Mgt 307 - Groups and Teams

Groups and Teams

Brigitte Nichols

MGT/307

June 27, 2011

David Woodruff

Groups and Teams

Organizations concentrate on achievement of company goals by employees working as a group or as a team. Here groups and teams have been defined and explanations given to differentiate the two.

"A group involves two or more people working together regularly to achieve common goals "(Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008). By majority rules is how the group comes to goals set forth and to communicate regularly to meet the organizational goals" (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008). Three different types of groups are the effective groups, formal groups, and informal groups. "Effective groups strive to achieve high levels of performance, satisfaction, and viability with meeting goals" (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008). Formal groups have specific organizational purposes. "Informal groups are formed to serve special interests such as people who take lunch together and may work together" (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008). No matter which group type, it will go through five stages. These are forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.

Teams are groups of people who achieve the organization's goals by working together and each member is accountable "A team is also a small group of people with skills that compliment each others skills and work together to achieve the given and hold each person accountable collectively" (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008). Three different types of teams are: teams that recommend, the teams that run things, and the teams that make or do things. The teams that recommend look into specific problems and will recommend solution for this problem. The team works within a time frame and will separate once the task has been completed. The teams that run projects usually consist of upper management, a team leader, and other senior executives. The make or do things teams a work units that perform ongoing task in an organization. If one looks at the meaning of teamwork this states that teamwork occurs when group members work together in ways that use their skills effectively to accomplish a purpose. With all teams that members must work together to accomplish the goal set forth. Each member of the team is responsible for the accomplishment and outcome of the goal

Positive attitude and commitment resulting in innovation, quality and lower absenteeism are a few of the benefits of teams in the workplace (Scarnati 2005). Teams can be very successful through communication with each other. Teams are a productive way to implement new ideas and goals