• Understand the difference between a group and a team
• Recognize different kinds of teams
• Recognize the stages of team development
• Understand what contributes to team success

Why do businesses stress teamwork and communication? Why have you been subjected to group projects in your classes? We think of ourselves as individuals, each hired or chosen for our individual expertise, talents, and experience, and yet we are often asked to work with others on assignments and projects. Why? Because we are capable of so much more when we work together. In this module you will learn about teams, why businesses use them, why they succeed, and why they fail. As part of our examination of teamwork, we’ll also look at the critical role communication plays in helping businesses achieve their goals and objectives, and also some of the challenges they face in using electronic communication.

Groups and Teams

teams

A group is comprised of two or more individuals who share common interests or characteristics, and its members identify with one another due to similar traits. A team, on the other hand, is a group of people with different skills and different tasks, who work together on a common project, service, or goal, combining their functions and providing mutual support along the way.

Not every group of people is a team! Teams within organizations have unique characteristics and are often created for specific purposes.

Why Organizations Build Teams

Teams have become a common feature of corporate America. The primary benefit of teams and teamwork is that they allow an organization to achieve goals that individuals working alone may not. This advantage arises from several factors, each of which contributes to the overall benefit of teams. Two of these factors are described below.

Higher-Quality Outcomes

Teamwork produces outcomes that make better use of resources and yield richer ideas.

• Higher efficiency: Since teams combine the efforts of individuals, they can accomplish more than an individual working alone.
• Faster speed: Because teams draw on the efforts of many contributors, they can often complete tasks and activities in less time.
• More thoughtful ideas: Each person who works on a problem or set of tasks may bring different information and knowledge to bear, which can result in solutions and approaches an individual may not have identified.
• Greater effectiveness: When people coordinate their efforts, they can divide up roles and tasks to more thoroughly address an issue. For example, in hospital settings teamwork has been found to increase patient safety more than when only individual efforts are made to avoid mishaps.

Personal Advantages of Teamwork

The social aspect of teamwork creates a more supportive and motivating work experience for team members, often leading to better performance.

• Mutual support: Because team members can rely on other people with shared goals, they can receive assistance and encouragement as they work on tasks. Such support can encourage people to achieve goals they may not have had the confidence to have reached on their own.
• Greater sense of accomplishment: When members of a team collaborate and take collective responsibility for outcomes, they can feel a greater sense of accomplishment when they achieve a goal they could not have achieved if they had worked by themselves.

The overall value of teamwork depends on how well team members work together to reach their shared goals.