A team comprises a group of people or animals linked in a common purpose. Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are high in complexity and have many interdependent subtasks.
A group in itself does not necessarily constitute a team. Teams normally have members with complementary skills and generate synergy through a coordinated effort which allows each member to maximize his/her strengths and minimize his/her weaknesses. Team members need to learn how to help one another, help other team members realize their true potential, and create an environment that allows everyone to go beyond their limitations.
Thus teams of game players can form (and re-form) to practise their craft. Transport logistics executives can select teams of horses, dogs or oxen for the purpose of conveying goods.
Theorists in business in the late 20th century popularised the concept of constructing teams. Differing opinions exist on the efficacy of this new management fad. Some see "team" as a four-letter word: overused and under-useful. Others see it as a panacea that finally realizes the human relations movement's desire to integrate what that movement perceives as best for workers and as best for managers. Still others believe in the effectiveness of teams, but also see them as dangerous because of the potential for exploiting workers — in that team effectiveness can rely on peer pressure and peer surveillance.
Compare the more structured/skilled concept of a crew, and the advantages of formal and informal partnerships.
Read more about Team: Team Size, Composition, and Formation
Other articles related to "team, teams":
... In Milligan and Allred's first issue of X-Force, nearly the entire team was killed off in an incident called the Boyz 'R Us massacre ... This precursory team, of which only U-Go Girl, Doop, and Anarchist survived, also included Battering Ram, who had superhuman strength, and durability as well ... Zeitgeist, the team leader who could vomit acidic ooze from his mouth ...
... X-Statix was a fictional team of mutant superheroes in Marvel Comics, specifically designed to be media superstars ... The team, created by Peter Milligan and Mike Allred, first appears in X-Force #116 and originally assumed the moniker X-Force, taking the name of the more traditional ...
... Her older sister was on a basketball team, and Wilma vowed to follow in her footsteps ... While in high school, Rudolph was on the basketball team when she was spotted by Tennessee State track and field coach Ed Temple ... gained some track experience on Burt High School's track team two years before, mostly as a way to keep busy between basketball seasons ...
... There have been 19 NHL teams that either folded or relocated ... The first team to disband was the Montreal Wanderers in 1918, due to their arena burning down a mere four games into the season ... The blaze destroyed all the team's equipment, and as a consequence the players were dispersed among the three remaining teams ...
... The team also unveiled a $347,000 high definition video board which was installed at Modern Woodmen Park shortly before the Bandits hosted the 2011 Midwest League All-S ... As a result, the team played several games at North Scott High School and Brady Street Stadium in 1993 ... The team played several games at Black Hawk College during the 2001 flood, and again moved to other MWL parks (mostly Clinton) until the flood receded ...
Famous quotes containing the word team:
“I doubt if men ever made a trade of heroism. In the days of Achilles, even, they delighted in big barns, and perchance in pressed hay, and he who possessed the most valuable team was the best fellow.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I also heard the whooping of the ice in the pond, my great bed-fellow in that part of Concord, as if it were restless in its bed and would fain turn over, were troubled with flatulency and bad dreams; or I was waked by the cracking of the ground by the frost, as if some one had driven a team against my door, and in the morning would find a crack in the earth a quarter of a mile long and a third of an inch wide.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Imagination is a valuable asset in business and she has a sister, Understanding, who also serves. Together they make a splendid team and business problems dissolve and the impossible is accomplished by their ministrations.... Imagination concerning the world’s wants and the individual’s needs should be the Alpha and Omega of self-education.”
—Alice Foote MacDougall (1867–1945)