Question

During a group meeting, Nadia comments, _____. She is performing a maintenance role.


“What is the real issue here? We don’t seem to be going anywhere.”


“Let’s accept and praise the various points of view.”


“We can do this. We’ve met difficult goals before.”


“Last week we decided to table this agenda item. Are we ready to address it again?”


“A goal of 150 per week sounds reasonable.”

Answer 1

People in meetings can have very different roles. A very important one is that of maintenance; in this case, people foster a good relationship environment and promote already existing synergy. One of the maintenance roles is to make everyone feel comfortable about what they say. This is achieved with answer choice n.2. Another form is encouragement; n.3 is a prime example of this. The first choice displays a hindering role, where the interactions become more negative. Choices 4 and 5 are more on the task role of sides where one is preoccupied mainly with the specifics of the task at hand. Thus, the correct choice is choice 2 here (although 3 and 4 have elements of maintenance).