Introduction
This research paper focuses on the group and team mindset in organizations, that how these two differentiate from each others. The paper involves the description of group thinking and team thinking, and how groups and teams adopt these mindsets. It also displays the leadership styles which are applied to a multicultural context in a team and group. Furthermore, the leadership effects are discussed in the research which are most important in development of groups and teams.
Literature Review
Difference between group and team:
A group or team perspective is highly adopted by companies, to achieve desired goals. A group is referred as a combination of two or more persons, who are set together by companies to achieve any goal (Manz & Neck, 1995). In a group, every individual perform their individual efforts to achieve their goals, in accordance with the overall desired goal. While, a team is a set of people who are coordinated together to achieve a common goal (Manz & Neck, 1995). Simply, group is formed where to achieve a number of objectives, and team is formed to accomplish a common objective.
Group thinking and team thinking:
Group thinking approach put the personal or individual goal first, and team thinking puts the organization’s goal first. It can be referred that in a group thinking, people prioritize their own target over the groups’ target (Bolman & Deal, 2017). However, in team think, team focuses on the collaborative target (Bolman & Deal, 2017). Group thinking enhances observation in a person and focuses on individual goals. Its theory is to “being valued”. Its drawbacks can be poor decision making by the members in a group and unclear goals. As the people tend to work on their own, it can produce unclear results as well. While, team think approach can be helpful in increased decision making, as people focus on collaboration and participation. It focuses on adding value instead of being valued. However, team think might focus on innovation and harmony, and can mostly deviate from the main goal (Katzenbach & Smith, 2015).
Leadership styles in group and team:
In a group, the most effective leadership style would be the authoritative leadership, which focuses on providing clear instruction to the group, that what and how they have to do the task, in accordance to the time and resources given. In a authoritative leadership, the leader creates a line between him/her and the group (Chege, Wachira & Mwenda, 2015). It helps in achieving goals for which the group has been made, because this type of leadership opposes strict pressure. In a team perspective, the most effective leadership style would be the participative leadership. It is also referred as the democratic leadership, where the leader mostly interacts with the team members and help them in various tasks. It mostly results in efficient decision making and best outcomes.
Another leadership form known as the delegative leadership, involves no help or input from the leader and leaves everything to the group or a team. It mostly involves highly skilled people who are the senior employees of the company, having adequate decision making power (Chege, Wachira & Mwenda, 2015).
Furthermore, these type of leaderships have to be flexible in the multicultural environment, where the leader interacts with different cultural groups and teams, having different race, ethinicity, and background. Authoritative leadership cannot be flexible in terms of multiculture, because different organizations have different culture and, in this type of leadership there is no room in a leader to be adaptive to diverse cultures.
Leadership styles are of great importance in any organization, because it affects a group or a team in various ways (Romager et al., 2017). In this study, I found that having a good leader and appropriate leadership skills, produces successful goals in group and team perspective. When a team or group is working without a leader, it sometimes deviates from the main purpose and turns out in different kind of results. Leadership also develops emotional intelligence in a person, and helps a group/team work under pressure (Romager et al., 2017). Most importantly, it develops confidence in a team, which results in effective decision making.
References
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. John Wiley & Sons.
Chege, A. N., Wachira, A., & Mwenda, L. (2015). Effects of leadership styles on implementation of organization strategic plans in small and medium enterprises in Nairobi. Management and Administrative Sciences Review, 4(3), 593-600.
Katzenbach, J. R., & Smith, D. K. (2015). The wisdom of teams: Creating the high-performance organization. Harvard Business Review Press.
Manz, C. C., & Neck, C. P. (1995). Teamthink: beyond the groupthink syndrome in self-managing work teams. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 10(1), 7-15.
Romager, J., Hughes, K., Trimble, J., Verburg, M., Camp, J., & Jones, M. (2017). Influences of Authentic Leadership Styles and Challenges to Enduring Pervasive Leadership Models.
