Some decisions are not important enough to warrant the time and effort required for a
group to engage in critical thinking about them.
Focus groups allow members to freely explore thoughts and feelings about a topic.
Active listening tends to reduce the amount of time it takes to discuss an issue.
Small group communication is the same as communication in any other context.
Sometimes the time and tension costs of having a group rather than one person solves a
problem are not cost-effective.
Alice Paul did for Women’s suffrage what Malcolm X did for Civil Rights is an
example of an analogy.
Skeptical decision makers never challenge information.
GSS is an effective tool for groups with idea generation, information organization,
evaluation of options and decision making.
People who express little emotion on their faces are generally more trusted than those
whose faces reveal a lot about how they feel.
Companies that have effectively instituted such programs report that self-managing
work teams have a 20-40 percent edge in productivity over more traditional work
systems.
If you emerge as a leader in one group, you are guaranteed to emerge as a leader in
another group.
All words are symbols.
Multifinality suggests that two successful, experienced sports teams can end up in
entirely different spots come playoffs.
Roles in small groups are primarily formal – such as electing a chair of the group.
A co-culture is a larger group of individuals that have various sub-cultures within that
group.
In the United States, most business is conducted at an appropriate social distance, which
is considered to be between two and four feet.
Groups easily ‘seize and freeze” onto early positions, especially ones that appear to be
shared by others.
The source of feedback is not taken into consideration by the group.
Influence over other members is exercised by any and all members of a group.
Violating space norms is risky behavior.
Group members do not need to know the minimum requirements of a successful
solution for effective problem solving and decision making.
Communicating in Groups recommends against using abstract language during
discussions.
When deciding on a topic for a presentation, the best resource for finding a topic is your
own experience, beliefs, or skills.
Freedom of expression must be discouraged if the group is to get along.
A group decision didn’t work out as hoped. The leader would be well-advised to let
others take the blame for the failure so his or her credibility is maintained for liaison
functions.
Ad hoc committees cease to exist when they have completed their assignments.
Past history of conflicts in a continuing group greatly influences how new conflicts are
managed.
People who talk excessively during meetings are considered to be important
contributors to the discussion.
Women generally place more emphasis on relationships and are more likely to show, by
their communication behavior, that they care and want to help.
Sterling tells Molly that her hair looks “bad,” meaning it as a compliment, but Molly
interprets this as a put-down. This is one of the disadvantages of
A.meanings being shared exactly the same by everyone.
B.words being symbols, thus carrying different, arbitrary meanings for different people.
C.face-to-face communication.
D.trying to give out compliments.
E.small group conflict.
This connects the relevant parts of a system in a small group
A.understanding.
B.communication.
C.perception.
D.all of these.
E.none of these.
Verbal and nonverbal communication among members creates the group norms and
climate, this is representative of which of the following theories?
A.group cohesion.
B.structuration.
C.facilitation.
D.incorporation.
E.communicative obedience.
The variable most predictive of emergent leaders in a recent study of groups of college
students was
A.sex.
B.skilled gatekeeping.
C.skill in reducing tensions.
D.communication relevant to the group’s task.
E.relationship-oriented communicating.
Group creativity involves which of the following two concepts?
A.symbolism and connectivism.
B.cross cultural and intra-cultural learning.
C.divergent and convergent thinking.
D.negativity and positivity.
E.crisis formation and crisis exaltation.
During synectics sessions, group members are asked to
A.change perspectives, look for comparisons, use fantasy and imagination.
B.avoid all evaluation and criticism.
C.be as specific and detailed as possible.
D.think of the underlying issues and needs of people involved.
E.figure out what must be done, by whom, and when.
An advantage of group over individual problem-solving is
A.group-developed solutions are often accepted better than solutions imposed on the
group.
B.groups usually develop a solution faster than one member is able to do.
C.group solutions usually cost less money.
D.groups take less time.
E.groups are easier to work with.
Group A’s presentation was intended to educate the audience about their service
learning organization. The purpose of their speech was to:
A.persuade.
B.entertain.
C.educate.
D.inform.
E.connect.
A leader who displays a “hands off” approach, not providing structure or direction to
discussions, is called a(n) ______ leader.
A.democratic
B.laissez-faire
C.participatory
D.delegating
E.maintenance
Which of the following is the list of items to be discussed at a meeting?
A.minutes.
B.records.
C.notes.
D.agenda.
E.reference.
Which is not an example of a small group output?
A.a report produced by the group.
B.the satisfaction members experience from a completed job.
C.the knowledge and experience of the members.
D.a building assembled by a construction crew.
E.communication of members with their environment.
A leader who decides what to include in group agendas, makes policy decisions for the
group, and determines who may speak, is called a(n) ______ leader.
A.autocratic
B.democratic
C.laissez-faire
D.task-oriented
E.relationship-oriented
If the group asks their organization what form their final product is to take, for example:
a report, a blueprint, or a recommendation, the group is attempting to understand their:
A.operating area.
B.focus.
C.charge.
D.function.
E.freedom.
A tobacco company has issued a press release suggesting the effects of second-hand
smoke are not as detrimental as previously suggested by healthcare professionals. A
group should be sure to do which of the following in evaluating this information?
A.identify ambiguous terms.
B.clarify ambiguous terms.
C.determine the meaning of what is said.
D.determine the credibility of the source.
E.none of these.
Don is outgoing, gets along well with others, open to new ideas, but is often viewed is
not being serious. His personality is most closely aligned with which of the following
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator?
A.extraversion.
B.introversion.
C.sensing.
D.intuiting.
E.perceiving.
In the ______ technique, a facilitator introduces the topic or issue, and then asks the
group to discuss it any way they choose.
A.brainstorming
B.RISK
C.buzz group
D.focus group
E.PERT
Which was not one of the communication characteristics discussed in Chapter 3?
A.achieving understanding is primarily the responsibility of a speaker.
B.face-to-face communicating involves a transaction among the persons involved.
C.there are both advantages and disadvantages to the symbolic nature of human
communication.
D.communication is a complex process.
E.communication is a personal process.
An extreme dislike or dread surrounding participation in groups is called this
A.inflexible.
B.grouphate.
C.nostalgic.
D.anxious.
E.all of these.
A company is experiencing high absenteeism among key personnel. This would be
which component of a problem?
A.an obstacle to be overcome
B.an undesirable situation
C.a criterion for judging solutions
D.factual information
E.the root of a solution
Which term is most concrete?
A.animal.
B.mammal.
C.”Meatball” (my cat’s name).
D.feline.
E.orange tiger-striped cat.
Two group members are arguing over which survey should be used to find data for the
group’s final project. They are probably experiencing which of the following tensions?
A.primary.
B.secondary.
C.tertiary.
D.role.
E.uncertainty.
The clearest example of a small group throughput variable is
A.physical setting in which the group meets.
B.the cohesiveness members experience.
C.decisions the group makes.
D.how members express and resolve disagreements.
E.information members have about their task.
“As soon as we got a new division manager, profits went down the tubes. The new
manager reduced productivity.” This statement is an example of which of the following
fallacies?
A.overgeneralizing.
B.making an incomplete comparison.
C.attacking the source rather than the idea.
D.posing a false either-or situation.
E.concluding that because two things are related, one caused the other.
As a linear model of group development, Tuckman identifies all of the following stages,
except:
A.forming.
B.storming.
C.norming.
D.sensitizing.
E.adjourning.
Communication that is mediated – via computers, telephones, and so forth – is thought
to lack
A.depth.
B.insight.
C.social presence.
D.character.
E.none of these.
Which of the following is a statement of fact?
A.Jones Springs Technical College provides an excellent education.
B.Commuting to JSTC is easy because it is on a bus line.
C.Jones Springs Technical College employs 120 full-time faculty members.
D.The food at Jones Springs campus is flavorful.
E.Jones Springs is a pretty campus.
A survey of American businesses reports that businesses ranked the ability to work in
teams as which of the following?
A.first.
B.second.
C.third.
D.fourth.
E.fifth.
In a low-context culture, the meaning of a message is conveyed primarily by the
speaker’s
A.gestures.
B.situation.
C.vocal intonations.
D.pitch and force changes.
E.words.
The best way to give critical feedback is to do which of the following?
A.be straight, don’t worry about feelings.
B.load up on everything the group did wrong at the beginning of your comments.
C.critical feedback should never be given.
D.sandwich between positive feedback.
E.none of these.
When preparing an individual oral presentation, which of the following is not a step in
the preparation process?
A.organize your materials
B.select and narrow your topic
C.check your language
D.make a pie chart
E.practice aloud
A person who enters the learning cycle through active experimentation
A.learns by trying out different things until s/he finds on the works.
B.is a visual learner.
C.loves to act out roles in the group drama.
D.tends to learn better by sitting back and observing the actions of others.
E.none of these.
Women tend to place more emphasis on this than men do:
A.task.
B.goals.
C.accomplishments.
D.relationships.
E.individual achievements.
Conflict over _____________ are highly subjective.
Influence derived from a person’s ability to manipulate the logistics of the task as well
as the physical environment of a group is a person’s ___________________ power.
________________ are typographic symbols used in CMC to convey a variety of
emotions.
A group is classified as _______ if all members perceive or are aware of each other as
individuals.
Homogeneity and ___________________ are terms typically used to capture the degree
of variance in group composition.
The ____________________ concept of leadership stresses that appropriate leader
behavior depends on the type of task, skills of members, and the environment of the
group.
A person involved in a group conflict who stands up for her point of view and
encourages others to do the same is employing a ___________________ style of
conflict management.
A synonym for a group’s area of freedom is its amount of __________________ to do
something about the problem.
___________________ is the Myers-Briggs dimension that refers to the type of
information you naturally tune to.
In establishing a supportive climate, ___________ statements try to search honestly for
the best solution.
Sounds such as “mm hmm,” “uh huh,” and “right on” made while another person is
speaking are called ______________ signals.
People who have influence in a group because other members admire and want to be
like them are said to have __________________ power.
Rather than considering groups’ use of technology as an either/or, your authors suggest
we consider the ____________ to which groups use technology to do work and develop
relationships.
A disagreement has no chance of helping the group if it is not ________________.
More structured than the panel discussion, a ______________ is divided into segments
were the discussants present uninterrupted speeches.
“Active listening” involves _______________ what a prior speaker said so you can test
how well you understood what the person intended.