ACCA BT · Chapter 10
Individual, group and team behaviour MCQs with Answers
11 multiple-choice questions on Individual, group and team behaviour for ACCA BT Business and Technology. Try each one before revealing the answer and explanation.
Practise this chapter interactivelyQuestion 1
Which of the following is a feature of an informal group in an organisation?
- A) It develops spontaneously from social relationships between employees
- B) It is established by management to carry out a specific task
- C) Its membership is defined in the organisation chart
- D) It always has a formally appointed leader
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Answer: A) It develops spontaneously from social relationships between employees
Informal groups arise naturally from friendships and shared interests, and may cut across formal structures. Formal groups are created deliberately by management, are reflected in the organisation chart and have appointed leaders.
Question 2
What is the correct sequence of Tuckman's stages of group development?
- A) Forming, norming, storming, performing
- B) Forming, storming, norming, performing
- C) Storming, forming, norming, performing
- D) Norming, forming, performing, storming
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Answer: B) Forming, storming, norming, performing
Tuckman's model states that groups move through forming (members get to know each other), storming (conflict over roles and goals), norming (agreement on ways of working) and performing (effective focus on the task). A fifth stage, adjourning, was later added for when the group disbands.
Question 3
A newly formed project team has begun to argue openly about who should lead the project and what its priorities should be. According to Tuckman, which stage has the team reached?
- A) Forming
- B) Norming
- C) Adjourning
- D) Storming
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Answer: D) Storming
Storming is characterised by conflict, challenges to leadership and disagreement over objectives and methods. Forming is the polite, tentative initial stage, norming is when the team settles on shared norms and procedures, and adjourning is when the team disbands.
Question 4
In Belbin's team roles, which member is creative, generates original ideas and solves difficult problems, but may ignore practical details?
- A) Monitor evaluator
- B) Completer finisher
- C) Plant
- D) Implementer
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Answer: C) Plant
The Plant is the team's creative source of ideas, though they may be poor at communicating and handling detail. The Monitor evaluator critically analyses options, the Completer finisher ensures thoroughness and meets deadlines, and the Implementer turns ideas into practical action plans.
Question 5
A team member always pays meticulous attention to detail, searches out errors and ensures that the work is delivered on time. According to Belbin, which role does this person play?
- A) Shaper
- B) Completer finisher
- C) Resource investigator
- D) Co-ordinator
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Answer: B) Completer finisher
The Completer finisher is conscientious and anxious to polish and perfect, checking for errors and making sure deadlines are met. The Shaper drives the team forward with energy, the Resource investigator explores external opportunities and contacts, and the Co-ordinator clarifies goals and delegates.
Question 6
A project team is full of ideas but repeatedly fails to turn them into workable plans and schedules. Using Belbin's framework, which role is the team most likely to be lacking?
- A) Plant
- B) Resource investigator
- C) Teamworker
- D) Implementer
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Answer: D) Implementer
The Implementer is disciplined and practical, turning ideas and concepts into workable procedures and plans. A team rich in ideas but poor at execution already has creative input (Plant, Resource investigator) and lacks the practical organiser. A Teamworker supports harmony within the team but does not specifically convert ideas into action.
Question 7
Charles Handy described four types of organisational culture. Which culture is characterised by a central source of power, such as an owner-founder, with few rules and decisions made quickly by a small number of people?
- A) Role culture (Apollo)
- B) Task culture (Athena)
- C) Power culture (Zeus)
- D) Person culture (Dionysus)
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Answer: C) Power culture (Zeus)
Handy's power culture, symbolised by Zeus and a spider's web, centres on a dominant individual and relies on personal trust rather than procedures. Role culture is bureaucratic and rule-based, task culture is project and team-focused, and person culture exists to serve the individuals within it, such as a barristers' chambers.
Question 8
A government department relies on detailed job descriptions, formal procedures and clearly defined hierarchy, and values stability and predictability. Which of Handy's cultures does this describe?
- A) Power culture
- B) Role culture
- C) Task culture
- D) Person culture
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Answer: B) Role culture
Role culture (Apollo, represented by a Greek temple) is bureaucratic: authority comes from position, work is governed by rules and procedures, and stability is valued. Power culture centres on one person, task culture is flexible and project-based, and person culture serves individuals' own interests.
Question 9
Edgar Schein identified three levels of organisational culture. Which of the following is an example of an 'artefact' (the most visible level)?
- A) Employees' unconscious beliefs about human nature
- B) The office layout and the dress code worn by staff
- C) The organisation's espoused values on integrity
- D) Shared assumptions about the right way to treat customers that are never discussed
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Answer: B) The office layout and the dress code worn by staff
Schein's levels are artefacts (visible structures and behaviour such as office layout, dress and rituals), espoused values (stated strategies, goals and philosophies) and basic underlying assumptions (unconscious, taken-for-granted beliefs). Office layout and dress code are observable artefacts.
Question 10
In Hofstede's research on national cultures, a society in which people generally accept that power is distributed unequally and expect hierarchy is described as having which characteristic?
- A) High uncertainty avoidance
- B) High power distance
- C) High individualism
- D) Low masculinity
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Answer: B) High power distance
Power distance measures the extent to which less powerful members of society accept unequal distribution of power. In high power distance cultures, hierarchy is accepted and subordinates expect to be told what to do. Uncertainty avoidance concerns tolerance of ambiguity, individualism concerns self-reliance versus group loyalty, and masculinity concerns competitiveness versus caring values.
Question 11
Which of the following is generally regarded as a characteristic of an effective team?
- A) Members avoid all disagreement in order to maintain harmony
- B) Members share commitment to common objectives and communicate openly
- C) The team has as many members as possible to maximise ideas
- D) Each member works independently without reference to the others
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Answer: B) Members share commitment to common objectives and communicate openly
Effective teams have clear shared goals, open communication, mutual trust, complementary roles and constructive handling of conflict. Suppressing all disagreement can lead to 'groupthink', very large teams become hard to coordinate, and working in isolation means there is no real team.