Groups And Teams

Groups and Teams

Groups and Teams

Group and team dynamics are essential components which determine an organization's environment, positive spirit and success in the marketplace. These dynamics greatly influence whether or not a company is able to establish a positive reputation, create quality products, and generate profits. Teams -- more specifically, high-performance teams -- are a deciding factor in determining which companies excel and which companies struggle.

What is a Group?

According to the American Heritage® Dictionary (2006), a group is best defined as "an assemblage of persons or objects gathered or located together; an aggregation". Notice that this definition does not mention a common purpose or goal for this group of individuals; a group is simply a number of people gathered together. Imagine a popular game show -- Jeopardy!, for example, where in each game, three contestants answer various trivia questions asked by the host (Alex Trebek). These four individuals fit the definition of the term 'group', and although there is an ultimate goal to the game, only one of these contestants ends up the winner. In fact, these three contestants compete against each other to accumulate the most money and to earn a spot on the following day's episode.

Would the creation of groups be a good way to foster company growth and success? Probably not. Primarily, group members are not bonded by a common purpose or goal; often, these members are simply put together because of a common interest. However, each of these members entertain their own personal agendas without much regard for others' needs. Secondly, group members do not typically have an innate desire to contribute their talents, ideas and creativity. In groups, members are usually told what to do, rather than volunteering to contribute. Without a common goal and individual motivation to succeed, groups are typically not a good choice for problem-solving. A better choice would be to establish a team.

What is a Team?

A team is a number of individuals assembled together for a common purpose or goal; they are a "number of persons associated in some joint action" (Team, 2006). Teams are highly autonomous and internally motivated. The team members envision the successful completion of their mutual goal; these members each contribute their individual strengths, and ideas so that the goal can be reached. "In a team environment, people are not managed, controlled or supervised. They are led by their mutual vision of the organization's purpose and goals. Teams out-perform individuals acting alone, especially when performance requires multiple skills, judgments, and experience." (O'Hara, 2001)

Teams do not exist solely in today's corporate environment. Although 'teams' have only been recently recognized in companies and in the academic arena as an innovative concept, teams have actually been in existence for a long while. A good example of this is a sports team -- this kind of team has been around for many, many years. While playing sports, the members work together to achieve a common goal (usually a victory against a rival team). Essential elements to the success of the team is motivation, contribution of individual strengths, open communication, and trust. Without these components, a team would not succeed in achieving its purpose. The team must want to complete their task, and have a variety of resources enabling them to do so. An ideal team could be comprised of members with different backgrounds, beliefs, abilities, and knowledge. With demographics such as these, teams benefit by being able to view dilemmas from numerous standpoints. They will be better equipped to find the best method(s) for reaching the goal. Trust and communication are also important; teams benefit by being able to better understand the roles other members play, while openly discussing opinions, beliefs, ideas and feelings. The members are also encouraged to ask questions in this kind of climate. (Williams, 2000) In a corporate environment, teams are obviously the logical choice when a task needs completion. However, teams can function 'as-is', or they can excel in their level of performance and really 'shine'. These kinds of teams are called high-performance teams.

How are High-Performance Teams Created?

There are many aspects to high-performance teams that do not exist in the basic team structure. High-performance teams take the abilities of basic teams and bring them up a notch. For example, a basic team may have trust, yet a high-performance team may have implicit trust. This kind of trust is unspoken; a complete sense of security is felt within the team and its members.

According to Kevin Eikenberry, there are seven key dimensions of high-performance teams. These are commitment, trust, purpose, communication, involvement, process orientation and continuous improvement (1997). These dimensions can be used as a barometer to judge whether a team is, in fact, a high-performance one.

Commitment, in a high-performance team, is essential. The members are dedicated to the group's needs above their own personal goals and