Assignments
Small Group Dynamics and Team Building
Multiple Choice (2)
1.
All groups go through these stages in which order?
a. Forming,
storming, conforming, performing
b. Forming,
conforming, storming, performing
c. Forming,
performing, storming, conforming
d. Forming,
storming, performing, conforming
2.
Which of the following is a type of leadership?
a. Unofficial
b. Aggressive
c. Lazy
d. All of the above
3.
Effective managers should help their team
a. Build
trusting relationships
b. Clarify roles
c. Develop
pride
d. All of the
above
4.
Starting team building during the hiring stage can do what for the organization?
a. Improve the
work place
b. Lose money
because it is too time consuming
c. Increase
turnover
d. All of the above
5.
Helpful, hostile, and ho-hum are all types
of
.
a. project/programme purposees
b. Teams
c.
People
d. All of the above
6.
What can a team do to come to a decision?
a. Impose one
b. Vote on it
c. Come to a
consensus
d. All of the
above
7.
What is the biggest problem groups fear when they come together to make decisions?
a. Disruptive
members
b. Not making a
good decision
c.
Groupthink
d. All of the above
8.
Group dynamics can be studied in
a.
Humans
b. Animals
c. Robots
d. All of the above
Matching the Columns
Answers:
1.) A
2.) C
3.) E
4.) B
5.) F
6.) D
Summary
While
every small group has its own unique personality and characteristics, there are some
attributes common to all of them.
A manager
must learn how to analyze the group and determine what each person is bringing to it, and
how that can be best utilized in achieving the groups purpose or goal. Managers must
also know how to turn the separate individuals who enter their group into a unified team
with a common goal and a commitment to reaching it.
This
requires an understanding of leadership skills and team building techniques, as well as
group dynamics, and how individual members function within a group.
Each team
is comprised of individuals with different attitudes, not all of them conducive to
teamwork or to the project they are working on. A managers job entails dealing with
these attitudes and finding a way to shape them toward the common goal.
Managers
must also maintain the groups focus, and make sure that they do not wander off into
other areas. However, a manager must also be flexible and realize that individuals have
their own ways of working. As a rule, there is nothing wrong with the way anyone works as
long as that person can get the job done within the teams established parameters,
and without interfering with how others work. A manager must also realize that the
social function of groups are vital to their success and not try to eliminate such social
interaction, but to keep it to an appropriate level.
Module Test
1. ______ At any one time we are
all part of numerous different groups.
2. ______ All groups go through
four stages.
3.
______ Team building starts after an employee
has been on the job for at least one year.
4.
______ The nature of a team and the attitudes of
its members are often shaped by the way decisions are made.
5. ______ Groupthink happens when
the group is weak.
6.
______ People ordered to belong to a group are
usually more satisfied with their jobs.
7. ______ The social function of
groups is vital to that groups success.
8.
______ A group can perform at a level either
less or greater than the sum of all its people.
9. ______ The official is the only
leader available to a group.
10.______ Effective managers must know hoe to take
people and turn them into
teams and the members into team players.
Answers:
1.
T
2.
T
3.
F After hiring
4. T
5.
F confident and cohesive
6.
F - Only those wanting to be in the group.
7.
T
8. T
9.
F 2 types, official and unofficial
10. T
Bibliography
Barker, L., Wahlers, K., Watson, K., & Kibler, R. (1991). Groups in
process: An introduction to small group communication (4th ed.).
Brilhart, J., Galanes, G., & Adams, K. (2001). Effective group discussion
(10th ed.). NewYork: McGraw-Hill.
Evans, C., & Dion, K. (1991). Group cohesion and performance. Small Group
Behavior, 22, 175-186.
Janis, I.L. (1982). Groupthink.