Analysis of Team vs. Group Dynamics in Organisational Behaviour Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the differences between teams and groups within an organisational context. It defines and contrasts groups, as collections of individuals coordinating efforts, with teams, which share common goals and interdependence. The report highlights the distinct characteristics of each, including leadership styles, individual versus collective goals, and member accountability. It uses the example of Kellogg's to illustrate these concepts, examining how both groups and teams function within the organisation. Furthermore, the report outlines the process of transforming a group into a high-performing team, emphasizing the importance of a shared goal, member interaction, defined roles, and continuous encouragement. The report concludes by referencing relevant literature on team dynamics and organisational behaviour, providing a solid understanding of the topic.

INTRODUCTION TO
MODERN WORKPLACE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Difference between team and group ...............................................................................................1
Team in an organisational behaviour...............................................................................................1
Group in an organisational behaviour..............................................................................................2
Transformation of group into team..................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

Difference between team and group
A group is defined as the collection of individuals coordinating their individual efforts for
executing operational activities of organisation. On the other hand, team can be defined as
collection of individuals who serves a common goal and purpose.
 The members of group are mutually independent and have similar experience and
interests. Group members may have separate goals and each member can exchanges
resources and information with other groups and has accountability for their work.
Contrary to group behaviour, the team members are interdependent on each other and
aims at common goal by sharing the responsibilities (The difference between a group and
a team, 2013).
 In a group, each member contributes its effort individually while in a team each member
aims to work in a synergy by elevating strengths of all members and minimizing errors.
 The groups usually have one leader while teams may have multiple leaders. The focus of
group members is on individual goals while team members tends to focus at collective
goals (Katzenbach and Smith, 2015).
For instance, the marketing team of Kellogg's has aim of achieving its sales target. Each
team member has different tasks like market research, customer interaction and advertisement
strategy. Each team member will work together to provide an ultimate goal of increasing sales.
Similarly, the advertisement strategies of marketing team need to be grouped with research and
development team for making advertisement strategies as per the latest innovations of
organisation. Thus, members of advertisement team require an interaction with individuals of
research team for information sharing. Hence, they work in group for discussions but each
member perform its own duty.
Team in organisational behaviour
The collective efforts of individuals for achieving a common goal can be accomplished
by combining individuals together into a structure called team. Kellogg's can have temporary
teams which are designed to perform some specific tasks only, as well as permanent teams such
as promotional and marketing team which performs the tasks regularly. Some individuals can be
a part of more than one team. Certain tasks and operational activities of organisation are not
possible to perform individually and alone. Thus, such activities are performed in teams. A
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single employee of Kellogg's cannot perform all operations related to finance thus, organisation
has entire team of accounts department to perform all related activities (Bolden, 2016).
Similarly, product and innovation team of Kellogg's cannot launch new product without
including researches from marketing team. With participation of employees in teams, Kellogg's
can involve synergies into its organisational activities. The team work approach enables
organisation to achieve a complex function by simpler and effective means. Without executing
functionalities by teamwork, Kellogg's may not be able to address such expanded network with
efficiency.
Team work allows organisation to combine the individuals with different set of skills and
to utilize their variable skills into achieving a single organisational goal of growth and
development. The quality of services and products is also enhanced when Kellogg's
accomplishes its functionalities with team work because team work provides a great mutual
support and motivation to the individuals so that they can achieve task with greater enthusiasm
and efforts (Raes and et.al., 2015). The organisation can raise effectiveness of team by
identifying skills of each and every individual so that duties can be assigned to the members
according to their skills.
Group in organisational behaviour
An organisational Group involves the interaction of individuals for achieving specific
objective. Kellogg's can have formal and informal groups. Formal groups perform the
organisational tasks. For instance: various committees such as budget sanction and performance
review committee which involves members from different teams but are brought together to
perform specific tasks. The organisation also includes informal groups which are not bounded by
legal or organisational regulations. Such groups are formed on personal choices and interests.
Informal groups are also important for Kellogg's. Though they do not provide direct
contribution to the organisational benefits but, are useful for creating a pleasant and healthy
environment within organisation. These informal groups motivate and encourage employees by
providing emotional support which greatly influences the productivity of the employees
(Armstrong, 2018). The informal groups are created for performing operational activities thus,
management of Kellogg's must ensure that group leader is highly effective in its roles and
responsibilities. The unpredicted and irresponsible nature of group leader can affect output of
desired goals.
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During the performance appraisals Kellogg's monitor the individual performance rather
than analysing the performance of individual in a group. Informal group does not contribute
directly to the goals of organisation but organisation must monitor that excessive involvement of
these informal groups within organisation does not affect quality performance of employees.
Transformation of group into team
The groups have disadvantage that in a group, individuals are not accountable while in a
team, every member has accountability thus, organisational goals are prioritized as compare to
the individual's goal and interests. Hence, for better productivity and performance, Kellogg’s can
transform its groups into team. For transforming groups into team, Kellogg's must follow the
following process:
 Organisation must provide a common goal for which members can join together and
work interdependently. Kellogg's can held interactive sessions so that team members can
know each other and build emotional connection. The emotional connectivity between
members increases the efficiency of team work.
 Kellogg's must describe the role of each and every individual in team. This will let each
member to know that what expectations organisation has from them and how they can
meet these expectations from team efforts. Kellogg's must also ensure regular
encouragement and motivation to each individual so that they can give more importance
to teamwork instead of personal preferences.
 For transformation into teams, each group member must accept its role and duties which
are required for meeting the common organisational goals. Also, group members must
provide appreciation to the well performers. This will make a strong bond among
individuals regarding team spirit (Hitchcock and Willard, 2017).
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Armstrong, D., 2018. Organization in the mind: Psychoanalysis, group relations and
organizational consultancy. Routledge.
Bolden, R., 2016. Leadership, management and organisational development. In Gower handbook
of leadership and management development (pp. 143-158). Routledge.
Hitchcock, D. and Willard, M., 2017. Selling the message: enlisting support for implementing
sustainability in your organisation. Teaching Business Sustainability Vol. 2: Cases,
Simulations and Experiential Approaches.
Katzenbach, J.R. and Smith, D.K., 2015. The wisdom of teams: Creating the high-performance
organization. Harvard Business Review Press.
Raes, E., Kyndt, E. and et.al., 2015. An exploratory study of group development and team
learning. Human Resource Development Quarterly. 26(1). pp.5-30.
Online
The difference between a group and a team, 2013 [Online] Accessed through
<https://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/how-to/growth-strategies/2013/06/the-
difference-between-a-group-and-a.html>
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