Team Building and Group Dynamics

Examining the importance of workplace diversity in an organization and relating it to the team dynamic is something all business should engage in. Many leadership courses in the corporate world focus on the importance of team building, not group building. The web defines a group as any number of entities considered as a unit. In many instances it is much easier to form a group than it is to form a team. Forming a group is not particularly difficult when using qualifiers to ascertain commonalities like experience, gender, age, or field of expertise, but the effectiveness of the group contains more variables. Results are the determining factor when considering the success or failure of a group, not the process the group uses to arrive at those results. Groups use peer pressure, discussion, and argument to guide individuals toward a consensus. In America’s legal system, trial by a jury is a perfect example of the group dynamic in action. The leadership role the foreperson plays attempts to turn 11 different views, opinions, and perceptions into one unanimous decision. Jury members usually do not know each other prior to a trial, so there is usually little effort put forth to build a team dynamic. A jury must use group cooperation to reach consensus and produce a verdict.
The web defines a team as a cooperative unit. A team, unlike a group can be much more difficult to form. When selecting team members, it is beneficial to base those selections on skill sets that complement each other, and not a single commonality. A team shares a common purpose and recognizes each individual as belonging to the same unit. The strength of a team is reliant on the interconnectivity between individual members. A fully functioning team is capable of reaching agreements on norms and values that regulate behavior. Members of a team have a function and a purpose on the team dynamic that affect the success or failure of a team. Reducing conflicts within the team dynamic when all