Organizational Behavior 17Th Edition Robbins Test Bank Full Chapter PDF

Organizational Behavior 17th Edition
Robbins Test Bank

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Organizational Behavior, 17e (Robbins)
Chapter 10 Understanding Work Teams
1) The current popularity of teams can be attributed to the fact that ________.
A) they enable quicker accomplishment of goals than individuals
B) they represent a better way to use employee talents
C) they reduce the need for coordination and supervision
D) they aid in the performance of simple tasks that do not require diverse inputs
E) they strengthen the worth of individual team players over the team
Answer: B
Explanation: B) As organizations have restructured themselves to compete more effectively and
efficiently, they have turned to teams as a better way to use employee talents.
LO: 10.1: Analyze the continued popularity of teams in organizations.
Difficulty: Easy
Quest. Category: Concept
2) More and more organizations are resorting to teams as they represent a better way to use
employee talents.
Answer: TRUE
Explanation: As organizations have restructured themselves to compete more effectively and
efficiently, they have turned to teams as a better way to use employee talents.
Difficulty: Easy
3) Teams and traditional departments have the same level of flexibility and responsiveness to
external changes.
Answer: FALSE
Explanation: Teams are more flexible and responsive to changing events than traditional
departments or other forms of permanent groupings.
Difficulty: Easy
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4) Which of the following statements best defines a workgroup?
A) A workgroup performs at a level greater than the sum of its inputs from individual members.
B) A workgroup interacts primarily to share information, rather than to engage in work that
requires joint effort.
C) A workgroup consists of members who work together and generate positive synergy through
coordinated effort.
D) A workgroup consists of members having complementary skills that are applied in a
coordinated fashion to the task at hand.
E) A work group involves individual and mutual accountability regarding results and outcomes.
Answer: B
Explanation: B) A group consists of two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent,
who have come together to achieve particular objectives. A workgroup is defined as a group that
interacts primarily to share information and to make decisions to help each group member
perform within his or her area of responsibility. They have no need or opportunity to engage in
collective work that requires joint effort.
LO: 10.2: Contrast groups and teams.
Difficulty: Easy
5) Workgroups are characterized by ________.

A) the emphasis on generating positive synergy
B) the goal of sharing information among members
C) the mutual and team-based accountability for results
D) the need to attain collective performance
E) the availability of complementary skill sets
Answer: B
Explanation: B) A workgroup is a group that interacts primarily to share information and make
decisions to help each member perform within his or her area of responsibility. They are
characterized by neutral synergy, individual accountability, and the presence of random and
varied skill sets.
Difficulty: Moderate
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6) What is the primary purpose of a workgroup?
A) to generate positive synergy
B) to improve collective performance
C) to inculcate a climate of trust
D) to share relevant information
E) to enhance team efficacy
Answer: D
Explanation: D) A workgroup is a group that interacts primarily to share information and make
decisions to help each member perform within his or her area of responsibility. They are
characterized by neutral synergy, individual accountability, and the presence of random and
varied skill sets.
7) Which of the following statements is true regarding a work team?

A) Work teams are rarely used in organizations today.
B) Work teams are generally less flexible than traditional departments.
C) Work teams generate positive synergy through coordinated effort.
D) Work teams are less responsive to changes in the internal and external environment of the
company.
E) Work teams involve members of random and varied skill sets.
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Today most of the organizations use teams. Teams are more flexible and
responsive to changing events than traditional departments or other forms of permanent
groupings. A work team generates positive synergy through coordinated effort. Teams facilitate
employee participation in operating decisions.
8) A work team is characterized by ________.

A) the goal of sharing information
B) the presence of neutral to negative synergy
C) the availability of complementary skills among members
D) the individual accountability for outcomes and results
E) the mere accumulation of individual efforts
Answer: C
Explanation: C) A work team generates positive synergy through coordinated effort. The
individual efforts result in a level of performance greater than the sum of those individual inputs.
Work teams aim at the goal of collective performance, apply complementary skills, and promote
individual and mutual accountability for group results.
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9) Which of the following accurately differentiates between workgroups and work teams?
A) Workgroups are used by top-management employees, while work teams are used by lower-
level workers.
B) Workgroups are used for functions relating to areas of the external environment, while work
teams are exclusively used for departmental problems and issues.
C) Workgroups involve members who have complementary skills, while work teams use
employees who have random and varied skills.
D) Work teams generate a potential for an organization to generate greater outputs with no
increase in inputs, while workgroups cannot perform this function.
E) Work teams represent the mere accumulation of individual efforts, while workgroups generate
a positive synergy within the organization.
Answer: D
Explanation: D) A work team generates positive synergy through coordinated effort. The
individual efforts result in a level of performance greater than the sum of those individual inputs.
Work teams aim at the goal of collective performance, apply complementary skills, and promote
individual and mutual accountability for group results.
10) The extensive use of work teams benefits organizations by ________.

A) generating neutral synergy among all employees of the team
B) eliminating the need for mutual accountability for results
C) developing the various team member's skills such that they are random and varied
D) generating a potential for creating greater outputs without increasing inputs
E) ensuring that the mere accumulation of individual efforts is used for group work
Answer: D
Explanation: D) Organizations are looking for positive synergy that will allow the organizations
to increase performance. The extensive use of teams creates the potential for an organization to
generate greater outputs with no increase in inputs.
11) The goal of a workgroup is to share information.

Answer: TRUE
Explanation: A workgroup is a group that interacts primarily to share information and make
decisions to help each member perform within his or her area of responsibility.
Difficulty: Easy
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12) Nancy is a part of a group at work that stresses collective goals and performance. Nancy is
amazed at how well the members of the team use their skills to benefit themselves and their team
members. Whenever a problem arises, the team, as a whole, works to provide reasons and
solutions. She enjoys working in this group as there is a lot of positive energy. This group that
Nancy is a part of is a workgroup.
Answer: FALSE
Explanation: Nancy is a part of a work team. A work team generates positive synergy through
coordinated effort. The individual efforts result in a level of performance greater than the sum of
those individual inputs.
AACSB: Analytical thinking
Quest. Category: Application
13) Discuss the difference between a workgroup and a work team.

Answer: A workgroup is a group that interacts primarily to share information and to make
decisions to help each member perform within his or her area of responsibility. There is no
positive synergy that would create an overall level of performance that is greater than the sum of
the inputs. The members are individually held accountable for results, and they have random and
varied skills. A work team, on the other hand, generates positive synergy through coordinated
effort. Their individual efforts result in a level of performance that is greater than the sum of
those individual inputs. They consist of members who have complementary skills and are
mutually accountable for outcomes.
Quest. Category: Synthesis
14) A team consists of employees from the same department who meet for a few hours each
week to discuss ways of improving the work environment but they do not have the authority to
unilaterally implement any of their suggestions. This is most likely to be a(n) ________ team.
A) cross-functional
B) virtual
C) self-managed work
D) problem-solving
E) independent
Answer: D
Explanation: D) In a problem-solving team, members share ideas or suggest how work
processes and methods can be improved; they rarely have the authority to unilaterally implement
any of their suggestions.
LO: 10.3: Contrast the five types of team arrangements.
Difficulty: Easy
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15) Problem-solving teams can ________.
A) implement the recommended changes to resolve a problem
B) assume responsibility for the outcomes of a solution they implemented
C) provide recommendations after a discussion amongst department members
D) resolve problems of different departments in an organization simultaneously
E) combine the expertise of employees across different divisions and organizational levels
Answer: C
Explanation: C) In a problem-solving team, members share ideas or suggest how work processes
and methods can be improved; they rarely have the authority to unilaterally implement any of
their suggestions. Problem-solving teams only make recommendations.
Difficulty: Easy
16) The supervisors of the production division of one of the branches of Georgia Mills have been
informed of some irregularities noticed in inventory of raw materials by some trusted
subordinates. To get a clearer picture, the supervisors had a quick meeting with the subordinates
who reported the matter over lunch. The subordinates recommended rotating the schedule of
employees who account for the incoming and used up stock so as to pinpoint the defaulting
employee. The supervisors agreed that this was a good strategy but admitted that the matter must
be escalated to the production manager before such a change can be implemented. They followed
up this meeting with subsequent sessions to evaluate how the change worked. The supervisors
and subordinates form a(n) ________ team in this scenario.
A) cross-functional
B) independent
C) problem-solving
D) virtual
E) self-managed
Answer: C
Explanation: C) In a problem-solving team, members share ideas or suggest how work processes
and methods can be improved; they rarely have the authority to unilaterally implement any of
their suggestions.
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17) ________ teams are defined as groups of employees who perform highly related or
interdependent jobs and take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors.
A) Independent
B) Self-managed work
C) Cross-functional
D) Problem-solving
E) Traditional
Answer: B
Explanation: B) Self-managed work teams are groups of employees who perform highly related
or interdependent jobs and take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors.
Difficulty: Easy
18) Nick, the director of manufacturing at a large electronics company, has created a team of
eleven employees from quality control for working on high priority projects. Nick gives the team
members the responsibility of planning and scheduling their own work and making all functional
decisions. Also, members of this team evaluate each other's performance. This is an example of a
________ team.
A) problem-solving
B) self-managed work
C) cross-functional
D) virtual
E) task-resolution
Answer: B
Explanation: B) Self-managed work teams are groups of employees who perform highly related
or interdependent jobs and take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors. These
tasks are planning, assigning tasks to members, making operating decisions, taking action on
problems, and working with suppliers and customers.
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19) Which of the following statements is true regarding self-managed work teams?
A) Self-managed work teams typically consist of forty to fifty employees.
B) Self-managed work teams typically manage conflicts well.
C) Members of self-managed work teams typically report lower job satisfaction.
D) Self-managed work teams are typically composed of employees from different departments
who work independent of each other.
E) In the case of self-managed work teams, supervisory positions take on decreased importance.
Answer: E
Explanation: E) Self-managed work teams are groups of employees (typically ten to fifteen in
number) who perform highly related or interdependent jobs and take on many of the
responsibilities of their former supervisors. Supervisory positions take on decreased importance
and are sometimes even eliminated. Self-managed teams do not typically manage conflicts well.
Members of this team report higher levels of job satisfaction than other individuals.
Difficulty: Easy
20) Which of the following teams is more likely to be made up of employees from about the
same hierarchical level but different work areas?
A) problem-solving
C) cross-functional
D) traditional
E) departmental
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Cross-functional teams are teams made up of employees from about the same
hierarchical level but different work areas who come together to accomplish a task.
Difficulty: Easy
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21) To retain its edge in the organic health food market, Natura has established a high-priority
team comprised of senior executives from the company's production, marketing, and research
divisions. These employees work together closely to study consumer attitudes about organic
health foods and come up with a closely monitored development and marketing strategy for new
products. This ensures that each division is informed of the specific needs, timelines, and
expected outcomes of the strategy. It also makes Natura a company that adapts to changes in
market trends swiftly. The team Natura uses here is of the ________ type.
A) problem-solving
C) cross-functional
D) traditional
E) departmental
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Cross-functional teams are teams made up of employees from about the same
hierarchical level but different work areas who come together to accomplish a task.
22) GoAir, a low-cost airline, has created a team made up of employees from production,
planning, quality control, tooling, design engineering, and information systems to automate the
company's C-17 program. This team is most likely to be an example of a ________ team.
A) command
B) cross-functional
C) self-managed work
D) problem-solving
E) task
Answer: B
Explanation: B) Cross-functional teams are teams made up of employees from about the same
hierarchical level but different work areas who come together to accomplish a task. They are an
effective means of allowing people from diverse areas to exchange information, develop new
ideas, solve problems, and coordinate complex projects.
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23) Which of the following statements is true regarding a cross-functional team?
A) A cross-functional team is made up of employees from different hierarchical levels.
B) A cross-functional team is made up of employees from the same department.
C) Cross-functional teams have decreased in popularity in the last few decades.
D) In the case of a cross-functional team, the early stages of development are typically very
short.
E) Cross-functional teams are used for developing new ideas and coordinating complex projects.
Answer: E
Explanation: E) Cross-functional teams are made up of employees from about the same
hierarchical level but different work areas. Today, cross-functional teams are widely used in
several organizations. Cross-functional teams are an effective means of developing new ideas
and coordinating complex projects. Their early stages of development are often long, as
members learn to work with diversity and complexity.
24) Which of the following types of teams allows for collaboration between team members who
are physically dispersed?
A) problem-solving teams
B) self-managed work teams
C) task teams
D) virtual teams
E) command teams
Answer: D
Explanation: D) Virtual teams use computer technology to unite physically dispersed members
and achieve a common goal.
Difficulty: Easy
25) Virtual teams are characterized by ________ in comparison to teams which interact face-to-
face.
A) low popularity among companies
B) low social rapport and direct interaction
C) low sharing of unique information
D) low need for supervision
E) low need for publicizing throughout the organization
Answer: B
Explanation: B) Virtual teams tend to be more task oriented and exchange less socio-emotional
information than face-to-face teams do. Not surprisingly, their members report less satisfaction
with the group interaction process than do face-to-face teams. In the case of virtual teams, there
is less social rapport and direct interaction among members.
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26) Which of the following is desirable when a crucial project is delegated to a virtual team?
A) encouraging less interaction among members so they completely focus on the project
B) avoiding publicity of the team's progress and success in the organization
C) promoting a sense of independence over group spirit to encourage competition
D) engaging in close monitoring of the work being done by the team throughout the project
E) discouraging the sharing of unique information as it benefits some employees unfairly
Answer: D
Explanation: D) For virtual teams to be effective, management should ensure that (1) trust is
established among members, (2) team progress is monitored closely, and (3) the efforts and
products of the team are publicized throughout the organization.
27) Which of the following statements is not true regarding multiteam systems?
A) They are used to offset the problems associated with adding more members to an existing
team.
B) They are collections of two or more independent teams that share a superordinate goal.
C) They are effectively teams of teams.
D) They are more successful when they have boundary spanners.
E) They perform better when lines of communication are restricted.
Answer: E
Explanation: E) As tasks become more complex, teams are often made bigger. However,
increases in team size are accompanied by higher coordination demands, creating a tipping point
at which the addition of another member does more harm than good. To solve this problem,
organizations are employing multiteam systems, collections of two or more interdependent teams
that share a superordinate goal. In other words, multiteam systems are a "team of teams."
Research shows that multiteam systems performed better when they had boundary spanners
whose job was to coordinate with other members of the other subteams. This reduced the need
for some team member communication. Restricting lines of communication was helpful because
it reduced coordination demands.
28) Problem-solving teams discuss a problem, generate potential solutions, and implement them
successfully.
Answer: FALSE
Explanation: Problem-solving teams rarely have the authority to unilaterally implement any of
their suggestions.
Difficulty: Easy
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29) In self-managed teams, supervisory positions may be eliminated.
Answer: TRUE
Explanation: Self-managed work teams are groups of employees who perform highly related or
Supervisory positions take on decreased importance and are sometimes even eliminated.
Difficulty: Easy
30) Cross-functional teams consist of employees from about the same hierarchical level, but
from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task.
Answer: TRUE
Explanation: Cross-functional teams consist of employees from about the same hierarchical
level, but from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task.
Difficulty: Easy
31) Virtual teams should be managed differently than face-to-face teams in an office, partially
because virtual team members may not interact along traditional hierarchical patterns.
Answer: TRUE
Explanation: Virtual teams should be managed differently than face-to-face teams in an office,
partially because virtual team members may not interact along traditional hierarchical patterns.
Because of the complexity of interactions, research indicates that shared leadership of virtual
teams may significantly enhance team performance, although the concept is still in development.
32) Describe and discuss self-managed work teams.

Answer: Self-managed work teams are groups of employees (typically 10 to 15 in number) who
perform highly related or interdependent jobs and take on many of the responsibilities of their
former supervisors. Typically, this includes planning and scheduling of work, assigning tasks to
members, collective control over the pace of work, making operating decisions, taking action on
problems, and working with suppliers and customers. Fully self-managed work teams even select
their own members and have the members evaluate each other's performance. As a result,
supervisory positions take on decreased importance and may even be eliminated.
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33) What is a cross-functional team?
Answer: Cross-functional teams are made up of employees from about the same hierarchical
level, but from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task. This is an effective
means for allowing people from diverse areas within an organization to exchange information,
develop new ideas and solve problems, and coordinate complex projects.
34) What are some special challenges that virtual teams face? For virtual teams to be effective,
what should management ensure?
Answer: Virtual teams may suffer from less social rapport and less direct interaction among
members. They aren't able to duplicate the normal give-and-take of face-to-face discussion.
Especially when members haven't personally met, virtual teams tend to be more task-oriented
and exchange less social-emotional information. Not surprisingly, virtual team members report
less satisfaction with the group interaction process than do face-to-face teams. For virtual teams
to be effective, management should ensure that (a) trust is established among team members
(research has shown that one inflammatory remark in a team member e-mail can severely
undermine team trust); (b) team progress is monitored closely (so the team doesn't lose sight of
its goals, and no team member "disappears"); and (c) the efforts and products of the virtual team
are publicized throughout the organization (so the team does not become invisible).
35) Which of the following is not one of the key components of effective teams?
A) team efficacy
B) company reputation
C) adequate resources
D) member flexibility
E) leadership and structure
Answer: B
Explanation: B) A well-established company reputation is not one of the key components of
effective teams.
LO: 10.4: Identify the characteristics of effective teams.
Difficulty: Easy
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36) With reference to the team effectiveness model, which of the following is one of the key
components of an effective team, included under the category of contextual factors?
A) team efficacy
B) climate of trust
C) common purpose
D) social loafing
E) specific goals
Answer: B
Explanation: B) Climate of trust is a contextual factor that affects the effectiveness of teams.
Team efficacy, social loafing, specific goals, and common purpose are process-related factors
that affect the effectiveness of the team.
37) The team effectiveness model classifies the key components of effective teams into three
general categories: context, composition, and process. Which of the following variables belongs
to the composition category?
A) adequate resources
B) conflict level
C) team efficacy
D) performance evaluation system
E) personality of team members
Answer: E
Explanation: E) The personality of team members is a key component that affects the
effectiveness of teams and it belongs to the composition category.
38) According to the team effectiveness model, which of the following is a process variable that
influences effectiveness of a team?
A) leadership and structure
B) team efficacy
C) member flexibility
D) performance evaluation and reward systems
E) abilities of members
Answer: B
Explanation: B) Process variables are events within the team that influence effectiveness. Team
efficacy is a process variable that influences effectiveness of a team.
Difficulty: Easy
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39) Jean Wills, a trainer with Leverage Inc., is infuriated because the conference hall that she had
booked for her morning session with a new batch of trainees will be occupied by the HR team for
the day. Jean feels that the company only superficially commits to training and that it is not a
priority as this lack of facilities for training is a recurring phenomenon. Recently, she had asked
the HR department to supply printed copies of her material for the orientation and training
modules to the new trainees, and HR refused, saying the soft copies available on the systems
would suffice. Which of the following contextual areas is the source of problem between the
training department and the HR department in this scenario?
A) performance evaluation
B) reward systems
C) adequate resources
D) leadership
E) structure
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Teams are part of a larger organization system; every work team relies on
resources outside the group to sustain it. A scarcity of resources directly reduces the ability of a
team to perform its job effectively and achieve its goals. This support includes timely
information, proper equipment, adequate staffing, encouragement, and administrative assistance.
40) Araceli is a team member in a large corporation. She never speaks in team meetings because
she has seen members talk behind each other's backs after the meetings. Members are constantly
monitoring the other members' work and looking for mistakes to point out in a meeting.
According to the information provided, which contextual factor is lacking in Araceli's team?
A) adequate resources
B) climate of trust
C) team structure
D) performance evaluations
E) leadership
Answer: B
Explanation: B) Araceli doesn't contribute because she does not feel like the group has a climate
of trust. Interpersonal trust facilitates cooperation, reduces the need to monitor each other's
behavior, and bonds members around the belief that others on the team won't take advantage of
them.
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41) In which of the following teams is leadership of most importance to coordinate the efforts of
various teams in order to produce a desired outcome?
A) technical teams
B) self-managed work teams
C) problem-solving teams
D) management teams
E) multiteam systems
Answer: E
Explanation: E) Leadership is especially important in multiteam systems. Here, leaders need to
empower teams by delegating responsibility to them and then play the role of facilitator, making
sure the teams work together rather than against one another.
42) Which of the following is not part of the process of the team effectiveness model?
A) a common purpose
B) climate of trust
C) specific goals
D) social loafing
E) conflict levels
Answer: B
Explanation: B) All are processes that contribute to the team effectiveness model except a
climate of trust, which is part of the context.
43) Which of the following pairs of personality dimensions contribute to high team
effectiveness?
A) introversion and reflexivity
B) type A and type B
C) reflexivity and submissiveness
D) conscientiousness and openness to experience
E) perfectionism and rule consciousness
Answer: D
Explanation: D) Many of the dimensions identified in the Big Five personality model are also
relevant to team effectiveness; a review of the literature identified three. Specifically, teams that
rate higher on mean levels of conscientiousness and openness to experience tend to perform
better, and the minimum level of team member agreeableness also matters.
Difficulty: Easy
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44) People scoring high on ________ are valuable in teams because they're good at backing up
fellow team members and at sensing when their support is truly needed.
A) conscientiousness
B) positivity
C) emotional stability
D) agreeableness
E) openness to experience
Answer: A
Explanation: A) Conscientious people are valuable in teams because they're good at backing up
other team members, and they're also good at sensing when that support is truly needed.
Difficulty: Easy
45) Which of the following statements is true regarding team composition?

A) A team's performance is merely the summation of its individual members' abilities.
B) High-ability teams find it hard to adapt to changing situations.
C) Agreeableness is the only personality dimension that aids the ability to work in groups.
D) In successful teams, members should be selected to ensure all the various roles are filled.
E) A high-ability team will function well irrespective of the deficits in the abilities of the leader.
Answer: D
Explanation: D) Teams have different needs, and members should be selected to ensure all the
various roles are filled. Successful work teams have selected people to play all these roles based
on their skills and preferences. On many teams, individuals will play multiple roles.
46) The controller role in a team is responsible for ________.

A) initiating creative ideas
B) examining details and enforcing rules
C) offering insightful analysis of options
D) coordinating and integrating group tasks
E) providing directions and following up with implementation
Answer: B
Explanation: B) The controller role in a team is responsible for examining details and enforcing
rules.
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47) The adviser role in a team is responsible for ________.
A) providing structure
B) fighting external battles
C) offering insightful analysis of options
D) coordinating and integrating group tasks
E) encouraging the search for more information
Answer: E
Explanation: E) The adviser role in a team is responsible for encouraging the search for more
information.
48) Which of the following terms describes the degree to which members of a work unit share a
common demographic attribute, such as age, sex, race, educational level, or length of service?
A) social conformity
B) organizational value
C) organizational demography
D) diversity
E) organizational multiculturalism
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Organizational demography refers to the degree to which members of a work
unit share a common demographic attribute, such as age, sex, race, educational level, or length of
service in an organization, and the impact of this attribute on turnover.
49) Organizational demography suggests that attributes such as age or the date of joining should
help the organization in ________.
A) promoting diversity and multiculturalism
B) reducing discrimination in the workplace
C) determining appropriate compensation packages
D) assessing the training needs at an occupational level
E) predicting employee turnover in the company
Answer: E
Explanation: E) Organizational demography refers to the degree to which members of a work
unit share a common demographic attribute, such as age, sex, race, educational level, or length of
service in an organization, and the impact of this attribute on turnover.
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50) According to the concept of organizational demography, if team members have dissimilar
experiences, it will lead to ________.
A) increased employee satisfaction
B) decreased level of conflicts
C) higher employee motivation
D) higher employee turnover
E) higher team efficacy
Answer: D
Explanation: D) Organizational demography suggests that attributes such as age or the date of
joining should help us predict turnover. The logic goes like this: turnover will be greater among
those with dissimilar experiences because communication is more difficult. Conflict and power
struggles are more likely and are more severe when they occur. Increased conflict makes
membership less attractive, so employees are more likely to quit.
51) Which of the following is true with regard to the impact of diversity on team effectiveness?
A) High levels of diversity among team members benefit the group from the stage of forming.
B) Race and gender diversity bear the highest positive impact on team performance.
C) Leadership has a negligible role to play in diverse teams because the members manage
themselves autonomously.
D) Elements of diversity are undesirable as they interfere with team processes in the long run.
E) Cultural diversity serves as an asset for tasks that call for a variety of viewpoints once the
team has worked out its differences.
Answer: E
Explanation: E) Cultural diversity does seem to be an asset for tasks that call for a variety of
viewpoints. But culturally heterogeneous teams have more difficulty learning to work with each
other and solving problems. The good news is that these difficulties seem to dissipate with time.
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52) Which of the following statements is true regarding a culturally diverse team?
A) Elements of diversity do not interfere with team processes.
B) Culturally homogeneous teams have more difficulty learning to work with each other and
solving problems than culturally heterogeneous teams.
C) Generally, newly formed culturally diverse teams underperform as compared to newly formed
culturally homogeneous teams.
D) Cultural diversity within a team is not advisable for those tasks that call for a variety of
viewpoints.
E) Culturally diverse teams are more affected by surface-level diversity than by deep-level
diversity.
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Evidence indicates these elements of diversity interfere with team processes, at
least in the short term. Cultural diversity does seem to be an asset for tasks that call for a variety
of viewpoints. But culturally heterogeneous teams have more difficulty learning to work with
each other and solving problems. Although newly formed culturally diverse teams underperform
compared to newly formed culturally homogeneous teams, the differences disappear after about
3 months.
53) Cultural diversity is an asset for teams where tasks ________.

A) require a variety of viewpoints
B) are simple and routine
C) involve emotional labor
D) are highly technical
E) required for completing the work are highly independent
Answer: A
Explanation: A) Cultural diversity does seem to be an asset for tasks that call for a variety of
viewpoints. However, in other circumstances, diversity seems to interfere with team processes in
the short term.
Difficulty: Easy
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54) Which of the following statements is true regarding size of teams?
A) The most effective teams have twelve to fifteen members.
B) When teams have excess members, cohesiveness declines.
C) As team size increases, social loafing decreases.
D) When teams have excess members, mutual accountability increases.
E) Members of large teams coordinate work better when pressed for time.
Answer: B
Explanation: B) Generally speaking, the most effective teams have five to nine members. When
teams have excess members, cohesiveness and mutual accountability decline, social loafing
increases, and more people communicate less.
55) Which of the following statements represents a strategy that is desirable for making effective
teams?
A) Combining people with extremely high and extremely low abilities helps make a balanced
team.
B) Individuals should ideally have one role in a team as multiple roles reduce their effectiveness
and efficiency.
C) Diversity should be avoided as diverse teams involve a lot of conflict in day-to-day
functioning.
D) If a natural work unit is larger, its size must be maintained for the nature of the job requires
large teams.
E) The preference of individual members to work as a part of groups must be considered when
forming teams.
Answer: E
Explanation: E) Not every employee is a team player. When people who prefer to work alone
are required to team up, there is a direct threat to the team's morale and to individual member
satisfaction. When selecting team members, managers should consider individual preferences
along with abilities, personalities, and skills.
21
56) Which of the following statements is true with regard to team processes?
A) This category comprises variables that relate to how teams should be staffed.
B) Effective teams invest time and effort to discuss and agree on a purpose that belongs to them
both collectively and individually.
C) Once a specific goal is chosen, effective teams resist making any changes in them so as to
maintain the momentum of the team.
D) Effective teams do not engage in task and relationship conflicts.
E) Effective teams begin by selecting the right kind of people to be members of the team.
Answer: B
Explanation: B) Effective teams begin by analyzing the team's mission, developing goals to
achieve that mission, and creating strategies for achieving the goals. Teams that consistently
perform better have established a clear sense of what needs to be done and how. Members of
successful teams put a tremendous amount of time and effort into discussing, shaping, and
agreeing on a purpose that belongs to them both collectively and individually.
57) ________ illustrates a process loss from using teams.

A) Organizational demography
B) Role conflict
C) Social loafing
D) Multitasking
E) Profit-sharing
Answer: C
Explanation: C) In the case of a team, when each member's contribution is not clearly visible,
individuals tend to decrease their effort. This is known as social loafing. Social loafing illustrates
a process loss from using teams.
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58) Gerald Murphy is a manager at Wright & Wayner, a publishing house which is a very
employee-friendly company. The demarcation between managers and subordinates is flexible
and the nature of these reporting relationships is flexible and informal. Gerald recently assigned
five of eight of his subordinates to work on a new publication project with a fairly tight deadline
because he believed that these efficient employees would function even better with each other's
support. A week before the deadline, however, Gerald realized that the group had been shirking
work as each of the members thought that the project was not just his or her responsibility.
Additionally, under the guise of working together, the team was actually doing their personal
work, surfing the Internet, or just socializing. This scenario reflects ________.
A) gainsharing
B) high process gains
C) reflexive goal-setting
D) job sharing
E) social loafing
Answer: E
Explanation: E) In the case of a team, when each member's contribution is not clearly visible,
individuals tend to decrease their effort. This is known as social loafing. Social loafing illustrates
a process loss from using teams.
59) A team that has a good plan but is also willing to adjust its master plan and adapt when
conditions call for it demonstrates high ________, an important variable in successful team
processes.
A) goal specificity
B) goal congruency
C) conformity
D) diversity
E) reflexivity
Answer: E
Explanation: E) Reflexivity is the team characteristic of reflecting on and adjusting the master
plan when necessary. It is considered part of the process variables.
Difficulty: Easy
23
60) While discussing their marketing campaign for a new product, the members of the cross-
functional team responsible for Carver Inc. realized that a couple of changes relating to their
prior plan would be beneficial. The offer of a franchising that had earlier been brushed off by the
company head was discussed thoroughly, and it was decided that it would be implemented on a
trial basis initially and on full scale if found to work well. From the information provided, it can
be concluded that this cross-functional team has a high degree of ________.
A) demography
B) reflexivity
C) conformity
D) diversity
E) uncertainty
Answer: B
Explanation: B) Reflexivity is the team characteristic of reflecting on and adjusting the master
plan when necessary. It is considered part of the process variables.
61) There is some evidence that suggests that teams high in ________ tend to be better able to
adapt to conflicting plans and goals among team members.
A) efficacy
B) conformity
C) identity
D) reflexivity
E) social loafing
Answer: D
Explanation: D) Effective teams show reflexivity, meaning they reflect on and adjust their
purpose when necessary. A team must have a good plan, but it needs to be willing and able to
adapt when conditions call for it.56 Interestingly, some evidence suggests that teams high in
reflexivity are better able to adapt to conflicting plans and goals among team members.
Difficulty: Easy
24
62) Effective teams translate their common purpose into ________ goals.
A) universal
B) generic
C) vast
D) specific
E) diverse
Answer: D
Explanation: D) Successful teams translate their common purpose into specific, measurable, and
realistic performance goals. Specific goals facilitate clear communication. They also help teams
maintain their focus on getting results.
Difficulty: Easy
63) The belief that effective teams have in their ability to succeed is called ________.
A) goal specificity
B) reflexivity
C) mental model
D) common purpose
E) team efficacy
Answer: E
Explanation: E) Effective teams have confidence in themselves; they believe they can succeed.
This is called team efficacy.
Difficulty: Easy
64) Alberto's team is developing a database for the water pollution data of three cities. Before he
begins on this intensive project, he wants to improve the team efficacy of his team. Which of the
following actions can Alberto take to increase team efficacy before the project starts?
A) plan a team outing for the team members
B) make sure that his team is not comprised of more than nine people
C) spend considerable time evaluating team members and allocating proper roles for each
D) provide client's software and database training for all the team members
E) create team goals that are very challenging
Answer: D
Explanation: D) Efficacy means that a team believes it can succeed in the job and goal that is
placed before them. There are two ways of increasing efficacy: 1) provide training to improve
skills and increase confidence, and 2) help the team achieve small, incremental successes.
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65) Which of the following is most likely to increase team efficacy?
A) providing vast and generic goals
B) helping the team achieve small successes
C) creating a team such that it has diverse members
D) ensuring that team goals are substantially difficult
E) reducing the number of members on a team drastically
Answer: B
Explanation: B) Efficacy means that a team believes it can succeed in the job and goal that is
placed before them. There are two ways to increasing efficacy: 1) provide training to improve
skills and increase confidence, and 2) help the team achieve small, incremental successes.
66) ________ are defined as organized mental representations of the key elements within a
team's environment that team members share.
A) Path-goal models
B) Task models
C) Mental models
D) Individual models
E) Specific models
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Effective teams share accurate mental models which are organized mental
representations of the key elements within a team's environment that team members share.
Difficulty: Easy
67) Managers facing job candidates who lack team skills should do all of the following except
________.
A) avoid hiring the job candidate
B) hire the candidate, but assign them to tasks where teamwork is not important
C) provide the candidate with the type of training that can help improve his or her ability to be a
successful member of a team
D) choose the individual with the best technical skills regardless of his or her ability to perform
as a member of a team
E) bring the candidate on board, but assign the individual to an area where teamwork is not a
priority
Answer: D
Explanation: D) When faced with job candidates who lack team skills, managers have three
options. First, don't hire them. If you have to hire them, assign them to tasks or positions that
don't require teamwork. If that's not feasible, the candidates can undergo training to make them
into team players.
Difficulty: Easy
26
68) With a deadline approaching, all seven members of Sharon's product development team were
working round-the-clock and still the work was not completed in time. After the project was
completed, Sharon spoke individually with the members to determine the cause for this delay.
Many members complained, saying the work given to them was not in accordance with their
roles. Some were unclear about which team member to approach when faced with a problem,
and many underestimated the time and effort the project demanded. This team is characterized
by ________.
A) a clear role allocation for all team members
B) dissimilar mental models
C) high degree of role clarity
D) excessively large team size
E) a strong climate of trust
Answer: B
Explanation: B) Effective teams share accurate mental models which are organized mental
representations of the key elements within a team's environment that team members share. If
team members have the wrong mental models, which is particularly likely with teams under
acute stress, their performance suffers.
Difficulty: Easy
69) Which of the following is not a common characteristic of an effective team?

A) The team has adequate resources.
B) The team has effective leadership.
C) The team has a climate of trust.
D) The team has a performance and evaluation system that reflects team contributions.
E) The team is the right size for the task—about 15-20 people.
Answer: E
Explanation: E) Effective teams have common characteristics. They have adequate resources,
effective leadership, a climate of trust, and a performance evaluation and reward system that
reflects team contributions. Effective teams also tend to be small—with fewer than 10 people,
preferably of diverse backgrounds.
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70) When teams are performing nonroutine activities, ________ stimulate discussion, promote
critical assessment of problems and options, and can lead to better team decisions.
A) task conflicts
B) disciplinary conflicts
C) relationship conflicts
D) resource allocation conflicts
E) discriminatory conflicts
Answer: A
Explanation: A) When teams are performing nonroutine activities, disagreements about task
content stimulate discussion, promote critical assessment of problems and options, and can lead
to better team decisions. Such conflicts are called task conflicts.
Difficulty: Easy
71) Which of the following is an example of a task conflict?

A) Will and Hilda have been removed from the team they worked with after they were overheard
making derogatory comments about one of their colleague's racial origin.
B) Henry and Solomon have been reprimanded by their project lead for spending too much time
using the Internet for personal use at work.
C) Linda and Dorothy had a disagreement over which of their employees should be assigned to
work on a high-priority project.
D) Sally and her manager have just had a heated argument because Sally feels she has been
overlooked for a promotion that was her rightful due.
E) The company head has resigned after longstanding conflict between him and his top
management employees.
Answer: C
Explanation: C) When teams are performing nonroutine activities, disagreements about task
content stimulate discussion, promote critical assessment of problems and options, and can lead
to better team decisions. Such conflicts are called task conflicts.
Difficulty: Hard
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72) Which of the following must be avoided if one wants to create and maintain an effective
team?
A) task conflicts
B) reflexivity
C) specific goals
D) relationship conflicts
E) congruent mental models
Answer: D
Explanation: D) Relationship conflicts are those based on interpersonal incompatibilities,
tension, and animosity toward others; these are almost always dysfunctional. However, when
teams are performing nonroutine activities, disagreements about task content (called task
conflicts) stimulate discussion, promote critical assessment of problems and options, and can
lead to better team decisions.
Difficulty: Easy
73) When individuals engage in ________, they coast on the group's effort because their
particular contributions cannot be identified.
A) task conflicts
B) gainsharing
C) retaliating
D) process gains
E) social loafing
Answer: E
Explanation: E) When individuals engage in social loafing, they coast on the group's effort
because their particular contributions cannot be identified. Effective teams undermine this
tendency by making members individually and jointly accountable for the team's purpose, goals,
and approach.
Difficulty: Easy
29
74) Shane Dermott is a manager at a software design firm that develops software programs for
clients using multiple teams of specialists. One of his most successful teams has been performing
very well for years and so it came as a surprise to Shane when he noticed a sharp drop in the
team's performance. He decided to speak with the team members individually and find a
solution. After interviewing all 7 team members, he determined that one of the team members
performed routine administrative tasks that were hardly visible to any of the other team members
and understood that this was a case of social loafing which demotivated the entire group. Which
of the following would most likely improve the performance of the employee who was social
loafing?
A) encouraging him to work more independently
B) making him individually responsible for definite and crucial tasks
C) empowering him to make decisions autonomously
D) providing him with administrative training
E) giving him additional assignments to complete
Answer: B
Explanation: B) This team member is engaging in social loafing. Effective teams undermine this
tendency by making members individually and jointly accountable for the team's purpose, goals,
and approach. Therefore, members should be clear on what they are individually responsible for
and what they are jointly responsible for on the team.
30
75) Jason Jones has been asked to assemble an eight-member self-managed work team of
experienced employees to work on a project that combines the functional areas of research,
production, marketing, and distribution. Jason is apprehensive about managing a team so large;
he knows from prior experience that larger teams do not always result in greater productivity.
Jason has also been informed by the management that this team is being established as the
project must progress according to the predetermined timeline. The work lagging behind by one
division will cause a cumulative delay in all the successive stages of the project's execution.
Which of the following measures, if adopted by Jason, would best ensure that the team members
are working efficiently?
A) implementing a training program to provide the team members with the necessary technical
and human relations skills for the project
B) discouraging team members from restricting themselves to their own functional areas by
experimenting with and learning the jobs done by other members of the team
C) instructing the team members to finalize the plan for the project right at the beginning and
ensuring that it is implemented without any changes
D) assigning the specific tasks of the project to each team member by keeping in mind their
preferences and abilities
E) implementing a group-based incentive he has planned for this team
Answer: D
Explanation: D) Implementing a training program for experienced employees is not directly
going to help ensure efficiency. Discouraging team members from restricting themselves to their
own functional areas is not going to contribute to team efficiency directly; it may reduce
efficiency in actuality. Instructing the team members to finalize the plan for the project right at
the beginning and ensuring that it is implemented without any changes may actually hamper
team efficiency because of the lack of reflexivity. Assigning the specific tasks of the project to
each team member by keeping in mind their preferences and abilities is likely to ensure that team
members are working efficiently. Implementing a group-based incentive for this team is likely to
provide greater opportunity for some employees of the group to coast on the group's effort
because of the lack of individual roles and accountability.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Difficulty: Hard
Quest. Category: Critical Thinking
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76) Jason Jones has been asked to assemble an eight-member self-managed work team of
experienced employees to work on a project that combines the functional areas of research,
production, marketing, and distribution. Jason is apprehensive about managing a team so large;
he knows from prior experience that larger teams do not always result in greater productivity.
Jason has also been informed by the management that this team is being established as the
project must progress according to the predetermined timeline. The work lagging behind by one
division will cause a cumulative delay in all the successive stages of the project's execution.
Jason plans to implement a group-based incentive that he feels would motivate each of the team
members to work efficiently. Which of the following is an assumption made by Jason in
implementing this plan?
A) Increasing the number of experienced employees in the team will reduce the need for
supervision.
B) Each employee in the team is motivated to work equally hard to ensure that the group's
performance is satisfactory.
C) Since the team is comprised of employees who are highly skilled in their respective areas, the
output of the group will be of high quality.
D) Each employee will work well within the boundaries of their divisional functions, and
conflicts will be relatively fewer.
E) Each employee will be committed to working within the resources allocated.
Answer: B
Explanation: B) The assumption that increasing the number of experienced employees in the
team will reduce the need for supervision does not have an impact on Jason's decision to
implement a group-based incentive. The assumption that each employee in the team is motivated
to work equally hard to ensure that the group's performance is satisfactory is implicit in Jason's
belief that this group-based incentive plan will work. The assumption that since the team is
comprised of employees who are highly skilled in their respective areas, the output of the group
will be of high quality is not implicit in Jason's decision to implement a group-based incentive
for the team. The assumption that each employee will work well within the boundaries of their
divisional functions and conflicts will be relatively fewer is not implicit in Jason's decision to
implement a group-based incentive for the team. The assumption that each employee will be
committed to working within the resources allocated is not implicit in Jason's decision to
implement a group-based incentive for the team.
Difficulty: Hard
77) A climate of trust among team members is a contextual factor relating to team effectiveness.
Answer: TRUE
Explanation: The four contextual factors most significantly related to team performance are
adequate resources, effective leadership, a climate of trust, and a performance evaluation and
reward system that reflects team contributions.
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78) FDS is a government agency which holds its yearly appraisals in December and provides
employees with merit-based incentives based on their individual performance ratings. Merit is
the only criterion for incentives at FDS and this is likely to have a strong positive impact on
group performance.
Answer: FALSE
Explanation: Individual performance evaluations and incentives may interfere with the
development of high-performance teams. So, in addition to evaluating and rewarding employees
for their individual contributions, performance rewards must recognize and promote group
performance through incentive programs like gainsharing.
79) Leadership of multiteam systems is also much different than for standalone teams. While
leadership of all teams affects team performance, a multiteam leader must both facilitate
coordination between teams and lead each team.
Answer: TRUE
Explanation: Leadership of multiteam systems is also much different than for standalone teams.
While leadership of all teams affects team performance, a multiteam leader must both facilitate
coordination between teams and lead each team. Research indicated that teams receiving more
attention and engagement increased team empowerment, making them more effective as they
sought to solve their own problems.
80) Conscientiousness and openness to experience are two personality dimensions of the Big
Five personality model that predict better performance in teams.
Answer: TRUE
Explanation: Many of the dimensions identified in the Big Five personality model are also
relevant to team effectiveness; a review of the literature identified three. Specifically, teams that
rate higher on mean levels of conscientiousness and openness to experience tend to perform
better.
Difficulty: Easy
33
81) The term team cohesion means members are emotionally attached to one another and
motivated toward the team because of their attachment. Team cohesion is a useful tool to predict
team outcomes.
Answer: TRUE
Explanation: The term team cohesion means members are emotionally attached to one another
and motivated toward the team because of their attachment. Team cohesion is a useful tool to
predict team outcomes.
Difficulty: Easy
82) When teams have excess members, cohesiveness and mutual accountability decline.
Answer: TRUE
Explanation: When teams have excess members, cohesiveness and mutual accountability
decline, social loafing increases, and more people communicate less.
Difficulty: Easy
83) Research shows we are better off putting our efforts into creating an egalitarian atmosphere
and choosing our teammates based on what they can contribute to our team.
Answer: TRUE
Explanation: Research shows we are better off putting our efforts into creating an egalitarian
atmosphere and choosing our teammates based on what they can contribute to our team. One
study found that diverse teams realized significantly greater revenues, productivity, and
performance. Other research in Spain indicated that gender-diverse teams realize novel solutions
and radical innovation at a greater rate. Still other research suggested that gender diverse teams
perform better than male-dominated ones in sales and profits.
84) Specificity refers to the degree to which a team reflects on and adjusts its master plan when
necessary.
Answer: FALSE
Explanation: Effective teams show reflexivity, meaning they reflect on and adjust their master
plan when necessary.
Difficulty: Easy
34
85) The team effectiveness model identifies three categories of key components making up
effective teams. What are these three categories? Give examples of each category.
Answer: The key components of effective teams can be organized into three general categories.
First are the resources and other contextual influences that make teams effective; an example
would be adequate resources. The second relates to the team's composition; an example would be
personality of team members. Finally, process variables are events within the team that influence
effectiveness; an example of this would be team efficacy.
86) How does a climate of trust improve effectiveness of teams?

Answer: Interpersonal trust among team members facilitates cooperation, reduces the need to
monitor each other's behavior, and bonds members around the belief that others on the team
won't take advantage of them. Team members are more likely to take risks and expose
vulnerabilities when they believe they can trust others on their team. Trust is the foundation of
leadership. It allows a team to accept and commit to its leader's goals and decisions.
87) Compare the role of a leader in (a) a self-managed team, (b) a multiteam, and (c) a diverse
team.
Answer: a) Self-managed work teams are groups of employees who perform highly related or
Supervisory positions take on decreased importance and are sometimes even eliminated. While
self-managed teams do absorb many of the duties typically assumed by managers, the manager's
job then involves coordinating factors outside the group.
b) Leadership is especially important in multiteam systems, in which different teams coordinate
their efforts to produce a desired outcome. Here, leaders need to empower teams by delegating
responsibility to them, and they play the role of facilitator, making sure the teams work together
rather than against one another.
c) Proper leadership can also improve the performance of diverse teams. When leaders provide
an inspirational common goal for members with varying types of education and knowledge,
teams are very creative. When leaders don't provide such goals, diverse teams fail to take
advantage of their unique skills and are actually less creative than teams with homogeneous
skills. Even teams with diverse values can perform effectively, however, if leaders provide a
focus on work tasks rather than leading based on personal relationships.
35
88) How must roles be allocated to ensure effective team performance?
Answer: Teams have different needs, and members should be selected to ensure all the various
roles are filled. Teams with more experienced and skilled members perform better. However, the
experience and skill of those in core roles who handle more of the workflow of the team and who
are central to all work processes are especially vital. Nine potential team roles have been
identified, and successful work teams have selected people to play all these roles based on their
skills and preferences. To increase the likelihood the team members will work well together,
managers need to understand the individual strengths each person can bring to a team, select
members with their strengths in mind, and allocate work assignments that fit with members'
preferred styles.
89) What is organizational demography? What is its significance?

Answer: The degree to which members of a work unit (group, team, or department) share a
common demographic attribute, such as age, sex, race, educational level, or length of service in
the organization, is the subject of organizational demography. Organizational demography
suggests that attributes such as age or the date of joining should help us predict turnover. The
logic goes like this: turnover will be greater among those with dissimilar experiences because
communication is more difficult and conflict is more likely. Increased conflict makes
membership less attractive, so employees are more likely to quit.
90) Discuss the effect of team size on effectiveness of teams.

Answer: Generally speaking, the most effective teams have five to nine members. And experts
suggest using the smallest number of people who can do the task. Unfortunately, managers often
err by making teams too large. It may require only four or five members to develop diversity of
views and skills, while coordination problems can increase exponentially as team members are
added. When teams have excess members, cohesiveness and mutual accountability decline,
social loafing increases, and more people communicate less. Members of large teams have
trouble coordinating with one another, especially under time pressure. Teams should ideally
consist of nine or fewer members.
36
91) What is meant by member preferences? How can it be altered?
Answer: All employees do not enjoy working in teams and, given the option, many employees
will select themselves out of team participation. When people who prefer to work alone are
required to team up, there is a direct threat to the team's morale and to individual member
satisfaction. This result suggests that when selecting team members, managers should consider
individual preferences along with abilities, personalities, and skills. High-performing teams are
likely to be composed of people who prefer working as part of a group. However, there are ways
to encourage people who prefer working alone to engage in teamwork. Training specialists
conduct exercises that allow employees to experience the satisfaction teamwork can provide.
Workshops help employees improve their problem-solving, communication, negotiation,
conflict-management, and coaching skills. Further, an organization's reward system must be
reworked to encourage cooperative efforts rather than competitive ones. Lastly, demonstrating to
these employees the intrinsic rewards, such as camaraderie, that employees can receive from
teamwork may be helpful.
92) How do mental models contribute to task conflicts?

Answer: Effective teams share accurate mental models—organized representations of key
elements within a team's environment that team members share. If team members have the
wrong mental models, which is particularly likely in teams under acute stress, their performance
suffers. The similarity of team members' mental models matters, too. If team members have
different ideas about how to do things, the team will fight over methods rather than focus on
what needs to be done.
37
93) What is the relationship between task conflicts and reflexivity among team members?
Answer: When teams are performing nonroutine activities, disagreements about task content can
stimulate discussion, promote critical assessment of problems and options, and can lead to better
team decisions. Such conflicts are defined as task conflicts. Research has shown that moderate
levels of task conflict during the initial phases of team performance were positively related to
team creativity, but both very low and very high levels of task conflict were negatively related to
team performance.
Effective teams also show reflexivity, meaning they reflect on and adjust their master plan when
necessary. A team has to have a good plan, but it also has to be willing and able to adapt when
conditions call for it. Research evidence does suggest that teams high in reflexivity are better
able to adapt to conflicting plans and goals among team members.
Both these concepts come under the process dimension of key variables of effective teams.
Reflexivity may be understood as one way to solve task conflicts by adapting the predetermined
plan to current changes.
94) What is social loafing? How can the management undermine the tendency of social loafing?
Answer: Individuals can engage in social loafing and coast on the group's effort because their
particular contributions can't be identified. Effective teams undermine this tendency by making
members individually and jointly accountable for the team's purpose, goals, and approach.
Therefore, members should be clear on what they are individually responsible for and what they
are jointly responsible for on the team.
95) Which of the following will be useful in creating team players?

A) technical training
B) academic training
C) job rotation
D) cross-training
E) negotiation training
Answer: E
Explanation: E) Training specialists conduct exercises that allow employees to experience the
satisfaction teamwork can provide. Workshops help employees improve their problem-solving,
communication, negotiation, conflict-management, and coaching skills.
LO: 10.5: Explain how organizations can create team players.
Difficulty: Easy
38
96) Diane Fielding, owner of the famous Mint chain of restaurants, planned to revamp the whole
concept and structure of her outlets. With this purpose in mind, she selected five managers from
her existing outlets based on their performance in relation to targets, experience, and motivation.
Each manager was asked to take up an aspect of the restaurant's functioning like menu, décor,
and customer service measures. Diane was sure that this group of high performers possessed a
clear understanding of the ground realities, which made them the best candidates to contemplate
and implement the required changes. In order to reward them, she announced a hefty bonus for
their collective performance. Six months later, after the changes were implemented, Diane
realized that the group had made many questionable decisions, which were resulting in problems.
Which of the following, if true, would best explain this outcome?
A) The team members had skills that were complementary to each other and added value to the
project.
B) The team members had high levels of affective commitment to their jobs as Diane was a good
leader.
C) Typically, these managers viewed each other as competition as Diane only rewarded the
highest earning outlet with incentives.
D) Two of the branches of Mint were located in the suburbs, while the other three outlets were
located in busy areas and witnessed more customers.
E) The team members were clear about their duties, and role ambiguity was minimal.
Answer: C
Explanation: C) The fact that the team members had skills that were complementary to each
other and added value to the project would not explain the problems encountered by Diane. The
fact that the team members had high levels of affective commitment to their jobs as Diane was a
good leader would not explain the poor implementation of the changes Diane sought. The fact
that these managers typically viewed each other as competition as Diane only rewarded the
highest earning outlet with incentives would explain the failure of this project. This is because
the low trust typical of the competitive group is not readily replaced by high trust with a quick
change in reward systems. The fact that two branches of Mint were located in suburbs, while the
others were located in busy areas, does not explain the failure of Diane's move to revamp her
restaurant chain. The fact that the team members were clear about their duties and role ambiguity
was minimal does not explain their failure.
Difficulty: Hard
39
97) A software development firm has witnessed substantial growth and seeks to expand and
reorganize its structure to meet the demands from clients in a better manner. HR has been given a
clear directive that one of the major criteria for selection of recruits would be the candidate's
ability to function as a team player. This is because the company is revamping all its major
functions from the traditional departmental model to an arrangement of flexible teams. Joe
Sanchez, one of the firm's oldest and most experienced employees, has demonstrated
considerable ability in developing the best programs, but he prefers to work alone. The company
does not wish to lose resources like Sanchez and others who lack the ability to work in groups,
but teamwork is essential to its reorganization. Which of the following strategies will help rectify
this problem?
A) encouraging the formation of more diverse teams
B) informing all employees that ability to work in teams will be a major determinant for
promotions and bonuses
C) increasing the size of teams so the contribution of people like Joe will not affect team
performance overall
D) applying merit-based compensation systems instead of gainsharing
E) encouraging employees like Joe to work more independently
Answer: B
Explanation: B) Promotions, pay raises, and other forms of recognition should be given to
individuals who work effectively as team members by training new colleagues, sharing
information, helping resolve team conflicts, and mastering needed new skills.
98) For creating good team players, an organization's reward system must be reworked to
encourage competitive efforts rather than cooperative ones.
Answer: FALSE
Explanation: For creating good team players, an organization's reward system must be reworked
to encourage cooperative efforts rather than competitive ones.
Difficulty: Easy
99) Problems such as lack of trust or lack of sharing information among team members in a
competitive group can be swiftly changed by rewarding collective performance over individual
performance.
Answer: FALSE
Explanation: Teams that switch from a competitive to a cooperative system do not immediately
share information, and they still tend to make rushed, poor-quality decisions. Apparently, the low
trust typical of the competitive group will not be readily replaced by high trust with a quick
change in reward systems. These problems are not seen in teams that have consistently
cooperative systems.
Difficulty: Easy
40
100) A trauma team in a hospital is one example of an action team with shared mental models.
Answer: TRUE
Explanation: A trauma team in a hospital is one example of an action team with shared mental
models. Action teams have learned the best way to share mental models is to voice them.
101) Explain how organizations can create team players.

Answer: The primary options for trying to turn individuals into team players include:
a) Selection. Some people already possess the interpersonal skills to be effective team players.
When hiring team members, in addition to the technical skills required to fill the job, care should
be taken to ensure that candidates can fulfill their team roles as well as technical requirements.
Many job candidates don't have team skills. This is especially true for those socialized around
individual contributions. When faced with such candidates, managers basically have three
options. The candidates can undergo training to "make them into team players." If this isn't
possible or doesn't work, the other two options are to transfer the individual within the
organization to a unit without teams (if this possibility exists) or don't hire the candidate. In
established organizations that decide to redesign jobs around teams, it should be expected that
some employees will resist being team players and may be untrainable. Unfortunately, such
people typically become casualties of the team approach.
b) Training. On a more optimistic note, a large proportion of people raised on the importance of
individual accomplishments can be trained to become team players. Training specialists conduct
exercises that allow employees to experience the satisfaction that teamwork can provide. They
typically offer workshops to help employees improve their problem-solving, communication,
negotiation, conflict-management, and coaching skills. Employees also learn the five-stage group
development model.
c) Rewards. The reward system needs to be reworked to encourage cooperative efforts rather
than competitive ones. Promotions, pay raises, and other forms of recognition should be given to
individuals for how effective they are as a collaborative team member. This doesn't mean
individual contributions are ignored; rather, they are balanced with selfless contributions to the
team. Examples of behaviors that should be rewarded include training new colleagues, sharing
information with teammates, helping to resolve team conflicts, and mastering new skills that the
team needs but in which it is deficient.
41
102) Which of the following is true with regard to use of individuals and teams?
A) Teams and individuals can be used interchangeably for all kinds of jobs without any
significant impact seen on effectiveness.
B) Teamwork requires less time and resources when compared to individual work.
C) Individuals have increased communication, supervision, and conflict-management demands
when compared to teams.
D) Individuals are bound by a collective common purpose that is organizationally determined,
and this typically reduces their performance.
E) Task complexity and requirement of different perspectives must be used as criteria when
assigning work to teams over individuals and vice versa.
Answer: E
Explanation: E) Teamwork takes more time and often more resources than individual work.
Teams have increased communication demands, conflicts to manage, and meetings to run. A
good indicator is the complexity of the work and the need for different perspectives. Simple tasks
that don't require diverse input are probably better left to individuals.
LO: 10.6: Decide when to use individuals instead of teams.
103) Work should be performed by an individual if ________.

A) the work is complex and requires different perspectives
B) the work creates a common purpose or set of goals for the people in the group that is more
than the aggregate of individual goals
C) the work is simple and does not require diverse input
D) several tasks that are interdependent are to be performed for completing the work
E) performing the work requires learning a new technology or understanding a new system
Answer: C
Explanation: C) If the tasks are simple and do not require diverse input, then individuals must be
used to complete them. A team should be used when the work creates a common purpose or set
of goals for the people in the group that is more than the aggregate of individual goals. Using
teams makes sense when there is interdependence between tasks—the success of the whole
depends on the success of each one, and the success of each one depends on the success of the
others.
Difficulty: Easy
42
104) The work of your group would be better done in teams if the members of the team are
________.
A) independent
B) autonomous
C) individualistic
D) interdependent
E) reflexive
Answer: D
Explanation: D) The work of your group would be better done in teams if the members of the
team are interdependent. Using teams makes sense when there is interdependence among tasks
such that the success of the whole depends on the success of each one, and the success of each
one depends on the success of the others.
105) Using teams makes sense when the assignment involves independent tasks.
Answer: FALSE
Explanation: Using teams makes sense when there is interdependence among tasks such that the
success of the whole depends on the success of each one, and the success of each one depends on
the success of the others.
Difficulty: Easy
43
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This mystical error is distinctly characterized in the first chapter of
this gospel, and is there met by the direct assertions, that in Jesus
Christ, the Word, and the God, was not only life, but that the life
itself was the light of men;――and that John the Baptist “was not
the Light, but was only sent to bear witness of the Light;” and
again, with all the tautological earnestness of an old man, the aged
writer repeats the assertion that “this was the true Light, which
enlightens every man that comes into the world.” Against these
same sectaries, the greater part of the first chapter is directed
distinctly, and the whole tendency of the work throughout, is in a
marked manner opposed to their views. With them too, John had
had a local connection, by his residence in Ephesus, where, as it is
distinctly specified in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul had found the
peculiar disciples of John the Baptist long before, on his first visit to
that city; and had successfully preached to some of them, the
religion of Christ, which before was a strange and new thing to them.
The whole tendency and scope of this gospel, indeed, as directed
against these two prominent classes of heretics, both Gnostics and
Sabians, are fully and distinctly summed up in the conclusion of the
twentieth chapter;――“These things are written, that ye might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that in
believing on him, ye might have life through his name.”
As to the place where this gospel was written, there is a very

decided difference of opinion among high authorities, both ancient
and modern,――some affirming it to have been composed in
Patmos, during his exile, and others in Ephesus, before or after his
banishment. The best authority, however, seems to decide in favor of
Ephesus, as the place; and this view seems to be most generally
adopted in modern times. Even those who suppose it to have been
written in Patmos, however, grant that it was first given to the
Christian world in Ephesus,――the weight of early authority being
very decided on this latter point. This distinction between the place of
composition and the place of publication, is certainly very reasonable
on some accounts, and is supported by ancient authorities of
dubious date; but there are important objections to the idea of the
composition of both this and the Apocalypse, in the same place,
during about one year, which was the period of his exile. There seem
to be many things in the style of the gospel which would show it to
be a work written at a different period, and under different
circumstances from the Apocalypse; and some Biblical critics, of
high standing, have thought that the gospel bore marks in its style,
which characterized it as a production of a much older man than the
author of the energetic, and almost furious denunciations of the
Apocalypse, must have been. In this case, where ancient authority is
so little decisive, it is but fair to leave the point to be determined by
evidence thus connected with the date, and drawn from the internal
character of the composition itself,――a sort of evidence, on which
the latest moderns are far more capable of deciding than the most
ancient, and the sagest of the Fathers. The date itself is of course
inseparably connected with the determination of the place, and like
that, must be pronounced very uncertain. The greatest probability
about both these points is, that it was written at Ephesus, after his
return from Patmos; for the idea of its being produced before his
banishment, during his first residence in Asia, has long ago been
exploded; nor is there any late writer of authority on these points,
who pretends to support this unfounded notion.
his first epistle.
All that has been said on the character and the objects of the
gospel, may be exactly applied to this very similar production. So
completely does it resemble John’s gospel, in style, language,
doctrines and tendencies, that even a superficial reader might be
ready to pronounce, on a common examination, that they were
written in the same circumstances and with the same object. This
has been the conclusion at which the most learned critics have
arrived, after a full investigation of the peculiarities of both,
throughout; and the standard opinion now is, that they were both
written at the same time and for the same persons. Some reasons
have been given by high critical authority, for supposing that they
were both written at Patmos, and sent together to Ephesus,――the
epistle serving as a preface, dedication, and accompaniment of the
gospel, to those for whom it was intended, and commending the
prominent points in it to their particular attention. This beautiful and
satisfactory view of the object and occasion of the epistle, may
certainly be adopted with great propriety and justice; but in regard to
the places of its composition and direction, a different view is much
more probable, as well as more consistent with the notion, already
presented above, of the date and place of the gospel. It is very
reasonable to suppose that the epistle was written some years after
John’s return to Ephesus,――that it was intended, (along with the
gospel, for the churches of Asia generally, to whom John hoped to
make an apostolic pastoral visit, shortly,) to confirm them in the faith,
as he announces in the conclusion. There is not a single
circumstance in gospel or epistle, which should lead any one to
believe that they were directed to Ephesus in particular. On the
contrary, the total absence of anything like a personal or local
direction to the epistle, shows the justice of its common title, that it is
a “general epistle,” a circular, in short, to all the churches under his
special apostolic supervision,――for whose particular dangers,
errors and necessities, he had written the gospel just sent forth, and
to whom he now minutely commended that work, in the very opening
words of his letter, referring as palpably and undeniably to his
gospel, as any words can express. “Of that which ‘was from the
beginning, of the Word,’ which I have heard, which I have seen with
my eyes, which I have looked upon, which my hands have
handled,――of the Word of Life” &c.; particularizing with all the
minute verbosity of old age, his exact knowledge of the facts which
he gives in his gospel, assuring them thus of the accuracy of his
descriptions. The question concerns his reputation for fidelity as a
historian; and it is easy to see therefore, why he should labor thus to
impress on his readers his important personal advantages for
knowing exactly all the facts he treats of, and all the doctrines which
he gives at such length in the discourses of Christ. Again and again
he says, “I write,” and “I have written,” recapitulating the sum of the
doctrines which he has designed to inculcate; and he particularizes
still farther that he has written to all classes and ages, from the
oldest to the youngest, intending his gospel for the benefit of all. “I
have written to you, fathers,”――“unto you, young men,”――“unto
you, little children,” &c. What else can this imply, than a dedication of
the work concerning “the WORD,” to all stations and ages,――to the
whole of the Christian communities, to whom he commits and
recommends his writings;――as he writes “to the
fathers――because they know him who was from the
beginning,”――in the same way “to the young men, because they
are constant, and the Word of God dwells in them,” and “that the
doctrine they have received may remain unchangeable in them,” and
“on account of those who would seduce them.” He recapitulates
all the leading doctrines of his gospel,――the Messiahship, and the
Divinity of Jesus,――his Unity, and identity with the divine
abstractions of the Gnostic theology. Here too, he inculcates and
renewedly urges the great feeling of Christian brotherly love, which
so decidedly characterizes the discourses of Jesus, as reported in
his gospel. So perfect was the connection of origin and design,
between the gospel and this accompanying letter, that they were
anciently placed together, the epistle immediately following the
gospel; as is indubitably proved by certain marks in ancient
manuscripts.
It was mentioned, in connection with a former part of John’s life, that this epistle is
quoted by Augustin and others, under the title of the epistle to the Parthians. It seems very
probable that this may have been also addressed to those churches in the east, about
Babylon, which had certainly suffered much under the attacks of these same mystical
heretics. It is explained, however, by some, that this was an accidental corruption in the
copying of the Greek.――The second epistle was quoted by Clemens Alexandrinus, under
the title of “the epistle to the virgins,” προς παρθενους, which, as some of the modern critics
say, must have been accidentally changed to παρθους, by dropping some of the syllables,
and afterwards transferred to the first (!) as more appropriate;――a perfectly unauthorized
conjecture, and directly in the face of all rules of criticism.
the second and third epistles.
These are both evidently private letters from John to two of his
intimate personal friends, of whose circumstances nothing whatever
being known, except what is therein contained, the notice of these
brief writings must necessarily be brief also. They are both honorably
referred to, as entertainers of the servants of Jesus Christ as they
travel from place to place, and seem to have been residents in some
of the Asian cities within John’s apostolic circuit, and probably
received him kindly and reverently into their houses on his tours of
duty; and them he was about to visit again shortly. The second
epistle is directed to a Christian female, who, being designated by
the very honorable title of “lady,” was evidently a person of rank; and
from the remark towards the conclusion, about the proper objects of
her hospitality, it is plain that she must have been also a person of
some property. Mention is made of her children as also objects of
warm affection to the aged apostle; and as no other member of her
family is noticed, it is reasonable to conclude that she was a widow.
The contents of this short letter are a mere transcript, almost
verbatim, of some important points in the first, inculcating Christian
love, and watchfulness against deceivers;――(no doubt the
Gnostical heretics,――the Cerinthians and Nicolaitans.) He
apologizes for the shortness of the letter, by saying that he hopes
shortly to visit her; and ends by communicating the affectionate
greetings of her sister’s children, then residents in Ephesus, or
whatever city was then the home of John. The third epistle is
directed to Gaius, (that is, Caius, a Roman name,) whose hospitality
is commemorated with great particularity and gratitude in behalf of
Christian strangers, probably preachers, traveling in his region.
Another person, named Diotrephes, (a Greek by name, and probably
one of the partizans of Cerinthus,) is mentioned as maintaining a
very different character, who, so far from receiving the ministers of
the gospel sent by the apostle, had even excluded from Christian
fellowship those who did exercise this hospitality to the messengers
of the apostle. John speaks threateningly of him, and closes with the
same apology for the shortness of the letter, as in the former. There
are several persons, named Gaius, or Caius, mentioned in apostolic
history; but there is no reason to suppose that any of them was
identified with this man.
For these lucid views of the objects of all these epistles, I am mainly indebted to Hug’s
Introduction, to whom belongs the merit of expressing them in this distinctness, though
others before him have not been far from apprehending their simple force. Michaelis, for
instance, is very satisfactory, and much more full on some points. In respect to the place
whence they were written, Hug appears to be wholly in the wrong, in referring them to
Patmos, just before John’s return. Not the least glimmer of a reason appears, why all the
writings of John should be huddled together in his exile. I can make nothing whatever of the
learned commentator’s reason about the deficiency of “pen, ink and paper,” (mentioned in
Epistle ii. 12, and iii. 13.) as showing that John must still have been in “that miserable
place,” Patmos. The idea seems to require a great perversion of simple words, which do not
seem to be capable of any other sense than that adopted in the above account.
the traditions of his life in ephesus.
To this period of his life, are referred those stories of his miracles
and actions, with which the ancient fictitious apostolic narratives are
so crowded,――John being the subject of more ancient traditions
than any other apostle. Some of those are so respectable and
reasonable in their character, as to deserve a place here, although
none of them are of such antiquity as to deserve any confidence, on
points where fiction has often been so busy. The first which follows,
is altogether the most ancient of all apostolic stories, which are not in
the New Testament; and even if it is a work of fiction, it has such
merits as a mere tale, that it would be injustice to the readers of this
book, not to give them the whole story, from the most ancient and
best authorized record.
It is related that John, after returning from banishment, was often

called to the neighboring churches to organize them, or to heal
divisions, and to ordain elders. On one occasion, after ordaining a
bishop, he committed to his particular care and instruction a fine
young man, whom he saw in the congregation, charging the bishop,
before the whole church, to be faithful to him. The bishop accordingly
took the young man into his house, watched over him, and instructed
him, and at length baptized him. After this, viewing the young man as
a confirmed Christian, the bishop relaxed his watchfulness, and
allowed the youth greater liberties. He soon got into bad company, in
which his talents made him conspicuous, and proceeding from one
step to another, he finally became the leader of a band of robbers. In
this state of things, John came to visit the church, and presently
called upon the bishop to bring forward his charge. The bishop
replied that he was dead,――dead to God;――and was now in the
mountains, a captain of banditti. John ordered a horse to be brought
immediately to the church door, and a guide to attend him; and
mounting, he rode full speed in search of the gang. He soon fell in
with some of them, who seized him, to be carried to their head
quarters. John told them that this was just what he wanted, for he
came on purpose to see their captain. As they drew near, the captain
stood ready to receive them; but on seeing John, he drew back, and
began to make off. John pursued with all the speed his aged limbs
would permit, crying out, “My son, why do you run from your own
father, who is unarmed and aged? Pity me, my son, and do not fear.
There is yet hope of your life. I will intercede for you; and, if
necessary, will cheerfully suffer death for you, as the Lord did for us.
Stop,――believe what I say; Christ hath sent me.” The young man
stopped, looked on the ground, and then throwing down his arms,
came trembling, and with sobs and tears, begged for pardon. The
apostle assured him of the forgiveness of Christ; and conducting him
back to the church, there fasted and prayed with him, and at length
procured his absolution.
Another story, far less probable, is related in the ancient

martyrologies, and by the counterfeit Abdias. Craton, a philosopher,
to make a display of contempt for riches, had persuaded two wealthy
young men, his followers, to invest all their property in two very
costly pearls; and then, in the presence of a multitude, to break
them, and pound them to dust. John happening to pass by, at the
close of the transaction, censured this destruction of property, which
might better have been given in alms to the poor. Craton told him, if
he thought so, he might miraculously restore the dust to solid pearls
again, and have them for charitable purposes. The apostle gathered
up the particles, and holding them in his hand, prayed fervently, that
they might become solid pearls, and when the people said “Amen,” it
took place. By this miracle, Craton, and all his followers, were
converted to Christianity; and the two young men took back the
pearls, sold them, and then distributed the avails in charity.
Influenced by this example, two other young men of distinction,
Atticus and Eugenius, sold their estates, and distributed the avails
among the poor. For a time, they followed the apostle, and
possessed the power of working miracles. But, one day, being at
Pergamus, and seeing some well-dressed young men, glittering in
their costly array, they began to regret that they had sold all their
property, and deprived themselves of the means of making a figure
in the world. John read in their countenances and behavior the state
of their minds; and after drawing from them an avowal of their regret,
he bid them bring him each a bundle of straight rods, and a parcel of
smooth stones from the sea shore. They did so,――and the apostle,
after converting the rods into gold, and the stones into pearls, bid
them take them, and sell them, and redeem their alienated estates, if
they chose. At the same time, he plainly warned them, that the
consequence would be the eternal loss of their souls. While he
continued his long and pungent discourse, a funeral procession
came along. John now prayed, and raised the dead man to life. The
resuscitated person began to describe the invisible world, and so
graphically painted to Atticus and Eugenius the greatness of their
loss, that they were melted into contrition. The apostle ordered them
to do penance thirty days,――till the golden rods should become
wood, and the pearls become stones. They did so, and were
afterwards very distinguished saints.
Another story, of about equal merit, is told by the same authority.

While John continued his successful ministry at Ephesus, the
idolaters there, in a tumult, dragged him to the temple of Diana, and
insisted on his sacrificing to the idol. He warned all to come out of
the temple, and then, by prayer, caused it to fall to the ground, and
become a heap of ruins. Then, addressing the pagans on the spot,
he converted twelve thousand of them in one day. But Aristodemus,
the pagan high priest, could not be convinced, till John had drunken
poison without harm, by which two malefactors were killed instantly,
and also raised the malefactors to life. This resuscitation he
rendered the more convincing to Aristodemus, by making him the
instrument of it. The apostle pulled off his tunic, and gave it to
Aristodemus. “And what is this for?” said the high priest. “To cure you
of your infidelity,” was the reply. “But how is your tunic to cure me of
infidelity?” “Go,” said the apostle, “and spread it upon the dead
bodies, and say: ‘The apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ hath sent me
to resuscitate you, in his name, that all may know, that life and death
are the servants of Jesus Christ, my Lord.’” By this miracle the high
priest was fully convinced; and afterwards convinced the proconsul.
Both of them were baptized,――and persecution, from that time,
ceased. They also built the church dedicated to St. John, at
Ephesus.
For this series of fables I am indebted again to the kindness of Dr. Murdock, in whose
manuscript lectures they are so well translated from the original romances, as to make it
unnecessary for me to repeat the labor of making a new version from the Latin. The sight of
the results of abler efforts directly before me, offers a temptation to exonerate myself from a
tedious and unsatisfactory effort, which is too great to be resisted, while researches into
historical truth have a much more urgent claim for time and exertion.
The only one of all these fables that occurs in the writings of the Fathers, is the first,
which may be pronounced a tolerably respectable and ancient story. It is narrated by
Clemens Alexandrinus, (about A. D. 200.) The story is copied from Clemens Alexandrinus
by Eusebius, from whom we receive it, the original work of Clemens being now lost.
Chrysostom also gives an abridgement of the tale. (I. Paraenes ad Theodosius) Anastasius
Sinaita, Simeon Metaphrastes, Nicephorus Callistus, the Pseudo-Abdias, and the whole
herd of monkish liars, give the story almost verbatim from Clemens; for it is so full in his
account as to need no embellishment to make it a good story. Indeed its completeness in all
these interesting details, is one of the most suspicious circumstances about it; in short, it is
almost too good a story to be true. Those who wish to see all the evidence for and against
its authenticity, may find it thoroughly examined in Lampe’s Prolegomena to a Johannine
Theology (I. v. 4‒10.) It is, on the whole, the best authorized of all the stories about the
apostles, which are given by the Fathers, and may reasonably be considered to have been
true in the essential parts, though the minute details of the conversations, &c., are probably
embellishments worked in by Clemens Alexandrinus, or his informants.
The rest of these stories are, most unquestionably, all unmitigated falsehoods; nor does
any body pretend to find the slightest authority for a solitary particular of them. They are
found no where but in the novels of the Pseudo-Abdias, and the martyrologies. (Abdiae
Babyloniae episcopi et Apostolorum discipuli de Historia, lib. V., St. John.)
his death.
Respecting the close of his life, all antiquity is agreed that it was
not terminated by martyrdom, nor by any violent death whatever, but
by a calm and peaceful departure in the course of nature, at a very
great age. The precise number of years to which he attained can not
be known, because no writer who lived within five hundred years of
his time has pretended to specify his exact age. It is merely
mentioned on very respectable ancient authority, that he survived to
the beginning of the reign of Trajan. This noblest of the successors
of Julius, began his splendid reign in A. D. 98, according to the most
approved chronology; so that if John did not outlive even the first
year of Trajan, his death is brought very near the close of the first
century; and from what has been reasonably conjectured about his
age, compared with that of his Lord, it may be supposed that he
attained upwards of eighty years,――a supposition which agrees
well enough with the statement of some of the Fathers, that he died
worn out with old age.
Jerome has a great deal to say also, about the age of John at the time when he was
called, arguing that he must have been a mere boy at the time, because tradition asserts
that he lived till the reign of Trajan. Lampe very justly objects, however, that this proof
amounts to nothing, if we accept another common tradition, that he lived to the age of 100
years; which, if we count back a century from the reign of Trajan, would require him to have
attained mature age at the time of the call. Neither tradition however, is worth much. Our old
friend Baronius, too, comes in to enlighten the investigation of John’s age, by what he
considers indubitable evidence. He says that John was in his twenty-second year when he
was called, and passing three years with Christ, must have been twenty-five years old at the
time of the crucifixion; “because,” says the sagacious Baronius, “he was then initiated into
the priesthood.” An assertion which Lampe with indignant surprise stigmatizes as showing
“remarkable boldness,” (insignis audacia,) because it contains two very gross
errors,――first in pretending that John was ever made a priest, (sacerdos,) and secondly in
confounding the age required of the Levites with that of the priests when initiated. For
Baronius’s argument resting wholly on the very strange and unfounded notion, that John
was made a priest, is furthermore supported on the idea that the prescribed age for entering
the priesthood was twenty-five years; but in reality, the age thus required was thirty years,
so that if the other part of this idle story was true, this would be enough to overthrow the
conclusion. Lampe also alludes to the absurd idea of the painters, in representing John as a
young man, even while writing his gospel; while in reality all writers agree that that work was
written by him in his old age. This idea of his perpetual youth, once led into a blunder some
foolish Benedictine monks, who found in Constantinople an antique agate intaglio,
representing a young man with a cornucopia, and an eagle, and with a figure of victory
placing a crown on his head. This struck their monkish fancies at once, as an
unquestionable portrait of John, sent to their hands by a miraculous preservation.
Examination however, has shown it to be a representation of the apotheosis of Germanicus.
But even here, the monkish inventors have found room for new
fables; and though the great weight of all ancient testimony deprives
them of the opportunity to enter into the horrible details of a bloody
and agonizing death, they can not refuse themselves the pleasure of
some tedious absurdities, about the manner of his death and burial,
which are barely worth a partial sketch, to show how determined the
apostolic novelists are to follow their heroes to the very last, with the
glories of a fancifully miraculous departure.
The circumstances of his death are described in the

martyrologies, and by Abdias, in this manner. He had a vision
acquainting him with his approaching exit, five days before it
happened. On a Lord’s-day morning, he went to the great church at
Ephesus, bearing his name, and there performed public worship as
usual, at day-break. About the middle of the forenoon, he ordered a
deacon, and some grave diggers, with their tools, to accompany him
to the burying ground. He then set them to digging his grave, while
he, after ordering the multitude to depart, spent the time in prayer.
He once looked into the grave, and bid them dig it deeper. When it
was finished, he took off his outer garment, and spread it in the
grave. Then, standing over it, he made a speech to those present,
(which is not worth repeating,) then gave thanks to God for the
arrival of the time of his release,――and placing himself in the grave,
and wrapping himself up, he instantly expired. The grave was filled
up; and afterwards miracles took place at it, and a kind of manna
issued from it, which possessed great virtues.
There is no need, however, of such fables, to crown with the false

honors of a vain prodigy, the calmly glorious end of the “Last of the
Apostles.” It is enough for the Christian to know, that, with the long,
bright course of almost a century behind him, and with the mighty
works of his later years around him, John closed the solemn
apostolic drama, bearing with him in his late departure the last light
of inspiration, and the last personal “testimony of Jesus, which is the
spirit of prophecy.” Blessed in his works thus following him, he died
in the Lord, and now rests from his labors on the breast of that loved
friend, who cherished so tenderly the youthful Son of
Thunder;――on the bosom of his Redeemer and his Lord,――
“The bosom of his Father and his God.”
PHILIP.
In all the three gospel lists, this apostle is placed fifth in order, the
variations in the arrangements of the preceding making no difference
in his position. In the first chapter of Acts, however, a different
arrangement is made of his name, as will be hereafter mentioned.
The mere mention of his name on the list, is all the notice taken of
him by either of the three first evangelists, and it is only in the gospel
of John, that the slightest additional circumstance can be learned
about him. From this authority it is ascertained that he was of
Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter, and probably also the home
or frequent visiting-place of the sons of Zebedee, by the younger of
whom he is so particularly commemorated. Immediately after the
narration of the introduction of Andrew, John and Peter, to Jesus, in
the first chapter of this gospel, it is said that Jesus next proceeded
from Bethabara into Galilee, and there finds Philip; but the particular
place is not mentioned, though Bethsaida being immediately after
mentioned as his home, very probably was the place of the meeting.
Andrew and Peter, on their return home, had doubtless had no small
talk among their acquaintances, about the wonderful person
announced as the Messiah, to whom they had been introduced, and
had thus satisfied themselves that he was really the divine character
he was said to be. Philip too, must have heard of him in this way,
before he saw him; so that when Jesus met him, he was prepared at
once to receive the call which Jesus immediately gave
him,――“Follow me.” From the circumstance that he was the first
person who was summoned by Jesus, in this particular formula of
invitation to the discipleship, some writers have, not without reason,
claimed for Philip the name and honors of the Protoclete, or “first-
called;” though Andrew has commonly been considered as best
entitled to this dignity, from his being the first mentioned by name, as
actually becoming acquainted with Jesus. Philip was so devoutly
engaged, at once, in the cause of his new Master, that he, like
Andrew, immediately sought out others to share the blessings of the
discipleship; and soon after meeting one of his friends, Nathanael,
he expressed the ardor of his faith in his new teacher, by the words
in which he invited him to join in this honorable fellowship,――“We
have found him of whom Moses, in the law, and all the prophets did
write,――Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” The result of this
application will be related in the life of the person most immediately
concerned. After this, no notice whatever is taken of Philip except
where incidental remarks made by him in the conversations of
Jesus, are recorded by John. Thus, at the feeding of the five
thousand, upon Jesus’s asking whether they had the means of
procuring food for the multitude, Philip answered, that “two hundred
pence would not buy enough for them, that every one might take a
little,”――thus showing himself not at all prepared by his previous
faith in Jesus, for the great miracle which was about to happen;
though Jesus had asked the question, as John says, with the actual
design of trying the extent of his confidence in him. He is afterwards
mentioned in the last conversations of Jesus, as saying to him,
“Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us,”――here too, betraying also
a most unfortunate deficiency, both of faith and knowledge, and
implying also a vain desire to gratify his eyes with still more
miraculous displays of the divine power of his Master; though, even
in this respect, he probably was no worse off than all the rest of the
disciples, before the resurrection of Jesus.
Protoclete.――Hammond claims this peculiar honor for Philip, with great zeal. (See
his notes on John i. 43.)
Of his apostleship not one word is recorded in the New Testament,

for he is no where mentioned in the Acts, except as being one of the
apostles assembled in the upper chamber after the ascension; nor
do the epistles contain the slightest allusion to him. Some of the
most ancient authorities among the Fathers, however, are distinct in
their mention of some circumstances of his later life; but all these
accounts are involved in total discredit, by the fact that they make
him identical with Philip the deacon, whose active and zealous
labors in Samaria, and along the coast of Palestine, from Gaza,
through Ashdod to Caesarea, his home, are minutely related in the
Acts, and have been already alluded to, in that part of the life of
Peter which is connected with these incidents. It has always been
supposed, with much reason, in modern times, that the offices of an
apostle and a deacon were so totally distinct and different, that they
could never both be borne by one and the same person; but the
Fathers, even the very ancient ones, seem to have had not the
slightest idea of any such incompatibility; and therefore uniformly
speak of Philip the apostle, as the same person with Philip, one of
the seven deacons, who is mentioned by Luke, in the Acts of the
Apostles, as having lived at Caesarea, in Palestine, with his
daughters, who were virgins and prophetesses. Testimony more
distinct than this, can no where be found, among all the Fathers, on
any point whatever; and very little that is more ancient. Yet how does
it accord with the notions of those who revere these very Fathers as
almost immaculate in truth, and in all intellectual, as well as moral
excellence? What is the evidence of these boasted Fathers worth,
on any point in controversy about apostolic church government, or
doctrine, or criticism, if the modern notion of the incompatibility of the
two offices of apostle and deacon is correct?
The testimony of the Fathers on this point, is simply this. Eusebius (Church History, III.
31,) quotes Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, who, in his letter to Victor, bishop of Rome,
(written A. D. 195, or 196,) makes mention of Philip in these exact words: “Philip, who was
one of the twelve apostles, died in Hierapolis;” (in Phrygia;) “and so did two of his
daughters, who had grown old in virginity. And another of his daughters, after having
passed her life under the influence of the Holy Spirit, was buried at Ephesus.” This certainly
is a most perfect identification of Philip the apostle with Philip the deacon; for it is this latter
person who is particularly mentioned in Acts, xxi. 8, 9, as “having four daughters who did
prophesy.” He is there especially designated as “Philip the evangelist, one of the seven,”
while Polycrates expressly declares, that this same person “was one of the twelve.”
Eusebius also, in the preceding chapter, quotes Clemens Alexandrinus as mentioning Philip
among those apostles who were married, because he is mentioned as having had
daughters; and Clemens even adds that these were afterwards married, which directly
contradicts the previous statement of Polycrates, that three of them died virgins, in old age.
Yet Eusebius quotes all this stuff, with approbation.
Papias, (A. D. 140,) bishop of Hierapolis, the very place of the death and burial of Philip,
is represented by Eusebius as having been well acquainted with the daughters of Philip,
mentioned in Acts, as the virgin prophetesses. Papias says that he himself “heard these
ladies say that their father once raised a dead person to life, in their time.” But it deserves
notice, that Papias, the very best authority on this subject, is no where quoted as calling this
Philip “an apostle;” though Eusebius, on his own authority, gives this name to the Philip of
whom Papias speaks. It is therefore reasonable to conclude, that this blunder, betraying
such a want of familiarity with the New Testament history, originated after the time of
Papias, whose intimate acquaintance with Philip’s family would have enabled him to say, at
once, that this was the deacon, and not the apostle; though it is not probable that he was
any less deplorably ignorant of the scriptures than most of the Fathers were.
Now what can be said of the testimony of the Fathers on points where they can not refer,
either to their own personal observation, or to informants who have seen and heard what
they testify? The only way in which they can be shielded from the reproach of a gross
blunder and a disgraceful ignorance of the New Testament, is, that they were right in
identifying these two Philips, and that modern theologians are wrong in making the
distinction. On this dilemma I will not pretend to decide; for though so little reverence for the
judgment and information of the Fathers has been shown in this book, there does seem to
me to be some reason for hesitation on this point, where the Fathers ought to have been as
well informed as any body. They must have known surely, whether, according to the notions
of those primitive ages of Christianity, there was any incompatibility between the apostleship
and the deaconship! If their testimony is worth anything on such points, it ought to weigh so
much on this, as to cause a doubt whether they are not right, and the moderns wrong.
However, barely suggesting this query, without attempting a decision, as Luther says, “I will
afford to other and higher spirits, occasion to reflect.”
This is all the satisfaction that the brief records of the inspired or
uninspired historians of Christianity can give the inquirer, on the life
of this apostle;――so unequal were the labors of the first ministers of
Christ, and their claims for notice. Philip, no doubt, served the
purpose for which he was called, faithfully; but in these brief
sketches, there are no traces of any genius of a high character, that
could distinguish him above the thousands that are forgotten, but
whose labors, like those of the minutest animals in a mole-hill,
contribute an indispensable portion to the completion of the mass, in
whose mighty structure all their individual efforts are swallowed up
forever.
And though the ancient Polycrates may have blundered

grievously, in respect to the apostle’s personal identity, his hope of
the glorious resurrection of those whom he supposed to have died in
Asia will doubtless be equally well rewarded, if, to the amazement of
the Fathers, the apostle Philip should rise at last from the dust of
Babylon, or the ashes of Jerusalem, while his namesake, the
evangelist, shall burst from his tomb in Hierapolis. “For,” as
Polycrates truly says, “in Asia, some great lights have gone down,
which shall rise again on that day of the Lord’s approach, when he
shall come from the heavens in glory, and shall raise up all his
saints;――Philip, one of the twelve apostles, who sleeps at
Hierapolis, with his venerable virgin daughters,――John, who lay in
the bosom of the Lord, and who is laid at Ephesus,――Polycarp, at
Smyrna,――Thraseas, at Eumenia,――Sagaris, at
Laodicea,――Papirius and Melito, at Sardis――all await the
visitation of the Lord from the heavens, in which he shall raise them
from the dead.”
NATHANAEL, BAR-THOLOMEW.
his name and call.
In respect to this apostle, there occurs a primary question about

his name, which is given so differently in different sacred authorities,
as to induce a strong suspicion that the two names refer to two
totally distinct persons. The reasons for applying the two words,
Nathanael and Bartholomew, to the same person, are the
circumstances,――that none of the three first evangelists mention
any person named Nathanael, and that John never mentions the
name Bartholomew,――that Bartholomew and Nathanael are each
mentioned on these different authorities, among the chosen disciples
of Jesus,――that Bartholomew is mentioned by the three first
evangelists, on all the lists, directly after Philip, who is by John
represented as his intimate friend,――and that Bartholomew is not
an individual name, but a word showing parentage merely,――the
first syllable being often prefixed to Syriac names, for this purpose;
and Bar-Tholomew means the “son of Tholomew,” or “Tholomai;” just
as Bar-Jonah means the “son of Jonah;” nor was the former any
more in reality the personal, individual name of Nathanael, than the
latter was of Peter; but some circumstance may have occurred to
make it, in this instance, often take the place of the true individual
name.
A few very brief notices are given of this apostle by John, who
alone alludes to him, otherwise than by a bare mention on the list. It
is mentioned in his gospel that Nathanael was of Cana, in Galilee, a
town which stood about half-way between lake Gennesaret and the
Mediterranean sea; but the circumstances of his call seem to show
that he was then with Philip, probably at or near Bethsaida. Philip,
after being summoned by Jesus to the discipleship, immediately
sought to bring his friend Nathanael into an enjoyment of the honors
of a personal intercourse with Jesus, and invited him to become a
follower of the Messiah, foretold by Moses and the prophets, who
had now appeared, as Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. On
hearing of that mean place, as the home of the promised King of
Israel, Nathanael, with great scorn, replied, in inquiry, “Can any good
thing come out of Nazareth?” To this sneering question, Philip
answered by the simple proposition, “Come and see;”――wisely
judging that no argument could answer his friend’s prejudice so well
as an actual observation of the character and aspect of the
Nazarene himself. Nathanael, accordingly, persuaded by the
earnestness of his friend, came along with him, perhaps, partly to
gratify him, but, no doubt, with his curiosity somewhat moved to
know what could have thus brought Philip into this devout regard for
a citizen of that dirty little town; and he therefore readily
accompanied him to see what sort of prophet could come out of
Nazareth.
The words with which Jesus greeted Nathanael, even before he

had been personally introduced, or was prepared for any salutation,
are the most exalted testimonial of his character that could be
conceived, and show at once his very eminent qualifications for the
high honors of the apostleship. When Jesus saw Nathanael coming
to him, he said, “Behold a true son of Israel, in whom is no
guile!”――manifesting at once a confidential and intimate knowledge
of his whole character, in thus pronouncing with such ready decision,
this high and uncommon tribute of praise upon him, as soon as he
appeared before him. Nathanael, quite surprised at this remarkable
compliment from one whom he had never seen until that moment,
and whom he supposed to be equally ignorant of him, replied with
the inquiry, “Whence knowest thou me?” Jesus answered, “Before
Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee.”
The fig-trees of Palestine, presenting a wide, leafy cover, and a
delightful shade, were often used in the warm season as places of
retirement, either in company, for conversation, or in solitude, for
meditation and prayer, as is shown in numerous passages of the
Rabbinical writings; and it was, doubtless, in one of these
occupations that Nathanael was engaged, removed, as he
supposed, from all observation, at the time to which Jesus referred.
But the eye that could pierce the stormy shades of night on the
boisterous waves of Galilee, and that could search the hearts of all
men, could also penetrate the thick, leafy veil of the fig-tree, and
observe the most secret actions of this guileless Israelite, when he
supposed the whole world to be shut out, and gave himself to the
undisguised enjoyment of his thoughts, feelings, and actions, without
restraint. Nathanael, struck with sudden but absolute conviction, at
this amazing display of knowledge, gave up all his proud scruples
against the despised Nazarene, and adoringly exclaimed, “Rabbi!
thou art the Son of God,――thou art the King of Israel.” Jesus,
recognizing with pleasure the ready faith of this pure-minded
disciple, replied, “Because I said unto thee, ‘I saw thee under the fig-
tree,’――believest thou? Thou shalt see yet greater things than
these.” Then turning to Philip as well as to Nathanael, he says to
them both, “I solemnly assure you, hereafter ye shall see heaven
open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the
Son of Man.”
On the day but one after this occurrence, as John records, Jesus
was in Cana of Galilee, the residence of Nathanael, and was present
at a wedding which took place there. From the circumstance that the
mother of Jesus was there also, it would seem likely that it was the
marriage of some of their family friends; otherwise the conjecture
might seem allowable, that the presence of Jesus and his disciples
on this occasion, was in some way connected with the introduction of
Nathanael to Jesus; and that this new disciple may have been some
way concerned in this interesting event. The manner in which the
occurrence is announced,――it being next specified, that two days
after the occurrences recorded in the end of the first chapter, Jesus
was present at a marriage in Cana of Galilee,――would seem to
imply very fairly, that Jesus had been in some other place
immediately before; and it is probable therefore, that he
accompanied Nathanael home from Bethsaida, or whatever place
was the scene of his calling to the discipleship, along with Philip. The
terms of the statement are not, however, absolutely incompatible
with the idea of this first introduction of these two disciples to Jesus,
in Cana itself, which may have been the part of Galilee into which
Jesus is said to have gone forth, after leaving Bethabara; although,
the reasons above given make it probable that Bethsaida was the
scene. After this first incident, no mention whatever is made of
Nathanael, either under his proper name, or his paternal appellation,
except that when the twelve were sent forth in pairs, he was sent
with his friend Philip, that those who had been summoned to the
work together, might now go forth laboring together in this high
commission. One solitary incident is also commemorated by John, in
which this apostle was concerned, namely, the meeting on the lake
of Gennesaret, after the resurrection, where his name is mentioned
among those who went out on the fishing excursion with Peter. His
friend Philip is not there mentioned, but may have been one of the
“two disciples,” who are included without their names being given.
From this trifling circumstance, some have concluded that Nathanael
was a fisherman by trade, as well as the other four who are
mentioned with him; and certainly the conjecture is reasonable, and
not improbable, except from the circumstance, that his residence
was at Cana, which is commonly understood to have been an inland
town, and too far from the water, for any of its inhabitants to follow

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Organizational Behavior 17th Edition

Robbins Test Bank

5) Workgroups are characterized by ________.

7) Which of the following statements is true regarding a work team?

8) A work team is characterized by ________.

10) The extensive use of work teams benefits organizations by ________.

11) The goal of a workgroup is to share information.

13) Discuss the difference between a workgroup and a work team.

32) Describe and discuss self-managed work teams.

45) Which of the following statements is true regarding team composition?

46) The controller role in a team is responsible for ________.

53) Cultural diversity is an asset for teams where tasks ________.

57) ________ illustrates a process loss from using teams.

69) Which of the following is not a common characteristic of an effective team?

71) Which of the following is an example of a task conflict?

86) How does a climate of trust improve effectiveness of teams?

89) What is organizational demography? What is its significance?

90) Discuss the effect of team size on effectiveness of teams.

92) How do mental models contribute to task conflicts?

95) Which of the following will be useful in creating team players?

101) Explain how organizations can create team players.

103) Work should be performed by an individual if ________.

As to the place where this gospel was written, there is a very

his first epistle.

the second and third epistles.

the traditions of his life in ephesus.

It is related that John, after returning from banishment, was often

Another story, far less probable, is related in the ancient

Another story, of about equal merit, is told by the same authority.

The circumstances of his death are described in the

There is no need, however, of such fables, to crown with the false

Of his apostleship not one word is recorded in the New Testament,

And though the ancient Polycrates may have blundered

In respect to this apostle, there occurs a primary question about

The words with which Jesus greeted Nathanael, even before he

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