Convenience

Exercise Overview
Conceptual skills
require you to think in the abstract. This
exercise will allow you to practice your conceptual skills as
they apply to the activities of work teams in organizations.
Exercise Background
Business organizations, of course, don’t have a monopoly
on effective groups. Basketball teams and military squa-
drons are teams, as is a government policy group such as
the president’s cabinet, the leadership of a church or civic
organization, or even a student committee.
Exercise Task
1.
Use the Internet to identify an example of a
real-life team. Be sure to choose one that meets
two criteria (1) It’s not part of a for-profit busi-
ness, and (2) you can argue that it’s highly
effective.
2.
Determine the reasons for the team’s effective-
ness. (
Hint
: You might look for websites spon-
sored by the group itself, review online news
sources for current articles about it, or enter
the group name in a search engine.) Consider
team characteristics and activities, such as role
structures, norms, cohesiveness, and conflict
management.
3.
What can a manager learn from the characteristics
and activities of this particular team? How might
the factors that contribute to this team’s success be
adopted in a business setting?
Chapter 13:
Managing Work Groups and Teams
4 1 7
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BUILDING EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS