Groups and Teams Paper Mgt 307

Group and Teams Paper

University of Phoenix Online

Leslie Wendel

July 31, 2010

The words group and team tend to be used interchangeably, but there are quite a few differences between a team and a group in real-world applications. A number of leadership courses designed for the corporate use, stress the significance of team building, not group building (Pollick, 2009). When are brought together there is bound to be diversity among them. Diversity is a wide range of abilities, knowledge, and strength. When individuals are tolerant of diversity, it will yield positive results. Diversity opens the door for growth and can be a learning experience for organizations and individuals alike. This paper will distinguish between a team and a group; focus on the significance of workplace diversity and how diversity relates to team dynamics in the workplace.

A team is a small group of people with complementary skills and abilities who have a universal goal and approach which they hold their members responsible (Mackin, 2007). On teams individuals share roles and responsibilities and are constantly developing new skills to enhance the team’s performance. When a member isn’t performing or participating to the level the rest of the team expects, the team addresses the problem (Mackin, 2007, para. 3). A team can be much more difficult to form. Selection of members of a team may be for their complementary skills, not necessarily for skills that match exactly. For example, a business team may consist of a salesman, a company executive, accountant and a secretary. Each member has a purpose and a function in their specific team, so the overall success depends on a functional interpersonal dynamic. Room for conflict is minimal when working as a team (Pollick, 2009, para, 2).

A group is a small number of people...