BOB7034 - Lecture 6

An informal group is characterized by the ________.

• stipulation of expected behaviors by the organization

• predetermined designation of tasks of members

• pursuit of particular organizational goals

• fulfillment of the need for social contact

Our tendency to take personal pride or offense for the accomplishments of a group we are a part of is the territory of the ________ theory.

• social exchange

• expectancy

• social identity

• reinforcement

________ is defined as the tendency to see members of the group of which we are a part of as better than other people.

• Ingroup homogeneity

• Xenocentrism

• The black sheep effect

• Ingroup favoritism

At Milton farms, where a large part of the management comes from the same sociocultural background, many employees of diverse ethical or cultural origins are hired only to ensure legal compliance with laws relating to diversity at the workplace. The company's day-to-day functioning leaves much to be desired in terms of promoting diversity. Recently, the owner's cousin was promoted to the post of a branch manager while three suitable candidates hailing from different cultures were blatantly overlooked. This is an example of ________.

• social loafing

• ingroup favoritism

• groupthink

• contrast bias

Often, our identification with our workgroups is stronger than with our organizations. Both are important to positive outcomes in attitudes and behaviors. Additionally, if we have low identification in relation to the group, there may be increased competition and decreased organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) by group members. If we have low identification with our organizations, we may experience decreased satisfaction and OCB.

• TRUE

• FALSE

Which of the following represents the first action in the group development process of a temporary group?

• group direction is set

• transition after half of time taken up

• inertia and slow progress

• second phase of inertia

Janice Cooper has recently joined a hospital as a part of the internship program prescribed by the nursing school she attends. Janice, who was inspired to take up this profession by the story of Florence Nightingale, has very strong ideals about how she should behave as a nurse. She feels that as a nurse she must be gentle, pleasant, and caring at all times so she can serve her patients well, and she often goes to great lengths as an intern by putting in extra hours at the hospital and so on. The scenario reflects Janice's ________.

• role fuzziness

• role ambiguity

• role conflict

• role perception

When faced with a number of tight deadlines, Mandy Moore often delegates work collectively. Recently she chose some fairly experienced employees to work on a high-priority project. She was heartened to see that the selected group of employees was having numerous meetings and working hard. However, when she went to check on their progress at the halfway mark in the project schedule, she was shocked to see how little the team had done in the past three weeks. This scenario reflects ________.

• groupthink

• collective efficacy

• social loafing

• groupshift

Which of the following is a contributing factor with regard to social loafing?

• difficult task assignments

• high collective efficacy

• severe time constraints

• diffusion of responsibility

Which of the following is an advantage of group decision making when compared to individual decision making?

• increased ambiguous responsibility

• increased conformity pressures

• increased diversity of views

• increased dispersion of accountability