1. Which of the following statements is true about conflict in teams?
Conflict arising from personality differences between team members can hurt team performance.
Highly effective teams do not have conflict among members.
Conflict primarily deals with a lack of integration of individual efforts toward team goals.
The most effective way to deal with conflict is to ignore it because talking about it only worsens it.
2. Although he usually has a legitimate and understandable excuse, one of your teammates is consistently late to team meetings. What would be the most effective action to take to deal with this issue?
At the next team meeting, tell the team that such behavior is unacceptable.
Raise the issue with your team and explain how lateness impacts the meeting’s productivity.
Don’t make a big deal out of it because he has valid reasons for his lateness.
Ask him privately to show up on time for the next meeting.
3. Your team is excited about the chance to participate in the simulation. In fact, everyone expresses a strong desire to be the best company in the simulation. Which of the following actions would be most likely to help your team begin to plan and coordinate its tasks and activities for this effort?
List all of the tasks to be accomplished and vote on which should be done first.
Compare all of the tasks and activities in terms of their priority, time requirements, and sequencing.
Ask the instructor about what other successful teams have done in the past and use these actions as a guide.
Have team members take on tasks with which they feel most comfortable and integrate the results after the tasks are completed.
4. The last two decisions your team made have not been successful and your company is near the bottom on a number of metrics (stock value, ROA, market share). Two of your teammates are arguing and blaming each other for convincing the team to make previously unsuccessful decisions. What should the team do to most effectively resolve this situation?
Choose someone to serve as a negotiator between the two teammates.
Ignore the argument and instead focus on the next decision that needs to be made.
Have the two teammates debate what they would have done differently, with the rule that the debate must be done fairly and professionally.
Encourage the teammates to ask questions in order to understand each other’s position and look for solutions that both find preferable.
5. For the past hour or so, your team has been discussing the possible options for your team’s next decision in the simulation. You notice that one of your team members hasn’t contributed to the discussion. Which of the following actions would be most effective in this situation?
Ask the teammate if he or she would like to add anything to the discussion before deciding on which options to make.
Ask to take a 5-minute break and privately request the teammate to voice his or her opinion.
Vote on the options discussed and encourage the teammate to contribute more at the next decision round.
Ask the entire team if anyone else has an opinion prior to voting on the options.
6. Everyone on your team is trying his or her best; however, your team’s company is struggling to perform well in the simulation and you just received negative feedback on your team’s functioning (i.e., teamwork). Which of the following would be the most effective way to use this feedback about how your team interacts to address the performance problem?
Have each team member devise a plan on his or her own and at the next team meeting vote on the best plan.
Work with others in your team to form an action plan describing specific tactics the team will use to improve their teamwork functioning.
Focus on finding out which team member (or members) is mostly responsible for the decisions that have led to the poor performance.
Have team members with the most expertise devise a solution for the team.
7. One of your teammates is feeling a bit overwhelmed by the amount of work and complexity of the simulation. The deadline for a decision is fast approaching and the person has not contributed his fair share of work. How should the team deal most effectively with this situation?
Ask the teammate for his or her commitment to the team.
In a team meeting, assign a specific task to the person to be completed prior to the team’s deadline.
Move forward without his contribution because the deadline is approach and deal with the situation after the deadline.
Have team members talk with the person individually to show their support and encouragement.