BUS272 TB

Chapter 6 Groups and Teamwork 235
P I A PERSONAL
INVENTORY
PERSONAL INVENTORY ASSESSMENT
ASSESSMENT
Team Development Behaviours: This self-assessment is designed to help you better understand the contributions you
make to building effective teams and teamwork.
OB at Work
Diagnosing the Need for Team Building: Team cohesion is important for optimal team functioning. Use this scale to
determine if team-building activities would benefit your group.
Positive Practices Survey: This diagnostic instrument helps you identify the behaviours that are typical of the very
highest performing teams and organizations.
BREAKOUT GROUP E X E R C I S E S
Form small groups to discuss the following topics, as assigned by your instructor:
1. One of the members of your team continually arrives late for meetings and does not turn drafts of assignments
in on time. In general, this group member is engaging in social loafing. What can the members of your group
do to reduce social loafing?
2. Consider a team with which you have worked. Was there more emphasis on task-oriented or maintenanceoriented
roles? What impact did this have on the group’s performance?
3. Identify 4 or 5 norms that a team could put into place near the beginning of its life that might help the team
function better over time.
EXPERIENTIAL E X E R C I S E
The Paper Tower Exercise
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Each group will receive 20 index cards, 12 paper clips, and 2 marking pens. Groups have 10 minutes
to plan a paper tower that will be judged on the basis of 3 criteria: height, stability, and beauty. No
physical work (building) is allowed during this planning period.
Each group has 15 minutes for the actual construction of the paper tower.
Each tower will be identified by a number assigned by your instructor. Each student is to individually
examine all the paper towers. Your group is then to come to a consensus as to which tower is the winner
(5 minutes). A spokesperson from your group should report its decision and the criteria the group used
in reaching it.
In your small groups, discuss the following questions (your instructor may choose to have you discuss
only a subset of these questions):
a. What percentage of the plan did each member of your group contribute, on average?
b. Did your group have a leader? Why or why not?
c. How did the group generally respond to the ideas that were expressed during the planning
period?
d. To what extent did your group follow the five-stage model of group development?
e. List specific behaviours exhibited during the planning and building sessions that you felt were
helpful to the group. Explain why you found them to be helpful.