Unit Three Individual Project: Workgroups and Teams Ultimately, an organization creates workgroups and teams to bring together people with corresponding skills and interests to work toward an organizational goal or task. By definition, a workgroup on the broader spectrum is two or more people who regularly work on the same project, but “are interdependent in achievement of a common goal, and may or may not work next to one another or in the same department” …show more content…
From just the different types of workgroups and teams, one can conclude that workgroups are individually focused, whereas teams are collectively focused. A team is more concerned and focused on the outcomes of the projects as a whole, rather than individual member’s accomplishments. Another focus when looking at workgroups verse teams, teams meet together more regularly than workgroups. Though workgroups to meet to primarily discuss and share information, this is based on the wishes of the supervisor. By comparison, teams do a lot more than just communicating when they get together. “Team meetings are forums for planning work, solving work problems, making decisions about work, and reviewing progress” (Brounstein, 2002). The last crucial comparison between workgroups and teams is that the leadership in teams participates as part of the team. In other words, supervisors pull their own weight, they have an assigned task just like everyone else. However, regular workgroups are driven by their supervisors. Their main focus is to meet with staff to set individual goals. Unfortunately, in many workgroup cases, supervisors just assign work without giving much explanation or collaborating with their group members, leaving them to figure out what is expected and how to get things