Define an organizational ecosystem and show how the general and task environments affect an organization’s ability to thrive.

1.      : What suggestions do you have for the CIO to help her turn this collection of individual regional and departmental heads into a top-performing team? Explain.

: How do you think that the team evolved to this low level of cooperation and cohesiveness?

1.      : What type of team does the new CIO have? What do you see as the key problem with the team?

1.      : Vote to reduce each of the three students’ penalties. Instead of a zero, each student will receive only half of the possible total points for the project, which would be an F. You’re still holding students responsible for the group project, but not imposing catastrophic punishment. This compromise both undercuts the professor’s policy and punishes “innocent” team members to some extent, but not as severely.

1.      Vote in support of Hank Schmidt’s decision to hold each individual member accountable for the entire project. The professor clearly stated his policy at the beginning of the semester, and the students should have been more vigilant. The committee should not undercut a professor’s explicit policy.

1.      : Vote to exonerate the three group members who didn’t cheat. You’re convinced they had no reason to suspect Conrad Novak of dishonesty. Exonerating them is the right thing to do.

1.       : If you were the leader of a newly formed team, what might you do to make sure the team developed norms of high performance?

1.       : Discuss how the dilemma of teamwork versus individual work might be intensified in a virtual team. What dilemmas do you encounter when you have to do class assignments as part of a team? Discuss.

1.       : Some people argue that the presence of an outside threat correlates with a high degree of team cohesiveness. Would you agree or disagree? Explain your answer.

1.       : Experts say that for teams to function well, members must get to know one another in some depth. What specifically would you do to facilitate this when team members are located together? What about in a global virtual team?

1.       : If you were the leader of a special-purpose team developing a new computer game and conflicts arose related to power and status differences among team members, what would you do? Of the conflict-handling styles described in this chapter, which do you think might be most effective? Explain your 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.