Chapter 17 — Quiz
Try the whole quiz before checking the key.
Multiple choice
1. The "paradox of individual credit in group work" is that Western teams expect you to: - A) only support the group, never stand out - B) collaborate genuinely and receive individual credit - C) only promote yourself, never help - D) avoid teams entirely
2. The resolution of the paradox is summarized as: - A) "all we" - B) "all me" - C) "I within we" - D) "neither"
3. Being "all team" (pure group-credit) in a Western workplace tends to make you: - A) admired - B) invisible - C) promoted - D) a leader
4. The best way to claim credit is to: - A) diminish your colleagues - B) state your specific role/results and credit others generously - C) grab all the credit - D) stay silent
5. "Throwing a teammate under the bus" means: - A) helping them - B) blaming/sacrificing them to protect yourself (badly viewed) - C) promoting them - D) crediting them
6. "Working out loud" means: - A) talking loudly - B) sharing your progress openly as you go - C) working alone - D) hiding your work
7. Western collaborative tools (Slack/Jira/Docs) encode an assumption of: - A) secrecy - B) transparency, documentation, and async communication - C) hierarchy - D) silence
8. Your bicultural fluency on a mixed team is: - A) a handicap - B) a prized asset (you can bridge styles) - C) irrelevant - D) a problem to hide
9. Which culture tends to be most genuinely group-oriented even in modern firms? - A) the US - B) Japan/Korea - C) Germany - D) Australia
10. A genuine downside of the Western model (Honesty Box) is: - A) too much harmony - B) credit politics and team fragmentation from too much "I" - C) no individual accountability - D) no collaboration tools
11. (new) "Glue work" (coordinating, smoothing, supporting) is: - A) the most visible, easily-credited work - B) valuable but the least visible, so it must be made legible to count - C) worthless - D) only done by managers
12. (new) Even in an individualist culture, credit-grabbing is penalized because Westerners also value: - A) silence - B) being a good team player - C) hierarchy - D) secrecy
True / False
13. Free-riding (contributing nothing, coasting on the group) is penalized in an individual-accountability culture. (True / False)
14. Generously crediting others makes you look worse. (True / False)
15. Your collective instinct for support is valuable in Western teams that tend toward too much "I". (True / False)
16. Documentation is optional in Western teams ("if it's not documented, it didn't happen" is a myth). (True / False)
17. (new) A common newcomer over-correction is to swing from invisible modesty all the way to credit-grabbing. (True / False)
Short answer
18. Explain "I within we" and why both extremes (all-I, all-we) backfire.
19. Write a one-sentence way to claim your individual contribution while crediting your team.
20. Name one genuine downside of the Western individual-credit model (the Honesty Box).
21. (new) Why is making "glue work" visible important, and how can you do it without bragging?
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Answer Key
- B. 2. C. 3. B. 4. B. 5. B. 6. B. 7. B. 8. B. 9. B. 10. B. 11. B (least visible). 12. B (team player).
- True. 14. False — it builds trust and makes you look better. 15. True. 16. False — documentation is expected. 17. True.
- Model: Be a generous collaborator and an identifiable individual contributor. All-we = invisible (no individual credit); all-me = a disliked credit-hog who erodes trust. The balance gets you both recognition and good relationships.
- Model: "I led [my specific part] and I'm proud of what the team delivered — we [result]."
- Model (any): credit politics/games; "throwing under the bus"; team fragmentation from too much individualism; free-rider problem; tools becoming surveillance/overload.
- Model: Glue work is the least visible contribution, so it goes unrecognized unless surfaced; name the specific coordination and its result ("I unblocked the data handoff across three teams") — factual, not boastful.