Welcome to the NJSACOP Command and Leadership Program Practical Testing Module

Welcome to the NJSACOP Command and Leadership Program

Practical Testing Module.Please place your program in Slide Show Mode in order to

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tour now, simply left click on END.On behalf of the entire Command & Leadership Staff, we hope this Practical Tutorial, aids you in a complete grasp

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CONTENTS PAGE END

END

AREA IIIGroup

System

Lesson #25Group Conflict Management

Lesson #23Cohesion

Lesson #22

Socialization

Lesson #20Group Open Systems

Model

TESTING CONTENTS:Simply place your cursor over the Chapter Number in Green and Left click to begin that chapter. If you wish to enter another Chapter or Area, simply hit

the Escape Key, close this Chapter, and return to the main folder.

This exercise provides practice at looking at situations and identifying the indicators present that are contributing to group Cohesion.

Read each scenario and then choose the cohesion indicator most clearly portrayed.

There may be more than one correct response for each scenario:

(A) A high degree of interaction and communication among members.

(B) Power and influence over members' opinions and actions.

(C) The group directs greater energy toward the attainment of group

goals and less energy toward group maintenance.

(D) Members feel personal satisfaction from being in the group.

(E) Members share strong loyalty and identification with the group.

(F) Groups have explicit and elaborate norms and practices.TO THE QUESTIONS CONTENTS PAGE END

INSTRUCTIONS: Read the following brief situations and then select from the included list, a concept which helps to account for the

cohesion indicator most clearly portrayed.

Simply place your curser on the answer you want to select and left click with your mouse. This will take you to a response page

indicating that you have made the correct or incorrect selection. At the bottom of each page is a navigation tool bar that will aid you in

working your way through the entire practice testing module.

Remember, there may be more than one correct answer for each of these questions.

CHAPTER #23Cohesion

TO THE QUESTIONS CONTENTS PAGE END

A. A high degree of interaction and communication among members.

B. Power and influence over members' opinions and actions.C.

The group directs greater energy toward the attainment of group goals and less energy toward group maintenance.

CohesionChapter #23 Part #1 Question #1

NEXT TEST CONTENTS PAGE END

D. Members feel personal satisfaction from being in the group.E.

Members share strong loyalty and identification with the group.F.

Groups have explicit and elaborate norms and practices.

Officer Mendez is a police officer assigned to the midnight tour on her police department. She enjoys her job and more importantly enjoys being a part of

the department. When she graduated from the Police Academy she felt intense pride and a sense of accomplishment as her father and mother met

her after the ceremony. Officer Mendez told a friend, "This job has been personally rewarding and I have found a home among my fellow officers.

Here I have a sense of real belonging."


A. Incorrect. This is not an example of increased interaction and communication between members. While

one would suspect that this department has high cohesion and that there are high degrees of interaction

and communication, there is no evidence that would indicate that this department has greater levels of

interaction other than the fact that they do communicate with each other.

PLEASE TRY AGAIN NEXT TEST ENDCONTENTS PAGE

Officer Mendez is a police officer assigned to the midnight tour on her police department. She enjoys her job and more importantly enjoys being a part of the department. When she graduated from the Police

Academy she felt intense pride and a sense of accomplishment as her father and mother met her after the ceremony. Officer Mendez told a friend, "This job has been personally rewarding and I have

found a home among my fellow officers. Here I have a sense of real belonging."

B. Power and influence over members' opinions and actions.

B. Incorrect. This is not an example of the group having power and influence over the members' action and

opinions. Officer Mendez gives us no evidence that by being on the midnight shift, that she is thinking of

behaving in ways they she normally wouldn't.





C. The group directs greater energy toward the attainment of group goals and less energy toward group maintenance.

C. Incorrect. This is not a example of the group directing greater energy towards the attainment of group goals and less energy toward group maintenance. Officer Mendez's

experience is one in which she is very satisfied and closely identifies herself with the group. However we see no evidence that her shift is accomplishing their goals at

a particular level of performance or that the group is spending less energy towards group maintenance .





D. Members feel personal satisfaction from being in the group.

D. Correct. This is an example of members feeling personal satisfaction from being in the group. You can see how contented Officer Mendez is with her current situation and her desire to show others such as her parents, how happy she is. She even called the job personally rewarding. There is one other indicator

present as well.

BACK TO THIS QUESTION NEXT TEST ENDCONTENTS PAGE




E. Members share strong loyalty and identification with the group.

E. Correct. This is a example of members sharing strong loyalty and identification with the group. She tells her

friend how she has found a home. There is also evidence in this vignette for one other possible cohesion indicator .





F. Groups have explicit and elaborate norms and practices.

F. Incorrect. This is not an example of the group having explicit and elaborate norms and practices. Look again.













Lieutenant Beckman and Captain Jones, XO and CO, were reflecting on the last performance evaluation for their shift. Captain Jones said, "The difference in our

performance for the same period a year ago was incredible. A year ago, we were fighting amongst ourselves rather than accomplishing our mission. That greatly

contributed to the numerous problems we experienced". Lieutenant Beckman replied, "It seemed as if we couldn't get anybody on the shift on the right sheet of music.

Officers bad mouthed not only the department but their squads as well. Now, it's great to see officers proud of who they are and what they have accomplished. Just this

morning I saw officers make it clear to a new recruit that his appearance was out of step with the squad's standards and that to be on this shift was a very special privilege

and had to be earned."


A. Incorrect, Sorry. This is not an example of the group having a high degree of interaction and communication among members.

While it is true that having a discerning mind you would make the prediction that in this unit they do interact and communicate more, there just is not the evidence to support your prediction. It is true that we see an example of the shift XO and CO were interacting as well as several officers. However the reflective leader is looking for indicators that would lead them to the conclusion that his unit has greater patterns of communication and interaction then one would

expect to find in any &organization, good or bad. But you are thinking so keep at it!PLEASE TRY AGAIN NEXT TEST ENDCONTENTS PAGE








B. Correct. You are on the ball! This is indeed an example of the group having power and influence over members' opinions and

actions. The XO points out that in the past the organization had little effect on officer's views and opinions. They even made derogatory

remarks about their own unit. However now the XO has seen evidence that officers in the unit are letting new recruits know that

there are certain things that must be done and said if they are to be an accepted member of the organization.

Remember, there may be additional correct answers to this question.









C. Correct. Obviously this is not very challenging for you but then again you probably aren't the average student. Of course this is an

example of the group directing greater energy toward the attainment of group goals and less energy toward group maintenance. Captain Beckman discusses how in the past, sub-units spent most of their

time, efforts and ultimately their energy in fighting amongst themselves. He even makes the link that because of all this

misdirected energy they were not that focused on their mission and goals. There are also other answers that may accurately characterize

the vignette.BACK TO THIS QUESTION NEXT TEST ENDCONTENTS PAGE








D. Incorrect. This is not the best example of members feeling personal satisfaction from being in the group. While it is true that both the CO and XO are very proud of what their organization has accomplished, we cannot be absolutely sure that their satisfaction

comes only from their belonging to the group. We could just as easily attribute such satisfaction from their great performance or from the performance of their roles as CO and XO. Therefore the discerning

leader must look to see the link between the members and their belonging\involvement with the group itself. This is not always so cut

and dry as you have evidenced.PLEASE TRY AGAIN NEXT TEST ENDCONTENTS PAGE








E. Correct. This could be an example of members sharing strong loyalty and identification with the group. We see that after their

successful performance rating that officers are very proud of what unit they are in. We see how this attitude is reflected in officer's

behaviors by the two officers making it clear to the new officer that being a part of their unit was special and something they certainly

identified with. There are additional correct answers to this question.









F. Correct. While there are much better answers, this could be an example of the group having explicit and elaborate norms and practices. While there is very little evidence of how being a part of this unit requires certain unique and particular norms, one could draw the conclusion that in the last part of the vignette where the two officers are telling the new officer that to be a

part of the unit requires high standards, these could be construed as explicit and elaborate norms and practices. However the discerning leader must look

for further evidence that shows that the unit just doesn't have high standards, but rather standards that make it a cut above and quite different

than other units around them. These elaborate norms and practices contribute to the special quality of the group and allows members to better

identify with the group.BACK TO THIS QUESTION NEXT TEST ENDCONTENTS PAGE















Sergeant Garrison and her squad had been together for over 18 months. There was a quiet confidence about them whenever they set about their work. What was

remarkable was their ability to communicate with each other without very many words. Take for example the way they conducted their raids. Each member of the squad knew their assigned responsibilities and how those responsibilities were interrelated to one another. Through a series of hand and arm signals that were uniquely their own, the squad would go about their business. When the squad was in their office, or off duty,

though, it seemed as if you couldn't keep them from talking. It was often hard to make any distinction between members as even Sergeant Garrison often blended in with her

squad members.


A. Correct. This is a great example of the group having a high degree of interaction and communication between members. Much

like the German Wehrmacht infantry squads during the early days of WWII, Sergeant Garrison's squad has developed communication

patterns and processes that have even minimized the use of verbal communications to better complete their task. The fact that the

squad socializes together and has strong verbal communications, shows that this squad has evolved to the point that their

communication patterns are extremely consistent with their environment. It would be great to have squads like this wouldn't it!





squad members.


B. Incorrect. While it would be a safe bet to conclude that this squad does have much influence and power over members' opinions and actions as seen in the squad socializing with each other, there is

no concrete evidence of such influence and power.





squad members.


C. Incorrect. The discerning student such as yourself would realize that Sergeant Garrison's squad is very mission-focused and very little of their energy is directed towards trying to keep the group together. However we must look for evidence and in this case it just isn't there.





squad members.


D. Incorrect. You are probably saying to yourself since the depicted squad seems so cohesive it is a safe bet to say that all the officers in the squad feel an intense satisfaction from being part of the squad. However there is no evidence of these psychological states among

the officers. That is often what makes this business of leadership as difficult as it is very hard to detect critical psychological states of your

officers unless you spend lots of time getting to know them.





squad members.


E. Incorrect. You are on the right track. However to safely conclude that Sergeant Garrison's officers feel a strong sense of loyalty and identification to their squad we would have to have some hard evidence that would show that the officers do indeed feel that way, or else we have to have some clearly stated behaviors that would demonstrate those attitudes. In this vignette that evidence is tenuous at best.





squad members.


F. Correct. You are extremely perceptive! You saw that when the squad was able to communicate through its own set of hand and arm

signals and other nonverbal signals, that the squad had indeed established its own set of explicit and elaborate norms and practices.

These norms and practices in turn helped the squad better accomplish its mission. You can see the great benefit that officers get from having these special ways of communicating, interacting

and identifying with one another. But often when groups must frequently deal with another group and one of the groups has very

elaborate norms, what are the disadvantages or the downside to such norms?BACK TO THIS QUESTION NEXT TEST ENDCONTENTS PAGE




squad members.









Officer Paul B. Hull, a veteran police officer, was walking a foot post with a new officer, when they walked into an armed robbery at a Savings & Loan Association just as the robbers were leaving. Due to his state of training and experience, however, he was

able to quickly seek cover and return fire. The new officer was not able to find adequate cover, although, he was able to return fire. Shortly after this, another officer walked into the middle of the confrontation and was shot. Officer Hull, instinctively ran

to the officer and covered him with his body, effectively shielding him from harm. Officer Hull was mortally wounded by a burst of automatic weapons fire. The other

officer, angered by Officer Hull's death was able kill one of the suspects and arrest the others without further injuries.


A. Incorrect. This is not an example of the group having a high degree of interaction and communication among members. You must

have hit the wrong key on your keyboard. Try again.







B. Correct. This may be an example of the group having power and influence over members' opinions and actions. In this case while we

don't see the evidence that the group is overtly exercising control over Hull nor do we really understand what is going on inside Hull's

head to cause him to give up his life, it is reasonable to conclude that when someone gives their life to shield and protect their group, that

group does have some power and influence over that someone. There is another answer as well.







C. Incorrect. This is not an example of the group directing greater energy towards group goals and less energy towards group

maintenance. You must have hit the wrong key on your keyboard. Try again.







D. Incorrect. This is not an example of a member feeling personal satisfaction from being in the group. There just isn't enough

evidence to make this conclusion .







E. Correct. This is an example of a member having strong loyalty and identification with the group. While there may be many other psychological reasons such as individual theories of motivation to account for what Officer Hull did, cohesion does help us understand the extent to which officers will fight and sacrifice towards their team. Much research has shown that elite units and those units to which there was strong evidence of cohesion had

much greater examples of heroism and acts of bravery such as Officer Hull's behavior. For example, The Special Forces\Green Berets won more Medals of

Honor than any other unit during the Vietnam Conflict. There is another correct answer as well..







F. Incorrect. This is not an example of the group having explicit and elaborate norms. The American Tradition is full of examples of self-

sacrifice. You must have hit the wrong key on your keyboard. Try again.






Welcome to the END of the Practice Exam for Chapter #23.

If you wish to discontinue your work until another time, simply hit the Escape Key on

your keyboard then end the Program.

If you wish to continue, click on the CONTENTS PAGE at the bottom right of your screen and pick another chapter to work on.

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Welcome to the NJSACOP Command and Leadership Program Practical Testing Module