No problem exists if the people involved are satisfied with the way things are.
Members of groups often belong to other groups, thereby creating more room for
mutual influence between the group and the environment.
Gen-Xers are sometimes referred to as the echo boom and millennial generation.
Face-to-face communication is like a tennis game, with interaction going one way, then
the other.
General Systems Theory was created by a theoretical physicist.
Even though it prevents secondary tension, accommodating invariably leaves tensions
harmful to a group.
A secondary group designed to meet control needs cannot help members satisfy needs
for inclusion.
A majority vote decision is on in which all members agree their decision is the best they
can all support.
Nonverbal behaviors fulfill a minimal role in a person’s message.
The following is a statement of fact: “Springfield, Missouri, is a rapidly growing city.”
Groups should stick to P-MOPs without straying at all.
Tensions felt between control from the leader and control from the group are constantly
at play within groups.
Using emoticons decreases social presence.
Critical thinking does not include the gathering of information needed before making a
decision.
Action-oriented listeners are most concerned with time-management in the group.
Group members should ask for criticism of their ideas and opinions.
Highly authoritarian leaders’ groups tend to be highly unproductive.
Biological sex is a predictor of an emergent leader.
Your audience will always figure out why what you propose in a speech is important, so
it is unnecessary to offer them a need statement.
Meeting more often is an effective method of handling task difficulty.
Telling an audience how a lack of exposure to sunlight leads to a house plant’s death is
an example of the cause-and-effect pattern.
Task conflict helps the group to make effective decisions.
Inferential errors impair a group’s ability to think critically.
During “principled negotiation,” parties to a conflict are encouraged not to focus on
courses of action they have already proposed but on their underlying needs.
Nonverbal communication operates differently in CMC environments.
Openly acknowledging and talking about differences is an effective way to manage
diversity.
Some models of group development have been more linear than others.
A group’s outputs may include changes in its processes and procedures.
Professionally, the higher you go in any organization, the more time you will spend
working as a member of small groups.
Most small problem-solving groups can define their own area of freedom.
Communicating in Groups claims it is unethical not to use skills of critical thinking
during group decision making.
Juanes’ group has experienced a similar problem to the one they are current solving, this
problem probably has the following characteristic?
A.task difficulty.
B.solution multiplicity.
C.member familiarity.
D.intrinsic interest.
E.acceptance level.
The first and most important rule governing brainstorming and mind mapping is
A.write all suggestions on a large piece of chart paper that everyone can see.
B.schedule a short amount of time for ideas to be thrown out for consideration.
C.appoint a recorder who will evaluate and decline to write down ideas s/he deems
unsound.
D.no evaluation or criticism of any idea or suggestion offered.
E.none of these.
Amber reacts to Tyrone’s suggestion for promoting the upcoming concert by putting
fliers on cars in the school parking lot by telling him, “That is so idiotic! People hate it
when they get those stupid fliers on their cars!” She is not displaying which of the
following techniques for expressing disagreement productively?
A.Express your disagreement forcefully.
B.Express disagreement with sensitivity toward others.
C.React to disagreement with a spirit of inquiry.
D.Express disagreement when it seems important.
E.none of these.
All of the following are helpful questions to ask as you analyze a problem, except:
A.”Who is involved?”
B.”What events precipitated the problem?”
C.”How difficult is our problem?”
D.”What is the solution?”
E.”What other information do we need?”
A fantasy
A.is about how to complete the work.
B.has a lot of exaggerations about the group’s assignment.
C.is an outrageous story that one student tells.
D.is about something other than the here-and-now of the group.
E.is about all of these.
A communicative behavior of a small group leader that would be considered unethical
A.an intentionally deceptive comment about what you believe.
B.quickly pointing out why you feel a suggestion of a member is stupid.
C.ignoring comments by a homeless person assigned to your mayor’s advisory
committee.
D.all of these.
E.none of these.
Sara is attempting to convince her sorority to try a new fundraising technique, her
speech’s purpose is which of the following?
A.persuade.
B.entertain.
C.educate.
D.inform.
E.connect.
The Marketing Group leader talks with the Finance Group leader to be sure the
Marketing Group isn’t overspending its budget. Which type of follow-up function is
being performed?
A.keeping track of member assignments.
B.making all necessary physical arrangements.
C.implementing decisions.
D.serving as liaison.
E.committing resources.
Major ethnic and racial groups in the United States include all of the following except:
A.African Americans.
B.Asian Americans.
C.European Americans.
D.Hispanic Americans.
E.none of these.
When conducting an audience analysis, you should ask yourself:
A.What age range will be in the audience?
B.Are these college students or professionals?
C.Are these audience members strangers or familiar to me?
D.Is the audience coming voluntarily or are they obligated to be there?
E.all of the above.
Groups are good choices to make decisions because
A.they take less time than individuals.
B.when there is a known “correct” solution, a group is more likely to reach that
solution. than the most skilled member alone.
C.group members do not provide a diversity of opinions, information, and issues.
D.group members work harder to implement a solution they have helped plan than one
imposed on them.
E.group members usually have a lot of information about a specific topic.
“Multiple paths” is used in systems theory to indicate that
A.there are numerous ways to improve on a system’s functioning.
B.a group can obtain needed inputs from many different sources.
C.there is usually more than one appropriate way to reach an objective.
D.several members can do a task needed by the group.
E.information is exchanged among members via a variety of means and media.
Standards agreed upon by all members as clear, fair, and appropriate for evaluating
alternatives are called ______ criteria.
A.impartial
B.neutral
C.objective
D.consensus
E.equitable
If a group member believes a solution is faulty, but neglects to mention this to the rest
of the group, he or she is violating which ethical standard of being a group member?
A.willing to share ideas.
B.treat each other with respect.
C.use their best critical thinking skills.
D.demonstrate commitment.
E.none of these.
Listeners in a group who often give feedback about group goals and ways to achieve
those goals are
A.content-oriented listeners.
B.people-oriented listeners.
C.focused listeners.
D.action-oriented listeners.
E.time-oriented listeners.
A statement taken from an ordinary individual is called
A.statistic.
B.example.
C.lay testimony.
D.expert testimony.
E.opinion.
Group A’s members have been involved in various groups throughout their lives and
they all know how to act in a group, this most closely represents which characteristic of
Structuration?
A.group members don’t come to the group with a clean slate.
B.groups are constantly recreating themselves.
C.no law forces group members to follow the rules.
D.group members can say and do as they please.
E.none of these.
Dao is from a culture that emphasizes hierarchy – many members of Dao’s culture
believe that one has an assigned “place” in society. Dao’s culture is most likely:
A.low power distance.
B.high power distance.
C.hierarchical.
D.status oriented.
E.conforming.
In collectivist cultures
A.people are more shy.
B.people rarely speak up and get their ideas heard.
C.group harmony takes priority.
D.people collect allies in order to win conflicts in groups.
E.people value strong leaders most.
Which of the following is not a way to disagree productively?
A.express disagreement.
B.wait until the conflict has ended to express your thoughts.
C.express disagreement in a timely way.
D.express disagreement with sensitivity toward others.
E.react to disagreement with a spirit of inquiry.
According to Gouran and Hirokawa, in effective decision making group members must
be willing to do all of the following except:
A.understand the problem.
B.pressure other members to conform.
C.second-guess themselves, even if it means starting over.
D.evaluate all alternatives.
E.discuss criteria openly.
When critical thinkers gather information and ideas, the first step they take is to
A.evaluate the quality of the information.
B.take stock of the information they currently possess to discover any gaps.
C.decide on methods for gathering information.
D.classify the types of information they have.
E.determine whether their sources are trustworthy.
The ethical standard not mentioned as contributing to effective group problem solving
was
A.members must share perspectives.
B.members must treat each other with respect.
C.members must rely on stereotypes to draw conclusions.
D.members must be committed to their group.
E.members must attend every meeting.
Which of the following was not offered as a way to utilize abstract terms?
A.use jargon to show off.
B.give concrete examples.
C.use synonyms.
D.use relative terms to compare.
E.use descriptive terms.
Gouran and Hirokawa’s functional theory is used to explore which of the following?
A.the communicative functions that must be performed if a group is to make a good
decision.
B.the idea that group members must use different leadership styles to achieve their task.
C.the functions that the designated leader must perform.
D.the roles that members must play in the problem solving discussion.
E.none of these.
When her group members asked Sally if she was upset, she answered in a very tense
and clipped tone, “I’m perfectly fine.” The group did not believe her. This illustrates
which principle of nonverbal communication?
A.when verbals and nonverbals contradict, people believe the nonverbal.
B.nonverbal behaviors are ambiguous.
C.people cannot stop sending messages.
D.all of these.
E.none of these.
An important point to remember about diversity is
A.it makes it almost impossible to work together in groups.
B.people are not that much different after all.
C.you can’t expect other group members to change their needs, styles, or cultures to
match yours.
D.it is very frustrating.
E.it is the source of all tension and conflict in small groups.
Which was not presented in Communicating in Groups as a commonly believed myth
about leadership?
A.a person either does or doesn’t have leadership quality.
B.a democratic style of leadership is ideal for almost all situations.
C.all members of a small group are responsible for performing leadership functions.
D.a leader’s primary job is to get other members to work for him or her.
E.one is born a leader or follower.
Tobias says, “Let’s begin with the first item on the agenda.” Tobias is engaging in
A.initiating.
B.clarifying.
C.supporting.
D.information seeking.
E.harmonizing.
Two college basketball teams are ranked within the Top 5 at the beginning of the
season, but by the end of the season team A is ranked within the Top 5 and team B is
not even ranked, what system characteristic does this most closely represent?
A.multifinality.
B.interdependence.
C.feedback.
D.nonsummativity.
E.open system.
When engaging in controversial group discussions, Deandre restates what the speaker
before him said in his own words. This active listening practice is called
A.analyzing.
B.proselytizing.
C.paraphrasing.
D.restating.
E.functioning.
A system consists of elements that function in this way:
A.simultaneously.
B.interdependently.
C.autonomously.
D.exclusively.
E.none of these.
Kuhn and Poole found in their study of naturally occurring groups that those who
facilitated integrative patterns of conflict did better than those that did not. They
discovered that these groups tended to
A.establish their norms for conflict early and did not change them much.
B.establish stable roles.
C.avoid confrontational styles of conflict.
D.collaborated and compromised.
E.all of these.
Group members should recognize that ______________ is not always beneficial, but
does work well for some problems.
The ______________ conflict style has little motivation to meet one’s own needs.
The ________________ of an individual presentation summarizes the main points
covered in the speech.
An ________________ speech is delivered without preparation, with the speaker
“winging it.”
Standards for judging among alternatives are _______________.
Conflict management approaches that are ________________ generally lead to better
group decisions for complex tasks.
__________ refers to the general belief that members can rely on each other.
_____________ tension results from a struggle for greater power/status in a group.
Task, maintenance and __________________ are the three broad categories of roles
found in small task groups.
If you dread working on group projects, you are experiencing _________.
________________ phase of socialization is characterized by full integration into the
group.
A win-win way of resolving a conflict is also known as the ____________________
style.
Errors in reasoning are called _________________.
All messages carry a content and __________ dimension.
Three components of any problem are an undesirable situation, a goal, and
___________________.
A ____________________ is any person who exercises interpersonal influence to help
a group achieve its goal.
________________ is the canon that deals with how a presentation is offered to an
audience.
________________ improve the quality and speed of group problem solving.