Answer to Question 1
The extent to which team members depend on each other for resources, information, assistance, or mutual support to accomplish their tasks is the degree of interdependence present. Three types of interdependence affect teams: pooled, sequential, and reciprocal. Pooled interdependence is found in teams requiring the lowest amount of reliance on other members. Real estate agents in the same branch office may share office space, supplies, copy and fax machine, but do most of their selling independently. Sequential interdependence is a series of hand-offs of work flow between team members in which the output of one team member becomes the input of the next team member. Each member depends on all previous team members. An automobile insurance company is an example in the claims adjustment process. An insurance team handles an accident claim starting with the insurance agent who collects information, then the investigator who assesses the damage, and the adjuster who determines the payout. The greatest amount of interdependence occurs in reciprocal interdependence when team members interact intensively back and forth with one another. The output of one member becomes the input of the next and then the output returns to the first. Research projects are examples.
Answer to Question 2
A
