Page 406 - Effective group discussion theory and practice by Adams, Katherine H. Brilhart, John K. Galanes, Gloria J

Glossary 389

Synergy: The property of a system that the whole is not Time- oriented listener: A listener sensitive to time; may
the sum of its parts, but may be greater or lesser than be impatient or try to move the group prematurely to
the sum. closure.
System: An entity made up of components patterned Top management team (TMT): Team composed of upper-
in interdependent relationship to each other, requir- level executives responsible for strategic planning and
ing constant adaptation among its parts to maintain leading an organization.
organic wholeness and balance. Trait: Relatively enduring, consistent pattern of behavior
or other observable characteristic.
T
Traits approach: The approach to leadership that assumes
Task conflict: Conflict resulting from disagreements over leaders have certain traits that distinguish them from
ideas, information, reasoning, and evidence. followers or members of a group.
Task difficulty: Degree of problem complexity and effort Transactional process: All interactants mutually and simul-
required. taneously create meaning during communication.
Task function: Task- oriented member behavior that Transformational leadership: Leadership that empowers
contributes primarily to accomplishing the goals of a group members to exceed expectations by rhetorically
group. creating an inspiring and motivating vision.
Teambuilding: A set of planned activities designed to
increase teamwork, cohesiveness, or other aspects of U
group performance. Uncertainty avoidance: The degree to which members of
Technical requirements: The degree to which the solution a culture avoid or embrace uncertainty and ambigu-
for a given problem is technically feasible or must meet ity; cultures high in uncertainty avoidance prefer clear
standards of technical excellence. rules for interaction, whereas cultures low in uncer-
Teleconference: A meeting of participants who commu- tainty avoidance are comfortable without guidelines.
nicate via mediated channels such as television, tele-
phone, or computer rather than face- to-face. V
Thinking- Feeling Dimension: The Myers- Briggs Type Verbal interaction analysis: An analysis of who talks to
®
Indicator dimension concerned with how individ- whom and how often during a discussion.
uals prefer to make decisions; thinkers are objective Virtual team: A group in which the members’ interac-
and fact- based whereas feelers are subjective and tions take place primarily through some combination
emotion- based. of electronic systems, such as computers, telephones,
Throughput process: The actual functioning of a system, and videoconferences, instead of face- to-face.
or how the system transforms inputs into outputs.

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