MGT271 Exam 3

Ch. 11, 12, 15, & 16

groups

collection of two or more people

teams

groups of people who are interdependent, interact with each other, and see themselves as a unique entity

teams different from groups in two ways

intereactions in teams involved greater dependence than interactions in groups and interactions within teams occurs with a specific task-realted purpose in mind

synergy

produced by pooling knowledge and analytical reasoning

process gain

getting more from the team than you would expect according to the capabilities from its individual members

process loss

getting less from the team than you would expect based on the capabilities of its individual members

what are the four causes of process less

coordination loss, production blocking, motivational loss, social loafing

coordination loss

process loss due to the time it takes to coordinate work activities with other team members

production blocking

results from team members waiting on each other before completing their own team tasks

motivational loss

process loss due to team members’ tendency to put forth less effort on team tasks than they could

social loafing

results from members feeling less accountable for team outcomes compared with their independent work outside the team

what are the three types of team member roles

task-focused roles, individualistic roles, and team building roles

task-focused roles

behaviors that directly facilitate the accomplishment of team tasks

individualistic roles

behaviors that benefit the individual at the expense of the team

team building role

behaviors that influence the quality of the team’s social climate

cognitive and physical abilities needed in a team depend on

the nature of the team’s task

in general, teams composed of people with high cognitive abilities perform

better because teamworks tends to be complex

disjunctive task depend on

the member with the highest ability

conjuctive tasks depend on

the member with the lowest ability

additive tasks depend on

the combined efforts of all members

what are the three traits especially critical in teams

agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion

agreeable people tend to be

more cooperative and trusting with tendencies that promote positive attitudes about the team and smooth interpersonal interactions

consicentious people tend to be

dependable and work hard to achieve goals

extroverted people tend to perform

more effectively in interpersonal contexts and are more positive and optimistic in general

team diversity

the degree to which members are different from one another in terms of attribute used as a basis of categorized people

what are two types of diversity

surface-level and deep-level

surface-level diversity

diversity of observable attributes such as race, gender, ethnicity, and age

deep-level diversity

diversity of attributes that are difficult to observe initially but can be inferred through direct experience, such as one’s values or personality

what are the two diversity approaches

value in diversity problem-solving and similarity-attraction

value in diversity problem-solving approach

proposes that team diversity is beneficial because it provides a large pool of knowledge and perspectives

similartiy-attraction approach

proposes that team diversity can be counterproductive because people tend to avoid interaction with others who are unlike them

having a greate rnumber of members is beneficial for

management and project teams but not for teams engage in production tasks

team members tend to be most satisfied with their team when

the number of members is 4 or 5

what are the five stages of group development

forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning

forming stage

team acquaints and establishes ground rules; formalities are preserved and members are treated as strangers

storming stage

members stage to communicate their feelings but still view themselves as individuals rather than part of the team; they resist control by group leaders and show hostility

norming stage

people feel part of the team and realize that they can achieve work if they accep other viewpoints

performing

the team works in an open and trusting atmosphere where flexibility is the key and hierachy is of little importance

adjourning

the team conducts an assessment of the year and implements a plan for transitioning roles and recognizing members’ contributions

team development sequence may be

less applicable in some team situations

clearly established rules and standard operating procedures can eliminate

the need for some stages

teams with longer lifespans experience

greater anxiety and stronger emotions during adjournment

punctuated equilibrium

development in which not much gets done until the midway point of a project, and tehn the team increases effectiveness to meet its deadline

schein’s 6 methods of decision making

lack of responds, authority rule, minority rule, majority rule, consensus, and unanimity

what are the advantages of group decision making

information, alternatives, understanding & acceptance, and commitment

information

more knowledge and expertise than when done along

alternatives

avoid tunnel vision; come up with more alternatives in a group

understanding & acceptance

final decision is understood and accepted by group members

commitment

members want to make the decision work

communication

the process by which information and meaning gets transferred from a sender to a receiver

much of the work done in a team is done

interdependently and involved communication among members

effectiveness of communication affects

whether there will be process gain or process loss

communicator competence

the skills involved in encoding, transmitting, and receiving messages

emotions and emotional intelligence of team members affect

how they express themselves and interpret the messages of others

communicators need to encode and interpret messages, and it turns out

these activities can be major sources of communication problems

information richness

the amount and depth of the information being conveyed

information richness includes

both language and nonverbal information such as body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice

what are the three types of information richness

high, moderate, and low information richness

high information richness

face-to-face conversation

moderation information richness

personal written note

low information richess

computer-generated reports filled with numbers

the appropriate lvel of informaiton richness depends on

the nature of the team’s situation

team states

specific types of feelings and thoughts that coalesce in the minds of team members as a consequence of their experience working together

what are the four types of team states

cohesion, potency, mental models, and transactive memory

cohesion

exists when members of teams develop strong emotional bonds to other members of their team and to the team itself

what is a possible negative outcome of cohesion

groupthink

groupthink

members try to maintain harmony by striving toward consensus without ever offering, seeking, or seriously considering alternative viewpoints

potency

the degree to which member believe that the team can be effective across a variety of situations and tasks

high vs low potency

members are confident, focused or members are unfocused, lack confidence

mental models

the level of common understanding among team members with regard to important aspects of the team and its task

mental models are important for members to

share an understanding of one another’s capabilities, anticipate when member needs help, and have shared understanding of how to resolve team conflicts

transactive memory

how specialized knowledge is distributed among members in a manner that results in an effective system of memory for the team

team members should possess both specialized knowledge that is

usefull to the team and meta-knowledge regard who knows what

organizational structure

formally dictates how jobs and tasks are divided and coordinated between individuals and groups within the company

organizational chart

a drawing that represents every job int he organization and the formal reporting relationships between those jobs

what are the common elements of organizational structure

common purpose, coordinated effort, division of labor, work specialization, hierarchy of authority, span of control, formalization, and centralization

common purpose

unifies employees or members and gives everyone and understanding of the organization’s reason for being

work specialization

the degree to which tasks in an organization are divided into separate jobs

hierarchy of authority (chain of command)

control mechanism for making sure the right people do the right things at the right time

span of control

refers to the number of people reporting directly to a given manager; narrow/wide

formalization

the degree to which rules and procedures are used to standardize behaviors and ecision making within organizations; formal/informal

centralization

centralized authority vs decentralized authority

centralized authority

important decisions are made by higher-level managers

decentralized authority

important decisions are made by middle-level and supervisory-level managers

coordinated effort

the coordination of individual effort into group wide effort

division of labor

arrangement of having discrete parts of a task done by different people

what arell the operational designs

functional, divisional, matrix

functional operational design

functional structure, people with similar occupational specialities are put together in formal groups

divisional organizational design

divisional structure, people with diverse occupational specialties are put together in formal groups by similar products, customers, or geographic regions

matrix organizational design

an organization combines functional and divisional chains of command in a grid so that there are two command structures - vertical and horizontal

organizational culture

the shared social knowledge, within an organization regarding the rules, norms, and values that shape the attitudes and behaviors of its employees

organizational culture is learned

from other employees

organizational culture tells

employees what rules, norms, and values are in the organization

organizational culture creates

a system of control over employees

what are the three components of organizational culture

observable artifacts, espoused values, and basic underlying assumptions

observable artifacts

the manifestations of an organization’s culture that employees can easily see or talk about

observable artifacts examples

symbols, physical structures, languages, stories, rituals, ceremonies

espoused values

the beliefs, philsophies, and norms that a copmany explicity states

espoused values can range from

published documents to verbal statements

espoused values may not always correspond with

enacted values