Groups and Teams Paper

Essay by ejames1911University, Bachelor'sA-, June 2007

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Groups and Teams PaperBusinesses form groups for one central purpose, to achieve a goal. However, when a group becomes a high-performance team the group will not only meet the goal, they will exceed all expectations while achieving the objective. High-performance teams learn and display behaviors that most other teams do not exhibit. Teams that "carefully nurture and support people and relationships if the groups are to become confident and enduring high-performance teams" (Schermerhorn, 1995/2005, p. 218). Demographic characteristics and cultural diversity can also have an enormous impact on whether a group can become a high-performance team. Age, religion, race, ethnicity, and gender can benefit a team with experience and knowledge. However, these differences can also lead a team down a destructive path with no chance of achieving the goal if the team does not employ the differences in a positive manner.

Groups versus Teams"A group is a collection of two or more people who work with one another regularly to achieve common goals" (Schermerhorn, 1995/2005, p.

194). "Teams are groups of people who work actively together to achieve a purpose for which they are all accountable" (Schermerhorn, 1995/2005, p. 218). Groups and teams differ many ways. A group usually has the leadership centralized to one strong leader. Teams generally utilize a shared leadership, taking responsibly for many different aspects of the project. Groups use an individual work concept where one person works on one element of the project. Teams use a collective work concept where a few of the team members work on the same element. The team concept is a more powerful model when dealing in the business world. With the whole team working together, sharing ideas, and accepting responsibility, a superior work product can be achieved.

Demographic Characteristics"Demographic characteristics are the background variables (e.g., age, gender) that help...