A group is a collection of people who come together to carry out a given task. People who form a group may not necessarily be working together but rather could be doing a similar task such as watching a football game. Team on the other hand can be defined as a collection of people who come together with a common goal. People in a team work together towards a specific objective, unlike those in a group.
Many people use the two terms as synonyms but in reality, the two have major differences. Forming a group is not as difficult since one can use universal traits such as gender, age, level of education and even race. However, since their individual capabilities are varied, making a final agreement can be very tasking. Contrary, a team can be complex to form, with individuals chosen according to skill and competence rather than a common trait.
For instance, a team in a work place could be composed of a secretary, an accountant, a human resource manager and an auditor. Every individual in this case has their own task to accomplish and thus getting to the final decision is much easier.
In a group set-up, members are mostly concerned with the ends rather than the means. Here, people share their perspectives, argue and convince others to come to a certain conclusion and has a leader who directs them on what to do, when and how to do it. A team on the other hand discuss, share information and with every member having a role to play, the ideas are synchronized to come to a unified outcome. One member may an aide but he/she consults with other members on the steps to take.
In many work places including mine, group woks are more common though they come in different levels. For example, there is the dependent-level where people work under control of a specific individual who is their manager, directs and supervises the. Under the independent level people are assigned their own task and there is less supervision. People here are grouped into departments since they have a similar function like sale executives, teachers and lawyers.
A groups’ motivation can determine how one behaves and at the same time, a single persons’ motivation can have an effect on the group behavior. Normally, how one or a group behaves is a consequence of a group behavior. For instance in an organization, the formal groups have a set of norms that should be followed by the group members. This means that a group prescribes some rules on how their members should behave.
Such rules could either be in agreement with the organizations’ aspirations, rejection or unbiased. Such groups can have a negative or positive effect on the overall organization performance as they have so much influence on how individuals perform. It is therefore upon the manager to know and understand the reasons behind their formation and use them effectively for realization of the organization goals.
Disagreements often occur between people working in an organization or even with people outside. Therefore, proper conflict management skills should be used to handle such misunderstanding as this reduces stress and helps to raise the productivity and increase satisfaction. To minimize challenges of conflict management, people in a group should always be updated on emerging issues. This should be done by sharing information regularly.
Colleagues should encourage each other and appreciate those who do their work well and they should aim at defending their group reputation outside. This will also help save time wasted in dealing with conflicts arising from the employees. When it comes to decision making, they should use consensus where by everyone in the group has a say and the opposing views are discussed by all to come to a common agreement, rather than where a leader enforces his decisions and members are obliged to abide by them.