Question & Answer

1.       : Imagine yourself as a potential member of a team responsible for designing a new package for a breakfast cereal. Do you think interpersonal skills would be equally important if the team is organized to interact on a face-to-face basis versus as a virtual team? Why or why not? Might different types of interpersonal skills be required for the two types of teams? Be specific.

1.       : Research on team interactions indicates that when people eat lunch at 12-person tables, they are more talkative and collaborative than when they eat at 4-person tables, even if they aren’t eating with their own team members. What do you think would explain this finding?

1.       : Suppose that you are the leader of a team that has just been created to develop a new registration process at your college or university. How can you use an understanding of the stages of team development to improve your team’s effectiveness?

1.       : One company had 40 percent of its workers and 20 percent of its managers resign during the first year after it reorganized from a vertical hierarchy into agile teams. What might account for this dramatic turnover? How might managers ensure a smooth transition to agile teams?

Explain the causes and types of conflict within and among teams, and describe ways to reduce conflict.

: Explain the processes of team cohesiveness, team norms, and the general stages of team development.

: Identify ways in which team size, diversity of membership, and team roles affect team performance.

: Outline the factors managers should consider that will influence work team effectiveness.

: Summarize the personal dilemmas and common dysfunctions that may arise when working in teams.

: Describe the practices of effective virtual teams and how these practices are implemented.

: Describe the types of teams and the five contributions that teams make in organizations

1.      : How might the state control the accuracy of principals who are conducting teacher evaluations? Explain.

1.      : Is a 1-5 grading system by principals and master teachers a valuable part of a feedback control system for teachers? Why?

1.      What do you see as the major strengths and flaws in the feedback control system used in the schools in this scenario? What changes do you recommend to overcome the flaws?

1.      : Adopt Chris Robinson’s proposed changes, but with a higher limit than the proposed $20 amount (say, $50 or $100), but which is still less than the cost of prosecution. In addition, make sure that the policy isn’t publicized. That way you’ll reduce costs even more and still benefit from your reputation for prosecuting all shoplifters.

1.      : Adopt Chris Robinson’s proposed changes and show more leniency to first-time offenders. It is a more cost-effective approach to the problem than the current policy, plus it stays close to your father’s original intent.

1.      : Continue NIX’s zero-tolerance policy toward shoplifting. It’s the right thing to do—and it will pay off in the end in higher profitability because the chain’s reputation for being tough on crime will reduce overall losses from theft.

1.       : Why is benchmarking an important component of TQM programs? Do you believe a company could have a successful TQM program without using benchmarking? Explain.

1.       : What types of analysis can managers perform to help them diagnose a company’s financial condition? How might a review of financial statements help managers diagnose other kinds of performance problems as well?

1.       : Some critics argue that Six Sigma is a collection of superficial changes that often results in doing a superb job of building the wrong product or offering the wrong service. Do you agree or disagree? Explain.

1.       Think of a class that you’ve taken in the past. What standards of performance did your professor establish? How was your actual performance measured? How was your performance compared to the standards? Do you think the standards and methods of measurement were fair? Were they appropriate to your assigned work? Why or why not?

1.       : Most companies have policies that regulate employees’ personal use of work computers during work hours. Some even monitor employee e-mails and track the Web sites that have been visited. Do you consider this type of surveillance to be an invasion of privacy? What are some advantages and disadvantages of restricting employee use of the Internet and e-mail at work?

1.       : In zero-based budgeting, every account starts at $0, and every dollar added to the budget is supported by an actual, documented need. Identify the possible advantages of zero-based budgeting.