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Groups and Teams Essays

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Groups and Teams

Groups or teams can evolve into high performing, extremely effective, useful tools in any organization if developed and managed correctly. Demographic characteristics and cultural diversity can impact the behavior of groups or teams in positive and some negative ways. Diversity may impede the initial progress of a group; however, the long range benefit to creating high performing teams is great. An effective group is one that achieves high levels of task performance, member satisfaction, and team viability (Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborne, 2003, p. 2).

A team or group is two or more people working together to achieve common goals. Members of a group are usually dependent on each other and have regular …show more content…

The norming stage is about harmony and balance, especially after storming. The performing stage is when the group is finally able to handle complex tasks and achieve goals. Adjourning is the last stage of group development. It occurs after the group has achieved all of its tasks and goals and disbands. Not all groups or teams advance through all of the stages of the cycle to reach the performing stage or adjourning stage. To reach these final stages they must have strong communication and development skills.

Highly effective groups have strong management. To achieve and maintain high levels of group effectiveness, any manager or leader must understand the way groups operate as organizational resources (Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborne, 2003, p. 10). Effective groups have clearly defined goals and guidance from management. They are given the resources to complete their tasks and a successful group is rewarded. High performance groups excel at teamwork and attain special performance levels. They have strong core values, a general sense of purpose, performance objectives, and a good mix of skills and creativity. An effective team manager will communicate standards, create a sense of urgency, gather the right skill set and establish clear rules for behavior. They can also share new information frequently, give positive feedback and reward any successes.

Homogeneous groups will get along, work well together and can be somewhat effective. However they are limited

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