This article has two objectives. Firstly, to highlight the differences between a team and a group as understood by organizational behaviorists (summarized for your pleasure). Secondly, to guide you in understanding whether your collective can take the OpenDecide questionnaire.

To strengthen your professional relationships, you must first understand the distinction between these two terms.

	Group	Team
Goal	Share information	Collective performance
Skills	Random and varied	Complementary
Responsibility	Individual	Individual and mutual

A group is a collection of people who interact to coordinate their work, share information/make decisions to help each group member perform within their area of responsibility.

A team is a collection of people who share a common goal. They have an interdependence of tasks and the joint efforts of the team result in a performance that is greater than the individual inputs of each member.

More and more work accomplished relies on teamwork and collaboration. Work teams are shown to have higher performance for more complex tasks and in areas requiring innovation and creativity.

Work groups can equally excel, yet these are not characterized by high task interdependence and needed collaboration. Different approaches are required for the success of the two. With OpenDecide you can discover whether your collective is a group or a team and how to ensure they excel in their specific needs.

Our client experience:

When a collective is a true work team / group:

Classic teams:

Report to one clear leader responsible for the management of the whole team;
Small work unit 5 to 15 people;
All the members belong to the same functional area;
Sharing the same mission on a daily basis in person or online (sharing meetings, objectives or tasks).

Department level:

Report to one clear leader responsible for the department (may not be direct manager);
Bigger work unit 15 - 40 people;
They work together everyday in person or online (sharing meetings, objectives or tasks);
Sharing the same mission on a daily basis;
Each person has a special/unique role in the collective;
Some tasks are shared.

Virtual teams:

Report to one clear leader;
Do not interact in real life, work is online;
May be in different geographical locations;
Rely on different tools to collaborate on their work.

When starting the OpenDecide questionnaire - the team you are answering about (and part of) will be named and indicated, as well as the manager you are responding about.

When a collective IS NOT a true work team / group :

Example one:

Two groups - same manager;
No shared meetings or regular activities;
Two different geographical sites;
Only common elements - the manager and overall company vision.

Example two:

New project team that was created less than 1 month ago;
Individuals come from different teams to work together on this project;
Share objective, shared goals on project, but together less than 3 months, lack of clarity about leader of group or perception of the team dynamic.

Your OpenDecide Journey

Keep in mind

The questionnaire will ask about team cohesion - with members that we interact with on a regular basis;
The questionnaire will ask about direct management recognition as one of the items.

Reflect

Do the team members have the need to work together or exchange information?
Do they share meetings, tasks, and a common manager?
Do they have the same shared overall goals and objectives?
Has this team existed for longer than three months?

Updated on: 09/10/2023