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Group  Two or more people who interact with each other to accomplish certain goals or meet certain needs.
Team  A group whose members work intensely with one another to achieve a specific, common goal or objective.
Synergy  Performance gains that result when individuals and departments coordinate their actions.
Formal group  A group that managers establish to achieve organizational goals.
Informal group  A group that managers or nonmanagerial employees form to help achieve their own goals or meet their own needs.
Top management team  A group composed of the CEO, COO, and heads of the most important departments.
Research and development team  A team whose members have the expertise and experience needed to develop new products.
Command group  A group composed of subordinates who report to the same supervisor; also called department or unit.
Task force  A committee of managers or nonmanagerial employees from various departments or divisions who meet to solve a specific, mutual problem; also called ad hoc committee.
Self-managed work team  A group of employees who supervise their own activities and monitor the quality of the goods and services they provide.
Virtual team  A team whose members rarely or never meet face-toface but rather interact by using various forms of information technology such as email, computer networks, telephone, fax, and videoconferences.
Friendship group  An informal group composed of employees who enjoy each other's company and socialize with each other.
Interest group  An informal group composed of employees seeking to achieve a common goal related to their membership in an organization.
Division of labor  Splitting the work to be performed into particular tasks and assigning tasks to individual workers.
Task interdependence  The degree to which the work performed by one member of a group influences the work performed by other members.
Pooled task interdependence  The task interdependence that exists when group members make separate and independent contributions to group performance.
Sequential task interdependence  The task interdependence that exists when group members must perform specific tasks in a predetermined order.
Reciprocal task interdependence  The task interdependence that exists when the work performed by each group member is fully dependent on the work performed by other group members.
Group role  A set of behaviors and tasks that a member of a group is expected to perform because of his or her position in the group.
Role making  Taking the initiative to modify an assigned role by assuming additional responsibilities.
Group norms  Shared guidelines or rules for behavior that most group members follow.
Group cohesiveness  The degree to which members are attracted or loyal to a group.
Social loafing  The tendency of individuals to put forth less effort when they work in groups than when they work alone.







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