Role & Professionalism Leadership & Teamwork 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is 'psychological safety' in a team context?
- A workplace free of physical hazards
- A team climate where members feel safe to speak up, share ideas, and take risks without fear of punishment (Correct answer)
- Confidentiality protections for employee mental health records
- Mandatory mental health breaks for all team members
Correct answer: A team climate where members feel safe to speak up, share ideas, and take risks without fear of punishment
Psychological safety is a shared belief that the team environment is safe for interpersonal risk-taking and honest communication.
Question 2: What are the four stages of team development identified by Bruce Tuckman?
- Plan, Execute, Monitor, Close
- Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing (Correct answer)
- Hire, Train, Deploy, Evaluate
- Initiate, Develop, Sustain, Dissolve
Correct answer: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing
Tuckman's model describes four stages: Forming (orientation), Storming (conflict), Norming (cohesion), and Performing (productivity).
Question 3: What is delegation and why is it an important leadership skill?
- Assigning all difficult tasks to the most senior team member
- Entrusting responsibilities and authority to team members to build capability and manage workload (Correct answer)
- Removing a task from the team's scope entirely
- Documenting which team member is responsible for each task
Correct answer: Entrusting responsibilities and authority to team members to build capability and manage workload
Effective delegation builds team capability, manages leader workload, and empowers employees by giving them meaningful responsibility.
Question 4: Which approach is most effective for resolving conflict within a professional team?
- Avoidance—wait for the conflict to resolve itself
- Collaboration—work together to find a solution that addresses all parties' concerns (Correct answer)
- Accommodation—one party gives in to end the conflict quickly
- Competition—each party pushes hard for their own preferred outcome
Correct answer: Collaboration—work together to find a solution that addresses all parties' concerns
Collaborative conflict resolution seeks solutions that address the underlying interests of all parties and produces the most durable outcomes.
Question 5: What is 'groupthink' and why is it a risk in team decision-making?
- The tendency of teams to take too long reaching decisions
- The tendency of cohesive groups to prioritize harmony over critical thinking, leading to poor decisions (Correct answer)
- The practice of assigning equal decision-making weight to all team members
- A structured brainstorming technique for generating group ideas
Correct answer: The tendency of cohesive groups to prioritize harmony over critical thinking, leading to poor decisions
Groupthink occurs when the desire for group harmony suppresses dissent and critical analysis, increasing the risk of flawed decisions.
Question 6: What does 'leading by example' mean in professional leadership?
- Sharing case studies of successful leaders with your team
- Modeling the behavior, values, and work ethic you expect from your team (Correct answer)
- Assigning challenging tasks only to experienced team members
- Holding public recognition events for top performers
Correct answer: Modeling the behavior, values, and work ethic you expect from your team
Leading by example means demonstrating the professional standards and behaviors you expect your team to follow.
Role & Professionalism Leadership & Teamwork 2
What is 'psychological safety' in a team context?