1) Organizational behavior is an interdisciplinary body of knowledge with strong ties to several academic disciplines. Please identify three of the four primary areas.
2) What is groupthink? Why can groupthink be detrimental to effective group functioning?
3) Identify and define four of the seven key elements in the communication process. Give a specific example of a possible breakdown in a communication flow.
4) There are four forms of personal power. Please identify and explain any three of the four.
5) Although conflict is usually considered a negative experience to be avoided, it actually has the potential to produce positive organizational outcomes. Please identify three ways in which conflict can be a positive influence.
Essay Questions:
6) Just as Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney cried, "Let's put on a show!" to solve problems in their 1940s movie lives, many businesses cry "Let's build teams!" to attack problems ranging from low productivity to poor morale, high costs and missed deadlines. Likewise, in our Week 3 Case study, Building a Coalition, we had a team begin to form to address problems in the Washington, DC school system. Employee teams intuitively seem to be a great idea and are certainly a growing trend.
Use your newfound knowledge of teams and discuss the following 3 elements:
a. Describe the stages of group development? Why is it important that managers have an understanding of the group development process?
b. Identify and discuss three group property or team process elements you feel are most important in building a high performing team.
c. Identify and discuss at least TWO factors that determine whether teams are successful. (16 points).
7) Conflict is bound to occur in any organization. In order to address conflict effectively, it is essential the conflict be clearly understood as a process. (See Exhibit 14-1 in your textbook) Select any two of the five stages in the conflict process and explain why that step is critical to understanding why conflict is occurring. Provide an example that illustrates the step you are describing. For one of the two stages you described, explain how you might go about resolving the conflict from what you might have learned at that stage focusing on the example you provided.
8) Managers and leaders must possess good communication skills in order to be successful and achieve their goals. However, there are many barriers to effective communication. Please describe five common barriers to effective communication that managers and leaders often need to overcome. Evaluate each of the five barrier's significance to the communication process. Then identify an action that a manager or leader could take to overcome each barrier.