a critical thinking questions 1. Informal groups exist in almost every form of social organi- zation. What types of informal groups exist in your class- room? Why are students motivated to belong to these informal groups? 2. The late management guru Peter Drucker once said: "The now-fashionable team in which everybody works with every body on everything from the beginning rapidly is becoming a disappointment." Discuss three problems associated with teams 3. You have been put in charge of a cross-functional task force that will develop enhanced Internet banking services for retail customers. The team includes representatives from marketing, information services, customer service, and accounting, all of whom will move to the same location at headquarters for three months. Describe the behaviors you might observe during each stage of the team's development 4. You have just been transferred from the Kansas office to the Denver office of your company, a national sales organization of electrical products for developers and contractors. In Kansas, team members regularly called customers after a sale to ask whether the products arrived on time and whether they are satisfied. But when you moved to the Denver office, no one seemed to make these follow-up calls. A recently hired coworker explained that other coworkers discouraged her from making those calls. Later, another coworker suggested that your follow-up calls were making everyone else looke lazy. Give three possible reasons why the norms in Denver might be different from those in the Kansas office, even though the customers, products, sales commissions, and other character istics of the workplace are almost identical. 5. A software engineer in the United States needs to coordinate with four team members in geographically dispersed areas of the world. What team challenges might the team experience, and how will they affect the team design elements? 6. You have been assigned to a class project with five other students, none of whom you have met before, and some of whom come from different countries. To what extent would team cohesion improve your team's performance on this project? What actions would you recommend to build team cohesion among student team members in this situation? 7. Suppose you are put in charge of a virtual team whose members are located in different cities around the world. What tactics could you use to build and maintain team trust and performance, as well as minimize the decline in trust and performance that often occurs in teams? 8. You are responsible for convening a major event in which se nior officials from several state governments will try to come to an agreement on environmental issues. It is well known that some officials take positions to make themselves appear superior, whereas others are highly motivated to solve the environmental problems that cross adjacent states. What team decision-making problems are likely to be apparent in this government forum, and what actions can you take to minimize these problems? 9. The chief marketing officer of Sawgrass Widgets wants mar- keting and sales staff to identify new uses for its products. Which of the four team structures for creative decision mak- ing would you recommend? Describe and justify this process to Sawgrass's chief marketing officer