Teamwork: Team Lifecycle & Dysfunction

Question 1

What is the significance of group work in engineering

Answer 1

Solve
- Complex problems
- systems thinking
- interdisciplinary (different skill set combined)

Question 2

Signs of effective team

Answer 2

-communication
- leadership
- contribution
- Time-management
- respect
- accountability
- helping each other
- inclusiveness
- organisation and planning
- flexibility
- plan
- defined roles
- giving and receiving feedback
- resolving problems

Question 3

What are Tuckman’s stages

Answer 3

• forming
• storming
• norming
• performing
• adjourning

Question 4

What are the aspects of forming

Answer 4

• orientation
• testing
• dependence

Question 5

Storming

Answer 5

• resistance
• conflict
• emotional demand

Question 6

Norming

Answer 6

• openness
• flexibility
• functionality
• equilibrium

Question 7

Performing

Answer 7

• constructive action
• supportive structure
• group energy
• whole is greater than the mere sum of parts

Question 8

What are Patrick Lencioni’s five dysfunctions of a team

Answer 8

• absence of trust
• fear of conflict
• lack of commitment
• avoidance of accountability
• inattention to Results

Question 9

What is trust

Answer 9

Need to display vulnerability

Question 10

What is useful conflict

Answer 10

• no fear
• based on trust
• productive
• pursuit of truth
• ability to disagree with respect

Question 11

What is commitment

Answer 11

• engage and ‘weigh-in’
• engage in the ‘conflict’
• active participation ina group
• don’t be passive

Question 12

What is accountability

Answer 12

• take responsibility for your actions

Question 13

What are the type of tasks

Answer 13

• disjunctive
• conjunctive
• additive

Question 14

Disjunctive

Answer 14

A type of task that can only be done by one person

Question 15

Conjunctive

Answer 15

A type of task that has many parts and each part is taken up by a team member. Each part is not connected to another, but the whole task is a combination of the parts

Question 16

Additive

Answer 16

similar to conjunctive, except that the different parts are connected

Question 17

What is free riding

Answer 17

“The problem of the non-performing group member who reaps the benefits of the accomplishments of the remaining group members with little or no cost to him/herself”

Question 18

What is the sucker effect

Answer 18

Refers to individuals responding to others free-riding upon their efforts by free-riding themselves

Question 19

What are some influences to free riding

Answer 19

• Complex tasks
• optimising vs maximising outcomes

Question 20

Recognition of effort

Answer 20

Good to recognise who did what to prevent loafing

Question 21

How can team charter help

Answer 21

A well-designed charter helps to clarify expectation, focus activities, and provide a basis for decision-making

Question 22

Difference between team vs. group

Answer 22

• depends on the nature of task
• teams generally have more complex and larger term projects

Question 23

Altruism vs self-interest motivations

Answer 23

Intrinsic
- selfless commitment to the task
- inherent selflessness and empathetic to team mates
Extrinsic
- External incentives
- marks and grades
- equitable effort

Important: it’s best for students to maximise their self-interest

Question 24

True or false: the more complex the task the more free riding would occur

Answer 24

True

Question 25

True or false: easy tasks have a higher chance of ‘loafing’

Answer 25

True Due to lack of challenge and lack of clarity

Question 26

Define optimisation

Answer 26

Success is determined by the proximity of the finished product to a desired final outcome

Question 27

Define maximising outcomes

Answer 27

Measured by unambiguous goals achieved

Question 28

Which outcome has a higher chance of ‘free riding’ maximising or optimising

Answer 28

Optimising

Question 29

In terms of Patrick Lencioni’s five dysfunctions, the lack of openness or not being vulnerable is most aligned to which attribute

Answer 29

Absence of trust

Question 30

In terms of Patrick Lencioni’s five dysfunctions, the lack of participation or being apathetic is most aligned to which attribute?

Answer 30

Fear of conflict

Question 31

Give examples of tasks that requires teamwork to complete?

Answer 31

- building a house - deciding on the type and source of steel to purchase for construction project of a shopping mall

Question 32

Interacting groups are better at generating and exploring solutions to problems more rapidly and broadly than independent problem solvers **except for?**

Answer 32

The highest scoring independent problems solvers

Question 33

When a group, by grouping, underperforms compared to a smaller group of independent problem solver, **this effect is called?**

Answer 33

Group loss

Question 34

In the **’forming’ stage** of the team lifecycle (Tuckman), which of the following best describes **’testing and dependence’**?

Answer 34

Discovering the boundaries of the team members