Groups and Teams

When trainees finish studying this part, they should be able to: 1. Define teams and groups 2. List the main characteristics of teams 3. Know the differences between teams, groups and individuals 4. Determine teams’ importance in nowadays organizations 5. Define some impressive results of work teams in organizations. 1.1 Team Definition, Characteristics and Steps Although teams (groups) have always been a central part of the organizations, they are gaining increasing attention as potentially important organizational asset. Professionals rarely work alone; they work with their colleagues and their work managers. Accordingly, managers are concerned with creating effective teams that make real contributions to quality products and services and thus containing success of the total organization. The evidence suggests that teams typically outperform individuals when the tasks being done require multiple skills, judgment, and experience. As organizations have restructured themselves to compete more effectively and efficiently, they have turned to teams as a way to better utilize employee talents. Management has found that teams are more flexible and responsive to changing events than are traditional departments or other forms of permanent groupings. Teams have the capability to quickly assemble, deploy, refocus, and disband. Definition of a Team From the abovementioned facts, we can define a team as: “Two or more interdependent individuals who interact with and influence one another in order to accomplish a common purpose”. | Imagine three people waiting in line at the cashier’s stand at a supermarket. Now compare them to the board of directors of a large corporation. Which collection would you consider to be a “group “or a “team”? Although in our everyday language we may refer to the people waiting in line as a group, they are not a group and the same sense as the members of the board.Social scientists have formally defined a group as a