The Differences Between A Group And A Team - Essay Example

The achievements of a group are frequently assessed not on the basis of the processes used in order to arrive at the results but by its final results. In guiding other members of the group into consensus, a group member may influence the other members through arguments and through peer pressure e.g. in the courtroom, the trial jury foreperson may try to convince the other members of the jury to accept a certain decision since they all don’t know each other well. On the other hand, a team does not rely on group think to make decisions (Bens, 2012) Building a group can take a few minutes while forming a team can take years.

Each member of a group can leave and join the group at will in accordance with the need for their services. In a team, an individual’s absence can greatly hamper the way the other team members perform their tasks. Therefore, a team member cannot leave or join the team at his or her own will; a good example is a Military on a mission who have different roles in laying an ambush. In a group, the members are directed on what to do and what not to do and are not consulted on the best thing that would work out for the team while in a team innovativeness and suggestions are greatly encouraged as the members are allowed to apply their creativity and unique talents into the team objectives.

Members of a team trust each other’s motives while group members don’t trust the motives of a fellow group member since they do not understand the tasks and the purposes of each individual member.. In guiding other members of the group into consensus, a group member may influence the other members through arguments and through peer pressure e.g. in the courtroom, the trial jury foreperson may try to convince the other members of the jury to accept a certain decision since they all don’t know each other well.

On the other hand, a team does not rely on group think to make decisions (Bens, 2012) Building a group can take a few minutes while forming a team can take years. Each member of a group can leave and join the group at will in accordance to the need for their services. In a team, an individual’s absence can greatly hamper the way the other team members perform their tasks. Therefore, a team member cannot leave or join the team at his or her own will; a good example is the Military on a mission who have different roles in laying an ambush (Cameron and Green, 2009).

In a group, the members are directed on what to do and what not to do and are not consulted on the best thing that would work out for the team while in a team innovativeness and suggestions are greatly encouraged as the members are allowed to apply their creativity and unique talents into the team objectives. Members in a team trust each other’s motives while group members don’t trust the motives of a fellow group member since they do not understand the tasks and the purposes of each individual member (O’Neil and Drillings, 1994).

Common understanding is very critical when it comes to a team. This is because team members exercise an open communication where they all make an effort of understanding each other. In a group, the members always find themselves in conflicts they are not able to resolve and the group