Team Work Situations Questions & Answers

Share on
1.

You are assigned to work on a project along with another co-worker. He has been working in the department longer than you. Since he has no great ambitions or aspirations to develop professionally, he does not put much effort into your mutual project.

What would you do? Choose the BEST option.

A.

This is an inflexible situation as far as you are concerned, so you accept it and do your share of the work load to the best of your ability. The rest is up to your co-worker.

B.

You are concerned that the quality of the project will reflect badly on you and the company, so you put in extra hours to complete the project by yourself to the best of your abilities.

C.

You cannot accept this kind of attitude. You immediately contact your manager to discuss the situation. You request that your co-worker be replaced by another worker to complete the project.

D.

You reach out to the co-worker, explain your difficulty and try to negotiate a fair distribution of the work load between you. You take into account that you might have to put in extra hours to complete whatever tasks he neglects to do.

Correct answer is D

No explanation has been provided for this answer.

2.

You work in a large audit firm as a consultant. There are five additional members in the team, all working under the supervision of a team manager and the department manager above him.

Matt, a co-worker in your staff with whom you share an office, needs your advice regarding a report he is about to present at this week's team meeting. These meetings are led by your team manager but the department manager is almost always present, too.

Although the part of the report that Matt shows you seems fine, you notice that the numerical analysis in another section of the report is missing important conclusions. You can tell that this section of the report does not adhere to the standards of your department's supervisors.

Matt seems to be confident about that part of the report and you get the impression that he is not interested in your opinion about it.

What would you do? Choose the BEST option.

A.

If he is not interested in your opinion there is not much you can do about it, so you let it go and leave him to deal with the consequences of a poor presentation.

B.

If he does not want to listen to you, notify management about it. Talk to your manager and ask him to explain to Matt the importance of the necessary changes.

C.

You do your best to get him to listen. It may involve some discomfort but you try to explain the logic behind your criticism in the hope that he will understand.

D.

It's best to stay out of it. If Matt does not want to hear your thoughts, that is his right and there is always the possibility that you are mistaken.

Correct answer is C

No explanation has been provided for this answer.

3.

A co-worker is undermining you. Currently, he is at a less senior position than you in the company and hasn't been working there for long. However, he is better educated than you and is also considered a fast learner. You know from a third party that he is interested in taking over some of your responsibilities.

What would you do? Choose the BEST option.

A.

You wait to see how things develop; at the moment this information is merely hearsay.

B.

You call your co-worker in for a talk. You explain that cooperation is an essential feature of any workplace and tell him you believe both of you can learn from one another. If he refuses to understand you take more serious steps.

C.

You do not want to take any chances with such issues. You report the matter to your supervisor and advise him to consider replacing your co-worker.

D.

Since you do not want to make a "big deal" out of the issue, you ask a third party to intimate to your co-worker that his behaviour is unacceptable.

Correct answer is B

No explanation has been provided for this answer.

4.

The company you work for is experiencing financial difficulties. You have thought of a creative solution that will enable it to recruit more clients. However, the downside is that the company will have to let go a stable, loyal but not-so-profitable client (due to a conflict of interest). Two out of three marketing people agree with you while your manager does not because she believes this is too risky.

What would you do? Choose the BEST option.

A.

You trust your manager's judgement and withdraw your proposition. There's no point in going against her better judgement.

B.

You present a document to your manager systematically detailing the advantages of your proposition and its contribution to the company. If she keeps insisting, you'll support her decision.

C.

You implement your proposition despite the manager's resistance. Since you have a lot of faith in this proposition, you decide to trust your judgement and go behind her back this once for the benefit of the company.

D.

You confront your manager on the issue and insist that she accept your proposal. You are positive that you are right. You have the marketing people to back you and will not give up until you convince your manager otherwise.

Correct answer is B

No explanation has been provided for this answer.

5.

You have been working as a salesperson for the past year and have consistently achieved great sales numbers. Due to personal reasons, you have recently been unfocused at work and as a result your work performance has declined. Additionally, due to changes in the market, the sales figures of your team have decreased as well.
Your director does not seem to be taking the changes in the market into account and is blaming your poor performance on poor leadership on your part.

What would you do? Choose the BEST option.

A.

You explain your personal situation to the director and apologise for the decline in the performance of your team. You ask to take a few days off to recuperate.

B.

You make a decision to put aside your personal situation and consult other sales directors regarding their ways of coping with a volatile market. You devote yourself entirely to your work.

C.

You update the director on the changes in the market and explain that there is nothing that can be done at the moment to improve sales.

D.

You scold your team members for their poor performance and set new, more attainable sales targets in line with the changes in the market.

Correct answer is B

No explanation has been provided for this answer.

7.

At a marketing meeting with your supervisor and the senior marketing manager you find yourself in the midst of a conflict between them. You know that the two do not get along professionally and that they are in constant disagreement.
They are now arguing about strategies for a new campaign, and are asking you to pick a side.

What would you do? Choose the BEST option.

A.

You accept the idea of the senior marketing manager. Since she is more senior she has more influence on your status in the company and therefore it is politically wiser to support her.

B.

You accept the idea of your supervisor. Since he is directly above you, he has more influence on your daily routine in the company and therefore it is politically wiser to support him.

C.

You weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of each side and decide accordingly without getting involved in their personal conflict.

D.

You believe that getting involved in this dispute would be detrimental to you as both sides are superior to you. Therefore, you refuse to pick a side saying that both strategies are equally successful.

Correct answer is C

No explanation has been provided for this answer.

8.

The backlog of work in Accounts department gets bigger by the day. There are many staffing issues (numbers, training etc.) causing this. The upshot is that most of your junior colleagues are now regularly missing each week's target deadline. As the team leader, you must prioritise resolving this situation before it turns into an even bigger crisis.

What would be the most effective reaction to this situation?

A.

Remind your team of the problems and the clear need to meet every deadline.

B.

Communicate to your team that you are resolving the problems personally.

C.

Stay positive - and ask your immediate superior for additional resources.

D.

Meet with the team to tell them what you believe is causing the problems.

Correct answer is C

The MOST effective option is (C). This is because missing deadlines is a major problem which needs to be escalated to your manager. You need to know where they stand on this issue.

(A) is in fact the LEAST effective option since it only pays lip service - without taking any direct actions to address the growing problem.

Answer option (B) is slightly better than the LEAST effective option (A). You are indeed resolving the issue personally and reminding the team that this leadership responsibility falls within your managerial responsibilities.

Answer option (D) starts with the good idea of holding a team meeting. The aim here needs to be keeping the team on board and asking for their thoughts/opinions on what's causing the issues. Telling them can easily be misinterpreted as blaming them. In which case they will be less likely to help you with the problem resolution.

9.

You are a very busy Team Leader, working in the public health sector during a national pandemic. Currently, you're attending the team's latest bi-weekly, virtual presentation on individual projects led by a different team member each week. This particular project leader has already overrun the allocated time. Some of your team members look bored now. You agree that this presentation is dragging on too long.

What would be the most effective reaction to this situation?

A.

You decide to leave the meeting explaining you have urgent work to do asap.

B.

Gently wrap up the session, then hold a presentation review later that day.

C.

Wrap-up the session by secretly messaging the whole team to ask questions now.

D.

It's the presenter's responsibility to manage time, so this is not your responsibility.

Correct answer is B

(B) is the MOST effective solution, demonstrating collaborative decision-making in seeking a resolution. Plus taking the initiative to address the timing issue. Thirdly, it's your managerial responsibility to offer balanced feedback.

The LEAST effective solution is (A) which does not address the over-running presentation or that your team members are being similarly inconvenienced.

Whilst (C) is a 'positive' response to assume leadership of the issue; it also hands responsibility to your team. It sends a strong message to the presenter but this could have been in a more openly professional - and less secretive - manner. Also, the question session will itself take even more time (away from the team's other work).

Similarly (D) avoids taking responsibility for resolving the issue. Always look for an overall solution, which this isn't!

10.

You've recently started a new job managing a Customer Service helpdesk. In your first few weeks, you quickly realise that most of the team members are introverts and don't converse much. - even in your 1-to-1's. There is poor team spirit and hence quite low job satisfaction.

What would be the most effective reaction to this situation?

A.

Call a one-off emergency meeting to highlight objectives and the lack of collaboration.

B.

Start by introducing half-hour, weekly catch-up meetings for the whole team.

C.

Implement compulsory training courses on interpersonal skills as soon as possible.

D.

Familiarise yourself with the team objectives, then email regular updates on each one's progress.

Correct answer is B

(B) is the MOST effective response to the presented scenario. The key issue here is for you, as manager, to improve collaboration. Introducing short weekly meetings will do this in what should be perceived as an acceptable manner by your team. It's always good advice to select the solution likely to prove most effective in the long-term.

The LEAST effective response is (option (A). Rather than reminding colleagues of their team objectives, you need to be encouraging more regular team communication. A one-off meeting - even if it's given high priority - will not improve collaboration over the longer-term.

Regarding answer option (C); interpersonal skills training does offer some value. Still it's only one, albeit an important, component of effective collaboration.

Answer option (D) may work in the long-term. However it is not as proactive as option (B).