when _____.
a. a group is not cohesive
b. a third party intervenes to conduct surveys
c. an individual belongs to two or more groups with conflicting goals
d. members compete with other team members
e. the manager is not strong and well organized
45. A matrix or project form of organization tends to result in _____.
a. role conflicts
b. cooperation
c. personality conflicts
d. dominating behavior
e. suboptimization
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46. Role ambiguity exists when individuals or group members are _____.
a. describing their purpose
b. given more control over subordinates
c. given little control over their work
d. not clear about their purpose
e. not given more control over their work
47. Research into the results of competition and cooperation among groups _____.
a. shows that competition increases productivity for the company,
especially when monetary incentives are offered
b. shows that the additional pressure of competition produces more
attention to the task
c. shows that cooperation in the long run produces higher profits than
does competition
d. is mixed
e. answers a and b
48. Competition, according to research, tends to be more effective than cooperation
_____. a. in a majority of the cases according to well-documented studies
b. in a majority of organization situations
c. when the tasks are complicated and require a high degree of
coordination
d. when tasks are simple and groups do not need to share information or
resources
e. in no documented cases
49. In regards to the effects of competition among groups, _____.
a. the winning group will become complacent
b. the losing group will become more concerned for their members’
psychological needs
c. both winning and losing groups will become increasingly concerned
for their members psychological needs
d. the losing group will become more cohesive
e. all of the above
50. Of five styles representing different levels of cooperative versus assertive
behaviors, the _____ style has a high concern for self and others and uses openness
and sharing of information to reach a solution.
a. dominating
b. integrating
c. avoiding
d. obliging
e. compromising
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51. OD techniques for dealing with intergroup problems include _____.
a. third-party consultation
b. organization mirror
c. intergroup team building
d. all of the above
e. none of the above
52. The goal(s) of third-party interventions include _____.
a. achieving increased understanding of the issues
b. not letting parties in conflict confront each other by physically
separating them
c. placing a low priority on the needs of individuals and instead focusing
on the higher-level needs of the work teams that are in conflict
d. making sure individuals in all of the groups are personally satisfied
e. all of the above
53. In resolving intergroup conflict through third-party consultation, the OD
practitioner seeks increased _____.
a. time to discuss problems
b. competition between teams to improve their effectiveness and
productivity
c. interaction and negotiation efforts
d. all of the above
e. answers b and c
54. One method of increasing communication and initiating intergroup problem solving
is _____.
a. taking time-out and having a coffee break
b. having a gripe session
c. having a committee meeting that focus on other issues than the
problems causing the conflict
d. third-party consultation
e. none of the above
55. Third-party consultation usually involves _____.
a. confrontation
b. a group discussion and neutral party
c. an objective outsiders opinion
d. all of the above
e. answers a and b
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56. An organization mirror _____.
a. is a technique designed to give work units feedback on how other
elements of the organization view them
b. improves relationships and increases effectiveness
c. involves a practitioner gathering data by questionnaire, interview, or
survey and presenting the problems to the groups
d. all of the above
e. answers a and b
57. A technique designed to give work units feedback on how other elements of the
organization view them is _____.
a. survey feedback
b. organization mirror
c. process feedback
d. Transactional Analysis
e. role analysis technique
58. The organization mirror provides a means for a work group to _____.
a. improve its operating relations with other groups
b. tell the rest of the organization what type of work it does.
c. practice laboratory learning techniques
d. become more cohesive in order to place higher expectations upon its
members
e. all of the above
59. Most intergroup team building meetings usually begin with _____.
a. the groups listing their job descriptions
b. each group drawing the organization chart as they see it
c. each group listing how they see themselves, how they think the other
group sees them, and how they see the other group
d. teams diagnosing their interface problems and the development of
action plans and follow-up activities
e. answers a and b
Essay Questions
60. Describe an organization situation when competition is more appropriate than
cooperation and another situation when cooperation is more appropriate than
competition.
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61. Contrast the differences and similarities between team development and intergroup
team building
62. Describe the intervention technique known as intergroup team building.