The Difference between Group and Team
Nowadays, group or team concept is adopted by the organization, to accomplish various client projects. When two or more individuals are classed together either by the organization or out of social needs, it is known as a group. On the other hand, a team is the collection of people, who are linked together to achieve a common objective. Lets discuss both group and team individually one by one to understand the difference between group and team.
Difference between Group and Team
The group is broadly classified into the following two types which are
01- Formal Group
02- Informal Group
1.Formal group is considered to be such group that is formed by specific authority within the organizations and they specifically designed tasks & work assignments. The behavior executed by the members of such groups is directed toward the achievement of the identified objectives of the organizations.
2.Informal group is opposite of formal group, which is formed automatically in a naturally social way. The behavior shown by the members of informal group is circulated around the common interests and friendship.
Why people join Group?
There is not any single reason that can be valid for explaining the fact that why people join groups. So there are a number of reasons which are an s follow.
- Security
Because the strength of numbers shows the security, therefore people are joined together as group to feel stronger & resistant to threats.
- Status
Another big reason of joining a group is the acquisition of a status and recognition. People join a particular group that has a prestigious status, which becomes a symbolic part of the members of that group.
- Self-Esteem
The feeling of self-worth is satisfied by joining a group & therefore people satisfy their self-esteems which are accepted by the other members of that group.
- Affiliation
The social needs of the people are covered by forming a group that is why people love to join any group to satisfy their need of social relations & friendship.
- Power
Another significant reason of joining a group is the reflection & representation of power that can be helpful for the members to safe themselves from the illogical demands, & to create favorable opportunities through group actions.
- Goal Achievement
The final reason of joining a group by people is achieve certain goals that cannot be accomplished individually because they require diversified knowledge & skills.
Role of Group
Roles are linked with particular status & within organizations employees are obliged to play certain roles according to their assigned designations. Employees are expected to show certain patterns of behavior that are directly related to the accomplishment of objectives of the organization. Each employee plays more than one roles & sometimes it creates role conflict also.
Moreover there are certain roles that are specified to groups & these roles are as follow.
01- Task Oriented Roles
02- Relationship Oriented Roles
03- Group Roles
- Task Oriented Roles
The tasked oriented roles are that roles that are executed for the accomplishment of particular task. This is further divided into the following two types.
01- Initiator & Contributor Roles
02- Information Seeker & Provider Roles
- Relationship Oriented Roles
The roles that are directed towards the strengthening of certain social relationships are called relationship oriented roles. These roles are categorized into the following two types.
01- Encourager Roles
02- Harmonizer Roles
- Individual Roles
Individual roles are represented by the actions & behavior of single individuals. These roles are also classified as follow.
- Blocker Roles
- Joker Roles
Features of an effective Group
A group is said to effective when it shows the following characteristics.
- The atmosphere of the group is relaxed, informal & comfortable.
- The tasks assigned to the members are understood well & then accepted.
- The members of the group listen to each other & make participation in the assigned tasks.
- The members of the group know the functions & operations of the whole group.
- The ideas & feeling are properly expressed by the members.
- The decision is made through consensus.
- The disagreements & conflicts are based on the methods or ideas not on the personalities.
Team and Types of Team
The team is defined as a mature group whose members are highly independent & strongly committed for a common objective. All teams are groups but all groups are not teams.
There are certain elements that can differentiate a team from a group. These distinguishing elements are as follow.
- Strong commitment by members for common objective.
- mission
- Mutual accountability
- Mutual trust & collaborative environment
- Interdependent
- Shared leadership
- Achievement of the synergy
Within organizations, there are four types of teams which are categorized on the basis of the complex tasks performed & the membership fluidity. These categorized teams are as follow.
- Self managed Team
- Cross Departmental team
- Quality Circles
- Virtual Team
Each is discussed one by one.
- Self managed Team
Self managed team consists of members who are not supervised by any Manager & therefore this kind of team has a responsibility of the whole work process or a particular segment that provides a particular product or service to internal or external customer. Self managed team has control on its pace of work & decisions about the assignments of the work. The teams that are fully self-managed can evaluate the performances & make selection of members by themselves.
- Cross Departmental team
Cross departmental team is such team which has high fluidity of membership & which work on simpler jobs. The members of this team are changed at an increase rate.
- Quality Circles
Quality circles are also called problem solving teams, which are formed to solve a particular issues especially related to quality of process. There are eight to ten members in a quality circle team who voluntarily contact each other to ascertain the solutions of problems about the quality of process & product etc. These members belong to the similar area of work & so they meet on a regular basis to improve the quality of only specific unit. They cannot implement their ideas because they have limited power & therefore these quality circle teams are established by the organizations in a routine manner.
- Virtual Team
Virtual team is an advanced form of team in which the members work together regardless of the distance & time element. This means that the members of such team have the geographical distance between each other & they make contact with each other through the use of advanced technology. In this way virtual team serve s as important factor in the development of the organization in different regions of the country as well as world.
Similarities
- Two or more than two persons.
- Interaction of members.
- Face to face relationship.
- Focus on the achievement of an objective.
- Leader
- Sharing of information and resources
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