1. Teams A small group of people sharing Shared leadership
a common mission
performance goals for which they hold themselves mutually accountable
Shared leadership
Mutual accountability
Collective work products

2. Team Composition Social diversity - Gender - Race - Culture
Interpersonal diversity
- Interaction style
- Education/training

3. Comparing Work Groups and Work Teams
Share information
Neutral (may be negative)
Individual
Random and varied
Goal
Synergy
Accountability
Skills
Collective performance
Positive
Individual and mutual
Complementary
A group is two or more interdependent individuals who interact to achieve particular objectives. A work group interacts primarily to share information and make decisions that will help group members to perform their on-the-job responsibilities. A work team generates positive synergy through coordinated effort. The figure above highlights the differences between work groups and work teams.
In an effort to obtain synergy that can boost performance, many organizations have recently restructured work processes around teams. The use of teams creates the potential for an organization to generate greater outputs with no increase in inputs. But there is nothing “magical” in the creation of teams that assures the achievement of positive synergy. And merely calling a group a team does not automatically increase its performance.
Chapter 8
Prentice Hall, 2000