TEAM ROLES & BEHAVIOR
Q: What is the main purpose of task roles in a team?
A: To help the team achieve goals and solve problems.
Q: What decision method involves the leader making the final choice?
A: Authority rule.
Q: What is the purpose of brainstorming?
Q: What is the purpose of brainstorming?
Q: What is emotional conflict?
A: Conflict based on feelings like anger, distrust, fear, or resentment.
Q: What is substance conflict?
A: Conflict about ideas, facts, or issues.
Q: Give two examples of maintenance activities.
A: Encouraging, gatekeeping, following, or reducing tension.
Q: What is the main problem with majority rule?
A: People who lose the vote must accept the result, which can reduce motivation or support.
Q: Name one norm that supports creativity in teams.
A: Open communication, being helpful, or feeling empowered to contribute.
Q: What makes conflict functional instead of dysfunctional?
A: It becomes functional when it boosts creativity, effort, and cooperation to help reach goals.
Q: What is the difference between functional and dysfunctional conflict?
A: Functional conflict improves decisions and performance, while dysfunctional conflict hurts performance and damages relationships.
Q: Why is distributed leadership useful in teams?
A: It lets anyone step in with task or maintenance roles when needed, making the team more flexible and effective.
Q: Explain the difference between consensus and unanimity.
A: Consensus means everyone accepts the decision, while unanimity means everyone fully agrees with no disagreement.
Q: List three steps from Matt Bowen’s brainstorming approach.
A: Specify the goal, limit the session to an hour, keep the group small, allow no criticism, encourage building on ideas, or follow up.
Q: Give two causes of conflict in organizations.
A: Resource shortages, unclear roles, task interdependence, competing objectives, structural differences, or unresolved past conflicts.
Q: What is the relationship between conflict level and performance?
A: Low conflict causes boredom, moderate conflict gives best performance, and high conflict creates stress and low performance.
Q: Explain how disruptive behaviors hurt a team.
A: They distract the group, lower morale, slow progress, and shift the focus away from the team toward personal interests.
Q: What is groupthink and why does it lead to poor decisions?
A: It is when teams avoid disagreement and stop thinking critically, causing bad decisions because no one questions ideas.
Q: Why is nominal group technique sometimes better than regular brainstorming?
A: It avoids chaos by giving each person structured time to contribute without interruptions.
Q: Why do suppressed conflicts often return later?
A: Because the core issues are not fixed, so the conflict appears again later.
A: Low conflict causes boredom, moderate conflict gives best performance, and high conflict creates stress and low performance.
A: Avoidance ignores issues, accommodation gives in, competition forces a solution, compromise splits differences, and collaboration works together for a win win.
Q: Describe how task roles and maintenance roles work together to improve both performance and satisfaction.
A: Task roles push the team toward results while maintenance roles protect relationships and unity, leading to strong performance and high satisfaction.
Q: Describe how time pressure and strong personalities can shape which decision method a team uses.
A: Time pressure pushes teams to use fast methods like authority rule, and strong personalities can influence minority rule or sway majority voting.
Q: How do norms, structure, and group size increase creativity?
A: Norms create openness, structure keeps the session focused, and proper group size prevents overload, leading to better ideas.
Q: How do structural approaches like cross functional teams help resolve deeper conflict issues?
A: They improve communication, connect people across roles, and change systems so cooperation becomes easier, removing underlying conflict causes.
Q: How do cooperativeness and assertiveness shape conflict outcomes?
A: Cooperativeness shows willingness to work with others, assertiveness shows willingness to express needs, and different mixes lead to win win, win lose, or lose lose outcomes.