|
Answer» Generally: - Working groups consist of individuals with specialist skills who take their direction of from a supervisor or manager to produce an output but who do not necessarily interact with each other; ‘traditional’ SOFTWARE development ‘teams’ follow this model; each team member is a specialist whose work is controlled by the Project Manager.
- Teams are comprised of people with specialist skills but interact with each other to produce an output; individuals may work OUTSIDE of their specialist skills in to produce a ‘team output’
The following table compares how attributes differ between working groups and teams: Working Groups
| Teams
|
|---|
Individual accountability
| Individual and MUTUAL accountability
| Come together to share information and perspectives
| Frequently come together for discussion, decision making, problem solving, and planning
| Focus on individual GOALS
| Focus on team goals
| Produce individual work products
| Produce collective work products
| Define individual roles, responsibilities, and tasks
| Define individual roles, responsibilities, and tasks to help team do its work; often share and rotate them
| Concern with one’s own OUTCOME and challenges
| Concern with outcomes of everyone and challenges the team faces
| Purpose, goals, approach to work shaped by manager
| Purpose, goals, approach to work shaped by team leader with team members
|
Table 1 - Differences between Work Groups and Teams
|
