Are Teams and Groups
the same?
What is a team?
• A team is a group of people who perform interdependent tasks to
work toward accomplishing a common mission or specific
objective.
• Team members need to learn how to help one another, help other
team members realize their true potential, and create an
environment that allows everyone to go beyond their limitations.
What is a group?
• A group is a number of people or things that are located,
gathered, or classed together.
• Groups are a fundamental part of social life. As we will see they
can be very small – just two people – or very large.
• We also must recognize that the relations linking members of
groups are not of one type.
Differences and similarities of groups and
teams.
• A group does not necessarily constitute a team. Teams normally
have members with complementary skills and
generate synergy through a coordinated effort which allows each
member to maximize their strengths and minimize their
weaknesses however, a group is a collection of individuals who
coordinate their individual efforts.
• A team, like a group, has a shared goal but focuses more on a
collective purpose. They both work together to achieve their
goals.
Examples of teams and groups.
• Examples of groups: families, companies, circles of friends,
clubs, local chapters of fraternities and sororities, and local
religious congregations.
• Exampels of teams: Action teams, Advisory teams, Command
team, Executive team, Project teams, Sports teams, Virtual
teams, Work teams.