Knowledge Questions | Team and Group Dynamics

Running head: KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS
Knowledge Questions
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Author’s Note:

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KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS
1. Definition of a team, with explanation of different types of teams external to and
within a workplace.
Team can be defined as a group of individuals, who work together for the purpose of
achieving any specific goal or objective. It is the group of people, who are absolutely
interdependent in respect to resources, skills, knowledge and information and also who seek
to combine their respective efforts for achievement of a common objective (Lockwood,
2015).
There are 4 major types of teams that are external to as well as within any particular
work place, which include project team, self-managed team, virtual team and finally
operational team.
i) The first important and significant type of team is project team. These are present
within the workplace as well as external to and the members collectively work towards
shared objectives and they enable the employees in structuring work within a time
constrained manner.
ii) The members of a self-managed team are the individuals, who are working in the
same company and has the aim to reach to a common goal (Stocker et al., 2016).
iii) The virtual team is made up of members, who are working in separate physical
locations and are dependent on collaboration tools.
iv) An operational team is responsible for supporting any other type of team and these
are being formed for ensuring that the back office processes are operated properly.
2. Identification of different group dynamics that operate within a workplace and
process of supporting or hindering team performance and outputs.

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KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS
Different group dynamics are eventually relevant in both informal and formal groups.
Group dynamics majorly concern about group formation, their process and structure as well
as their functionality. There are different types of group dynamics, which include:
i) Command Groups: These are being specified by the respective organizational chart
and comprise of a supervisor and different subordinates, reporting to the supervisor.
ii) Task Groups: These comprise of different individuals, who are working together
for achievement of a common task and also accomplish the goals (Tsai et al., 2015).
iii) Functional Groups: These are being created by a company for achieving specified
objectives in an unspecified time frame.
iv) Interest Groups: These majorly continue over time and last longer than the
informal groups. The members are not from the same organisation.
These different group dynamics are responsible for supporting or hindering team
performances and overall outputs to a high level and hence better effectiveness and efficiency
is being gained under every circumstance. Few stages of group development include forming,
storming, and norming, performing and adjourning.
3. Different strategies applied for supporting team cohesion, participation and
performance with different risks which can emerge and how these should be managed.
The various strategies that can be applied for supporting maximum team cohesion,
high participation as well as performance are as follows:
i) The first strategy is to communicate with the staff. Being absolutely clear with the
staff regarding purpose of the work and common goals, would help the organization in
increasing their team cohesion (Necşoi, 2015).