Working as a team - Oxford University Press

Which of the following are benefits of brainstorming when compared to nominal group technique?

• a. brainstorming is more fun

• b. brainstorming can create a positive organizational climate

• c. brainstorming can encourage talented and highly skilled employees to remain in an organization

• d. all of the above

Groupthink can be combatted in which of the following ways?

• the team leader could withhold his or her viewpoint during team discussion

• the devil's advocate role could be assigned to a specific team member

• team members could engage in cohesiveness-building training

• d. both a and b

Team creativity can be promoted in which of the following ways?

• Establishing a competitive environment to promote creative ideas

• Establishing challenges for the team

• Evaluating ideas during the idea generation stage

• Stressing deadlines to encourage intensity and focus

Which of the following is an effective technique for dealing with troublesome group members?

• Embrace their disruptive behavior

• Use the same behaviors as the disruptive member to demonstrate why their behaviors are flawed

• Create an environment where the disruptive member does not feel welcome

• Confront the person directly

Goals work best for building teams when

• they are clearly stated

• there are many goals to challenge the team

• the goals create competition within the group

• no goal is shared by every member on the team

Which of the following is not a way to establish team identity?

• creating a team name

• creating a uniform style of dress

• creating group rituals

• creating competition among group members for prizes and awards given to the best team member

Breaking down a problem into its constituent parts during team discussion is which of the following steps in the Standard Agenda?

• Criteria development

• Identification of the problem

• Analyzing the problem

• Evaluating problem solutions

Consensus decision making means that

• every group member's preferred choice will be selected by the group

• all members agree to the final decision or group choice

• all legitimate concerns of group members are addressed

• both b and c

Majority rule has which of the following disadvantages?

• it is time consuming to arrive at a majority decision

• majorities make slow methological decisions

• a dominance power dynamic can emerge

• all of the above

Groupthink is

• a process where group members gather to decide issues

• a process of group members stressing disagreement and skepticism

• a process of group members stressing cohesiveness and agreement instead of skepticism and optimum decision making

• a process of breaking rigid thinking by placing a problem in a different frame of reference