formal groups

Which of the following is true regarding formal groups?
A. They have negligible impact on employee performance and behavior.
B. They are natural formations that arise in response to the need for social contact.
C. A group of people who come together to protest against a new law make up a formal group.
D. They lack clearly defined structures and roles for their members.
E. They are marked by stipulated behaviors in pursuit of organizational goals.
Question 29
ICE is a non-profit organization that runs awareness campaigns and research programs that provide data to initiate the process of legislative changes on various aspects of the environment like forest cover, nuclear fuel, endangered species and others. The ICE operates through networks of grass-root level researchers who are grouped into flexible project teams whose roles and duties change with each new project. The ICE believes its employees to be like family and an informal environment pervades its functioning without any compromises being made in the efficiency. Recently, the project manager of the rainwater harvesting pilot project in the suburbs has been informed of two delays in the project. When the third extension request came to him, he looked into the matter by speaking individually with the five team members. Which of the following complaints by the team members, if true, would indicate the presence of social loafing in the team?
A. A team member complained that the residents of the suburb in which they were working were uncooperative and did not accept their most cordial requests for helping in data collection.
B. Two of the most experienced employees on the team reported having to shoulder a disproportionate amount of the current workload and asked for an internal transfer.
C. The team members were dissatisfied with the compensation package as they felt they were putting in a lot of work and being paid relatively less.
D. The scarcity of funds was one of the major concerns that all the team members mentioned.
E. Nancy, one of the new team members, reported that she felt the team was not cohesive enough.
Question 30
Which of the following represents the second stage in the five-stage group development model?
A. forming
B. storming
C. adjourning
D. performing
E. norming
Question 31
According to status characteristics theory, which of the following factors does not determine status?
A. contribution to goals
B. personality
C. talent
D. ability to conform to group norms
E. control over the resources needed by the group
Question 32
The important groups to which an individual belongs or hopes to belong are known as ________ groups.
A. nominal
B. reference
C. control
D. interacting
E. organizational
Question 33
Bonnie Patterson is a manager for seven years at Wayne and Watson, a legal consultancy firm. A good part of her work day involves holding meetings and she likes to get work on a time-bound schedule. For this reason, members of her team receive the agenda at the beginning of the meeting, followed by some time to contemplate over the issue at hand individually. Subsequently, the team members present their ideas one after the another, the group discusses them together, and lastly, a ranking is done to choose the most favored idea. This represents the ________ approach of group decision making.
A. brainstorming
B. interacting
C. nominal group
D. reference group
E. groupthink
Question 34
Status is a characteristic under the social identity theory that reflects the ________.
A. tendency of in-group members to notice and emphasize identities that reflect how different they are from other groups
B. tendency of people to link themselves to groups of higher social standing in an attempt to define themselves favorably
C. tendency of in-group members to prefer and endorse the products, ideas, and aspects of someone else’s culture over their own
D. tendency of people who have greater uniformity in values and characteristics to have greater identification as well
E. tendency of people to use the group as a means of understanding who they are and how they fit into the world
Question 35
Which of the following statements is true regarding the norming stage of group development?
A. This stage is characterized by a great deal of uncertainty about the group’s purpose, structure, and leadership.
B. According to the five-stage group development model, this is the second stage in the group development model.
C. During this stage the group completes the task at hand.
D. During this stage, members accept the existence of the group but resist the constraints it imposes on individuality.
E. During this stage, the group develops a common set of expectations of what defines correct member behavior.
Question 36
Which of the following is true with regard to deviant workplace behavior?
A. Leaving work early is an example of a property-related deviant workplace behavior.
B. Widespread deviant workplace behavior depends on the accepted norms of the group.
C. Research on deviance at the workplace has shown that employees operating individually engage in more deviant behaviors than those who function as a part of groups.
D. It has a negligible adverse impact on organization as it is accepted by some employees.
E. It is involuntary in nature.
Question 37
________ refers to the degree to which members are attracted to each other and motivated to stay in the group.
A. Authoritativeness
B. Assertiveness
C. Diversity
D. Cohesiveness
E. Social dominance
Question 38
Which of the following stages of the five-stage group development model is characterized by a great deal of uncertainty about the group’s purpose, structure, and leadership?
A. forming
B. norming
C. evolution
D. storming
E. introduction
Question 39
In the context of the social identity theory, distinctiveness refers to the ________.
A. tendency of in-group members to prefer and endorse the products, ideas, and aspects of someone else’s culture over their own
B. tendency of people to use the group as a means of understanding who they are and how they fit into the world
C. tendency of people to link themselves to high-status groups in an attempt to define themselves favorably
D. tendency of people who have greater uniformity in values and characteristics to have greater identification as well
E. tendency of in-group members to notice and emphasize identities that reflect how different they are from other groups
Question 40
Which of the following represents the major determinants of group development and functioning as depicted by the punctuated-equilibrium model?
A. role perception and expectation
B. better perspectives and patterns
C. promotion of diversity
D. deadlines and time constraints
E. group solidarity and collectivist goals