Final answer:
Teams in the workplace serve various functions and their effectiveness can be influenced by many factors, including the team halo effect and team diversity. The team halo effect can make teams appear more effective than they may actually be due to attribution biases.
Step-by-step explanation:
Teams within organizations play a crucial role in their success and are of different types, such as problem resolution teams, creative teams, and tactical teams. The team halo effect is an example of how perception can influence the evaluation of a team's performance, leading to a situation where teams might seem to work better than they actually do (Naquin & Tynan, 2003).
Effective teams, which often feature diverse skillsets, are becoming more necessary due to rapidly changing workplace factors like technology and globalization. The performance of teams, including those that are gender diverse, can be higher when there is a balance in the mix, which can enhance interaction and skillset within the team (Hoogendoorn, Oosterbeek, & van Praag, 2013).
When it comes to team dynamics and performance, various factors such as social loafing, decision-making, and internal conflict can negatively impact effectiveness. Moreover, a shift towards a team-based approach in organizations has been made to quickly adapt to changes in the competitive environment by leveraging diverse skills and expertise (Naquin & Tynan, 2003).
However, the success of this approach is still a subject of ongoing research. Answering the student's question on the team halo effect, the correct answer is (a) teams appear to work better than they do.
In the physics scenario provided, where two teams are in a tug-of-war and the rope snaps, the correct understanding of the forces involved is that up until the rope snaps, there was a balanced force where each team exerted equal and opposite forces on the rope. The moment the rope snaps, these forces no longer have anything to act upon, leading to a loss of balance and potentially causing the teams to fall backwards.