Comparison of "teams" and "groups"

A group is a collection of people. A team is a group with a common goal that can only be met by interdependence and collaboration.

Use of teams

• In Industry/Business
  • Management teams
  • Continuous quality improvement teams
  • Design/build teams
• In Academia
  • Cooperative learning teams
  • Project-course teams
  • Design-course teams
    • Technical multi-disciplinary teams (EE, IE, BioE, etc.)
    • Cross-functional teams (Eng'r, Law, Marketing, etc.)

Classification of tasks

• Is the task divisible or unitary?
• Is the goal of the task to optimize quality or to maximize quantity?
• How are an individual's efforts related to team's performance?
  • Additive
  • Discretionary
  • Conjunctive

Teams are vital when the tasks are divisible, optimizing, and conjunctive. Tasks like these include:

• Effective meetings
• Strategic planning
• Implementing innovation

Characteristics of teams