Team vs Group Dynamics & Organizational Culture Insights

Posted on Feb 8, 2025 in Other subjects

Differences Between a Group and a Team

  • Objectives:
    • Group: Individual objectives
    • Team: Shared objectives
  • Roles:
    • Group: Roles are not defined; everyone does what seems best.
    • Team: Roles are clearly defined.
  • Leadership:
    • Group: Individual leadership
    • Team: Shared leadership
  • Conflicts:
    • Group: Conflicts are avoided and not resolved.
    • Team: Conflicts are faced and resolved by consensus.
  • Communication:
    • Group: Disorganized work; no one listens to the other members.
    • Team: Organized work; different opinions are heard to make better decisions.
  • Participation:
    • Group: Just some of the members participate.
    • Team: All members participate according to their different abilities.
  • Rules:
    • Group: There are no defined rules.
    • Team: Rules are clearly defined and followed by all members.

Benefits of Working in Teams

Benefits as a Person:

  • You work with less stress.
  • Responsibility is shared.
  • It is more rewarding.
  • Prizes and awards are shared.
  • Better decision-making.

Benefits as a Company:

  • Times are optimized in research and projects.
  • There is more generation of knowledge and information.
  • Better ways to face problems.
  • Decisions are better understood.
  • More diversity of points of view.

Organizational Culture

A system of shared values, assumptions, beliefs, and norms that characterizes the members of an organization.

7 Primary Characteristics:

  • Innovation and Risk-Taking: The degree to which employees are encouraged to be innovative and take risks.
  • Attention to Detail: The degree to which employees are expected to exhibit precision and analysis.
  • Outcome Orientation: The degree to which management focuses on results more than on techniques or processes used to achieve those outcomes.
  • People Orientation: The degree to which management decisions are taken considering the effects on people.
  • Team Orientation: The degree to which work activities are organized around teams rather than individuals.
  • Aggressiveness: The degree to which people are aggressive and competitive rather than easygoing.
  • Stability: The degree to which organizational activities emphasize maintaining the status quo in contrast to growth.

Culture’s Functions

  • Creates distinctions between one organization and others.
  • Creates a sense of identity for organization members.
  • Facilitates the generation of commitment.
  • Creates standards for what employees should say and do.

How a Strong Culture Can Affect Your Company

Barriers to Change:

Most likely to occur when an organization’s environment is dynamic. Strong cultures become barriers to change when “business as usual” is no longer effective.

Barriers to Diversity:

Hiring employees with different points of view from those shared among the rest of the members.

Barriers to Merge:

Culture compatibility has been a key factor that managers look at in making merge decisions.

How Employees Learn Culture

(Language, Material Symbols, Stories, Rituals)

Stories:

They typically contain a narrative of events about the organization’s founder and anchor the present to the past.

Rituals:

Repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the key values of the organization.

Material Symbols:

Offices & Furniture, Transportation.

Language:

Terminology and words used among members of an organization.

BOLD: Boeing online data

CATIA: Computer-graphics-aided three-dimension interactive application.

MAIDS: Manufacturing assembly and installation data System.

Creating a Positive Organizational Culture

Building on employee strengths, rewarding more than punishing, emphasizing growth.