Using the examples of teamwork and group work provided, ask questions designed to explore ways to improve the team environment or encourage a more positive influence by teams on the organization. From the statement below...

One would think that groups and teams are in the same group more or less, but that isn't the case. A group can be formal or informal, and the most important aspect of groups is that they are fluid, many informal groups interact with each other daily in practically all organizations (Newstrom, 2015). Teams are more task-oriented and generally are comprised of members who have specific goals to accomplish (Newstrom, 2015). Teams are made for performing particular tasks, whereas groups are more about brainstorming and social networks. Coming off of that, the advantage of a group's flexibility means that there is a broader range of potential input, whereas, due to the concise and constructed nature of teams, the amount of information they may have for solving a problem relies solely on the members picked for a team. However, groups can suffer from groupthink when a group member comes up with an idea that becomes respected without giving it much thought (Newstrom, 2015). Additionally, due to the nature of groups, they can waste a lot of time due to a lack of specific goals (Newstrom, 2015).

An interesting example of a highly functional group would be a think tank. Not many people think about think tanks, but they have helped shape American policy for decades (Troy, 2012). Think tanks are a group because they are primarily specialized research whose focus aligns with what the think tank needs (University of Oxford, n.d.). Thus, many individuals may interact and develop research, and the group can discuss what their research means to society or politically. An out-of-this-world example of a highly functional team is astronauts. Astronauts work together to accomplish specific missions. On the ISS, their goals are unified, as they are all dependent on each other to achieve the task of keeping the ISS running and conducting research (Dunbar, 2015). That describes the most significant difference between a team and a group. A team must rely on each member to accomplish a task, while a group can keep going regardless of if members aren't reliable.