Groups vs. Teams

A group as defined by the Longman Dictionary is several people or things that are all together in the same place or that are connected in some way. Another definition of a group is a collection of persons who are perceived to be bonded together in a coherent unit to some degree (Social Psychology; Baron, Byrne, Branscombe p.566). One other definition offered is an association of two or more individuals who have a shared sense of identity and who interact with each other in structured ways on the basis of a common set of expectations about each other's behavior (enbv.narod.ru/text/Econom/ib/str/261.html). Though all the definitions slightly vary; there are two significant constants in each definition which are 1) Group must be two or more persons 2) all members of a particular group must have a shared identity or something in common that connects them. One example of a group can be ethnicity groups such as Chinese people or Jamaican people. These groups however can be further broken down into religious groups such as Christians or Muslims who can be either of a Jamaican or Chinese descent.  
        A teams as defined by the Longman Dictionary is a group of people who work together to do a particular job. According to the book ‘Wisdom of Teams’ a team is a small group of people with complementary skills and abilities who are committed to a common goal and approach for which they hold each other mutually accountable (http://www.sideroad.com/Team_Building/difference-between-team-and-group.html). Deborah Mackin who is an author of team building books elaborated on this definition of teams in an article “The best size for teams is 7-12 individuals. Larger teams require more structure and support; smaller teams often have difficulty meeting when members are absent. Members have skills and abilities that complement the team's purpose. Not all members have the same skills, but together they are greater than the sum of their parts. On teams, members share roles and... [continues]

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