What is a team?

Excerpt From The Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence Handbook

Consider the differences between a baseball team, a jazz quartet, and a bomb squad. They differ according to the number of members, the range and complexity of skills required, the forms of leadership used, the frequency of working together, and the total time spent working together. As Louis Sullivan, a mentor of Frank Lloyd Wright, stated, “form follows function,” and this also applies to teams. Although they may take different names in different industries or organizations, this section presents eight types of teams:

• Process improvement teams
• Self-managed teams
• Temporary/ad hoc teams
• Work groups
• Cellular teams
• Special project teams
• Virtual teams
• Combinations of two or more of the above types