textbook is Phillips J M Gully S M Organizational Behavior

textbook is: {Phillips, J. M., & Gully, S. M. Organizational Behavior: Tools for success. 2 nd edition - South-Western Cengage Learning.

Ch 12: Group Behavior & Effective Teams - Homework Questions

1. Think about an effective team you have been on. What made it effective?

2. Think about an underperforming team you have been on. Why was it underperforming?

3. Do you agree that team effectiveness should have all three components? If you

    had to eliminate one of the components, which do you think should be removed?

    Why?

4. What factors do you think most contribute to process loss in groups you have been in?

5. If you were staffing a team, what would you look for in team members? Why?

6. Which do you feel is more important to team performance, goals and feedback or rewards? Why?

7. Do you think a team contract would improve the effectiveness of teams? Why or why not?

8. Which do you feel is more important to team performance, informational diversity or demographic diversity? Why?

    Do multicultural teams increase this type of diversity? If so, how?

Solution

2. Underperforming or low performing teams are plagued by dysfunction and produce more frustration than progress. What undermines the performance of groups and teams? Obviously, Poor leadership and low self awareness from team members are the primary factors that affect a tem in a great way leading to their underperformance. Teams with Freeloaders will consistently underperform. Without clear goals and objectives there is little chance of great achievement. Lack of Transparency and accountability, poor leadership coupled with low morale among the employees and absence of appropriate control and feedback measures are other important reasons that lead to a team to underperform.

4. The ability of a group to perform well is determined by the characteristics of the group members (e.g., are they knowledgeable and skilled?) as well as by the group process—that is, the events that occur while the group is working on the task. When the outcome of group performance is better than we would expect given the individuals who form the group, we call the outcome a group process gain, and when the group outcome is worse than we would have expected given the individuals who form the group, we call the outcome a group process loss.

One group process loss that may occur in groups is that the group members may engage in social loafing, a group process loss that occurs when people do not work as hard in a group as they do when they are working alone.

5. If I were staffing a team, I would definitely look for important quality such as “ability to work in a team” among the members of the group. Because this is the only quality that binds the team members and instils team spirit in a group.

6. In my opinion, Feedback is one of the most important components of an effective team. Because without feedback, team members will not be able to measure their results. A lack of feedback creates confusion, missed expectations and disappointment.