54) Which of the following statements is true regarding size of teams?
A) The most effective teams have twelve to fifteen members.
B) When teams have excess members, cohesiveness declines.
C) As team size increases, social loafing decreases.
D) When teams have excess members, mutual accountability increases.
E) Members of large teams coordinate work better when pressed for time.
55) Which of the following statements represents a strategy that is desirable for making effective
teams?
A) Combining people with extremely high and extremely low abilities helps make a balanced
team.
B) Individuals should ideally have one role in a team as multiple roles reduce their effectiveness
and efficiency.
C) Diversity should be avoided as diverse teams involve a lot of conflict in day-to-day
functioning.
D) If a natural work unit is larger, its size must be maintained for the nature of the job requires
large teams.
E) The preference of individual members to work as a part of groups must be considered when
forming teams.
56) Which of the following statements is true with regard to team processes?
A) This category comprises variables that relate to how teams should be staffed.
B) Effective teams invest time and effort to discuss and agree on a purpose that belongs to them
both collectively and individually.
C) Once a specific goal is chosen, effective teams resist making any changes in them so as to
maintain the momentum of the team.
D) Effective teams do not engage in task and relationship conflicts.
E) Effective teams begin by selecting the right kind of people to be members of the team.
57) ________ illustrates a process loss from using teams.
A) Organizational demography
B) Role conflict
C) Social loafing
D) Multitasking
E) Profit-sharing
58) Gerald Murphy is a manager at Wright & Wayner, a publishing house which is a very
employee-friendly company. The demarcation between managers and subordinates is flexible
and the nature of these reporting relationships is flexible and informal. Gerald recently assigned
five of eight of his subordinates to work on a new publication project with a fairly tight deadline
because he believed that these efficient employees would function even better with each other’s
support. A week before the deadline, however, Gerald realized that the group had been shirking
work as each of the members thought that the project was not just his or her responsibility.
Additionally, under the guise of working together, the team was actually doing their personal
work, surfing the Internet, or just socializing. This scenario reflects ________.
A) gainsharing
B) high process gains
C) reflexive goal-setting
D) job sharing
E) social loafing
59) A team that has a good plan but is also willing to adjust its master plan and adapt when
conditions call for it demonstrates high ________, an important variable in successful team
processes.
A) goal specificity
B) goal congruency
C) conformity
D) diversity
E) reflexivity
60) While discussing their marketing campaign for a new product, the members of the cross–
functional team responsible for Carver Inc. realized that a couple of changes relating to their
prior plan would be beneficial. The offer of a franchising that had earlier been brushed off by the
company head was discussed thoroughly, and it was decided that it would be implemented on a
trial basis initially and on full scale if found to work well. From the information provided, it can
be concluded that this cross-functional team has a high degree of ________.
A) demography
B) reflexivity
C) conformity
D) diversity
E) uncertainty
61) Hank Murphy was selected to develop an advanced personal communication device with his
own self-managed work team. Hank was assured that resource allocation and timelines were
flexible for this project provided the work was a cut above that provided by the rest of the
employees. As a part of the project guidelines, Hank included the demand that the device being
developed by the team should also be marketed exclusively by them without resorting to
franchising or cobranding. This was to ensure that customers recognized the product as reflecting
the values of their company. Work on this project began with a lot of vigor and once the device
was developed, Hank’s team implemented their marketing strategy. However, even three months
after the product’s release, visibility remained low in the market and many reviewers did not
consider the device to be much of an innovation. Which of the following statements, if true,
would indicate a lack of reflexivity in Hank’s self-managed work team?
A) Hank’s team members developed multiple blueprints of the device, which were thoroughly
discussed, improvised, and synthesized into the final plan for the product.
B) In the first few weeks of the project, Hank had witnessed a moderate level of conflict between
the team members as each one had his own idea about how best to go about this high-priority
project.
C) The device was later marketed as a part of a national level tie-up with E-store outlets and did
remarkably well in its second stint in the market.
D) In Hank’s team, the members took accountability for the group’s performance as a whole and
reported their individual progress to him as well.
E) Hank’s team used e-mail and instant messaging to communicate unique information when
some of the team members were not available for face-to-face interactions.
62) Effective teams translate their common purpose into ________ goals.
A) universal
B) generic
C) vast
D) specific
E) diverse
63) The belief that effective teams have in their ability to succeed is called ________.
A) goal specificity
B) reflexivity
C) mental model
D) common purpose
E) team efficacy
64) Alberto’s team is developing a database for the water pollution data of three cities. Before he
begins on this intensive project, he wants to improve the team efficacy of his team. Which of the
following actions can Alberto take to increase team efficacy before the project starts?
A) plan a team outing for the team members
B) make sure that his team is not comprised of more than nine people
C) spend considerable time evaluating team members and allocating proper roles for each
D) provide client’s software and database training for all the team members
E) create team goals that are very challenging
65) Which of the following is most likely to increase team efficacy?
A) providing vast and generic goals
B) helping the team achieve small successes
C) creating a team such that it has diverse members
D) ensuring that team goals are substantially difficult
E) reducing the number of members on a team drastically
66) ________ are defined as organized mental representations of the key elements within a
team’s environment that team members share.
A) Path-goal models
B) Task models
C) Mental models
D) Individual models
E) Specific models
67) Managers facing job candidates who lack team skills should do all of the following except
________.
A) avoid hiring the job candidate
B) hire the candidate, but assign them to tasks where teamwork is not important
C) provide the candidate with the type of training that can help improve his or her ability to be a
successful member of a team
D) choose the individual with the best technical skills regardless of his or her ability to perform
as a member of a team
E) bring the candidate on board, but assign the individual to an area where teamwork is not a
priority
68) With a deadline approaching, all seven members of Sharon’s product development team were
working round-the-clock and still the work was not completed in time. After the project was
completed, Sharon spoke individually with the members to determine the cause for this delay.
Many members complained, saying the work given to them was not in accordance with their
roles. Some were unclear about which team member to approach when faced with a problem,
and many underestimated the time and effort the project demanded. This team is characterized
by ________.
A) a clear role allocation for all team members
B) dissimilar mental models
C) high degree of role clarity
D) excessively large team size
E) a strong climate of trust
69) Which of the following is not a common characteristic of an effective team?
A) The team has adequate resources.
B) The team has effective leadership.
C) The team has a climate of trust.
D) The team has a performance and evaluation system that reflects team contributions.
E) The team is the right size for the task—about 15-20 people.
70) When teams are performing nonroutine activities, ________ stimulate discussion, promote
critical assessment of problems and options, and can lead to better team decisions.
A) task conflicts
B) disciplinary conflicts
C) relationship conflicts
D) resource allocation conflicts
E) discriminatory conflicts
71) Which of the following is an example of a task conflict?
A) Will and Hilda have been removed from the team they worked with after they were overheard
making derogatory comments about one of their colleague’s racial origin.
B) Henry and Solomon have been reprimanded by their project lead for spending too much time
using the Internet for personal use at work.
C) Linda and Dorothy had a disagreement over which of their employees should be assigned to
work on a high-priority project.
D) Sally and her manager have just had a heated argument because Sally feels she has been
overlooked for a promotion that was her rightful due.
E) The company head has resigned after longstanding conflict between him and his top
management employees.
72) Which of the following must be avoided if one wants to create and maintain an effective
team?
A) task conflicts
B) reflexivity
C) specific goals
D) relationship conflicts
E) congruent mental models
73) When individuals engage in ________, they coast on the group’s effort because their
particular contributions cannot be identified.
A) task conflicts
B) gainsharing
C) retaliating
D) process gains
E) social loafing
74) Shane Dermott is a manager at a software design firm that develops software programs for
clients using multiple teams of specialists. One of his most successful teams has been performing
very well for years and so it came as a surprise to Shane when he noticed a sharp drop in the
team’s performance. He decided to speak with the team members individually and find a
solution. After interviewing all 7 team members, he determined that one of the team members
performed routine administrative tasks that were hardly visible to any of the other team members
and understood that this was a case of social loafing which demotivated the entire group. Which
of the following would most likely improve the performance of the employee who was social
loafing?
A) encouraging him to work more independently
B) making him individually responsible for definite and crucial tasks
C) empowering him to make decisions autonomously
D) providing him with administrative training
E) giving him additional assignments to complete
75) Jason Jones has been asked to assemble an eight-member self-managed work team of
experienced employees to work on a project that combines the functional areas of research,
production, marketing, and distribution. Jason is apprehensive about managing a team so large;
he knows from prior experience that larger teams do not always result in greater productivity.
Jason has also been informed by the management that this team is being established as the
project must progress according to the predetermined timeline. The work lagging behind by one
division will cause a cumulative delay in all the successive stages of the project’s execution.
Which of the following measures, if adopted by Jason, would best ensure that the team members
are working efficiently?
A) implementing a training program to provide the team members with the necessary technical
and human relations skills for the project
B) discouraging team members from restricting themselves to their own functional areas by
experimenting with and learning the jobs done by other members of the team
C) instructing the team members to finalize the plan for the project right at the beginning and
ensuring that it is implemented without any changes
D) assigning the specific tasks of the project to each team member by keeping in mind their
preferences and abilities
E) implementing a group-based incentive he has planned for this team