In one way or another we have been in groups or teams working together for a project. The project may be for a brief period of time or it may run for months. During these times we are required to interact with one or more people to make it a success.
How do we know when we belong to a team or just a work group? As defined by Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith in their article The Discipline of Teams in the Best of HBR 1993, a team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. The key is the mentioned four elements - common commitment and purpose, performance goals, complementary skills, and mutual accountability. And to be a team, these four elements must all be present at the same time.
A work group may have a strong, clearly focused leader but a team has shared leadership roles. A work group fosters individual accountability while the other, an individual and mutual accountability. A team also discusses and decides, but unlike a work group, it doesn't only delegate, it does real work together.
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