When Teams Go Wrong

This activity is important because managers put people into teams to increase efficiency, innovation, and productivity. Yet, sometimes teamwork backfires. You should be aware of the potential pitfalls that may happen when people work in teams so that you can more proactively manage your employees. The goal of this activity is to see if you can identify various $$team dysfunctions$$ from a series of examples.

Read the case study below, and then answer the questions that follow.

An archeologist stumbles across a diary from the $1970$s$.$ It was written by a member of a rather dysfunctional team of employees who worked for a manufacturer of pet rocks. The archeologist needs your help identifying each type of dysfunction displayed by the team in the diary entries noted below.

Day $1.$ Dear Diary: The boss put seven of us together on a work team. I$$m not sure I like all my teammates, but we have no choice except to work together. Our goal is to find new markets to sell our product, as the old ones seem to be drying up$.$

Day $2$: Dear Diary: Wow, this is extreme! Our first meeting, and the team is willing to pull the trigger on some questionable things I never would have done alone. At least one other teammate expressed concerns about this as well. I hope this doesn$$t backfire!

Day $21.$ Dear Diary: So$,$ those extreme decisions backfired, but what do I care. I am just one person in a team of ten. I$$m rather insulated here. I don$$t think they can hold me personally accountable, so I$$m just going to go about my business and keep my head down.

Day $22.$ Dear Diary: Wow, despite those extreme decisions failing miserably, the team has decided to stick with them. In fact, we$$re using this risky strategy in several more markets, and we just appropriated more of the budget to get all this done. I think we know what we are doing. What could go wrong?

Day $45.$ Dear Diary: The team leader keeps telling me what to do$,$ and I do it$.$ Almost like I$$m hypnotized...I think I am ok with all this, as the rest of my team members seem to have considerably more experience dealing with these issues than do I.

Day $53.$ Dear Diary: Heck with this, I$$m out. I$$m just going to slack off while hiding behind my team members. There$$s six other members on this team, so hopefully no one will notice that I$$m not really pulling my weight anymore.

Day $60.$ I$$m really out this time. The company$$s almost bankrupt anyway. I keep telling the team that our efforts are just a waste of time, and that our ideas are stupid. Of course, no one listened to my suggestions, so yeah, I$$m out. I don$$t even think I am going to pick up other new projects here, instead I think I will spend my efforts looking for a new place to work!

What dysfunction was described in Day $21?$

Multiple Choice

social loafing

self$-$limiting behavior

innocent bystander

conformity and obedience

risky shift