Organizational Team Building

Group or Team

Although some people use group and team synonymously, there is a substantive distinction in what

constitutes a team and a group:

• A group is a collection of two or more individuals who maintain stable patterns of relationships,

share common interests, and perceive themselves as being part of a group.

• A team is a group of people who have interdependent skills, have a common purpose and

goals, and hold themselves mutually accountable for achieving the goals.

Creating a Team

The primary purpose of a team is to accomplish a given task within the construct of an organization.

Sometimes these teams are short-term and sometimes these teams are indefinite in terms of how long

they exist. Unfortunately, although they have practical knowledge from experience, many managers

lack the theoretical knowledge of team design, structure, and motivation. Managers frequently work

within a predetermined framework, which is often consistent with organizational expectations. In other

words, if a team is used to getting orders from management, they will accept projects given to them

without question. As a result, team members end up with significant challenges in fitting a new project

into a busy schedule. Within this context, the existing team mentality of conformity leaves little room

for team success.

To go beyond conventional thought, one of the primary foundations of a solid team is the alignment of

an individual's passions to team roles and goals. Rather than blindly accepting given projects from

management, teams can also seek alignment of passions with the given project. This provides

additional fuel for project success. Unfortunately, many teams only look at the functional aspect of team

members' skills and capacities. This leaves an important human dimension out of the picture—an

emotive element. One of the most powerful aspects of the human being is passion. When team

members are passionate about a project, they are more likely to work harder and longer.

For a moment, consider the "normal" amount of work you complete each day. Now, think about the last

time you went on a vacation. How much more work did you get done a day or two before departing?

For a few people, the distraction of the passion for the coming vacation minimizes performance. For

others, the passion for the coming vacation becomes an engine exponentially increasing performance.

It is quite possible you completed two to four times more work than usual so you did not have to worry

about work while you were on vacation. Imagine team performance if all team members were able to

focus their passion! How much more work could be done!

The alignment of an individual's passion is a crucial aspect to performance. When team design considers

members' passions, the potential is tremendous. The challenge is to move away from considering team

members as machines with skills and experiences to letting team members learn and grow intrinsically.

Though, the team itself can function as a machine, the individuality and personality of each member

contributes to that successful machine.

Team members need to be motivated to enhance their performance. There are two types of motivation,

intrinsic and extrinsic. Next, let's learn about intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and their role in

enhancing team performance.