Criminology

Teams and Groups
In organizations, the role of teams and groups form a significant part in the achievement of goals. According to Bolman and Deal (2003), a great part of the work in present-day organizations are carried out by teams and groups. However, there is a distinction made between the two where all teams are considered to be groups but not all groups are teams. Simply put, the teams can refer to themselves as groups but groups lack some of the characteristics of a team, which makes them not appropriate to be called a team.

The concept of the word  team  is defined by  a group of people with a high degree of interdependence geared toward the achievement of a goal or the completion of a task. The teams have something in common, which makes them qualified to become groups, but moves on beyond this quality to include working towards a particular goal as they become interdependent with one another. For example, the marketing team formed for the purpose of introducing a new car to the market share certain characteristics and are working towards the goals provided to them. As for groups, the broadest definition that can be provided is that it is  a number of people who have something in common. In this case, the common characteristics do not qualify them to become teams because of the inherent lack of the movement towards a particular goal. For example, women who have two children can be considered as a group because they have something in common. Also, students who belong to a particular section can also fall under the category of a group because they share the same section.

Thus, the characteristics of the team can include that of the group. However, the elements of the group do not suffice for them to be considered as teams.