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What are the pros and cons of group and teamwork?

According to Langton et al. (2019), a team can be identified as any group of

people working towards achieving a predefined goal or mission. Although teams

contribute positively towards accomplishing the predefined goal, team

collaboration are also known to have some disadvantages.

Pros of Teamwork

1. Enriched perspective: When different individuals brainstorm on the same

topic, the final perspective is a much more enriched result from the different

visions and perspectives due to diverse backgrounds of the individuals. These

perspectives contribute to success of the task at hand.

2. Personal satisfaction: Working in a team is challenging but once team

cohesion is achieved due to common goal, it is highly satisfying and motivating to

engage in teamwork for common direction and better output quality.

3. Leadership skills: Usually a leader emerges during teamwork who

supervises the work and provides direction. As the team works together, each

member masters their part and continuously works to contribute to the common

goal and improve their leadership skills while working in a team.

4. Opportunity for learning: Engaging in teamwork with people from

different backgrounds gives an individual an opportunity to learn diverse skills by

observation.
 Cons of Teamwork

1. Conflict: When working in a team, conflicts and disagreements are

unavoidable due to different personalities If these conflicts are not addressed, these

disagreements can adversely impact achievement of team goals (Miller, 2017).

2. Unequal participation: Division of tasks is the basic working method in a

team and efficient task division contributes to overall success of the team. Each

team member is responsible for their assigned task, however, the entire team can

be negatively impacted and the team objective is derailed if a team member does

not complete the assigned part.

3. Time consuming: Regular contact and interactions are integral to

teamwork. Coordinating between team members can be time consuming as any

delay from one team member can slow down the entire team due to dependencies

or continuation of tasks (Innerdrive, n.d.).

References:

Langton, L., S. Robbins, & T.A. Judge. (2019). Organizational behaviour:

Concepts, controversies, applications (8th Canadian ed). Pearson Canada

Miller, K. (2017, January 14). 6 pros and cons of group work.

FutureofWorking.com. Retrieved September 30, 2021, from

https://futureofworking.com/6-pros-and-cons-of-group-work/
 Innerdrive. (n.d.). 10 Advantages and Disadvantages of Group Work in the

Classroom. Retrieved September 29, 2021, from

https://blog.innerdrive.co.uk/advantages-disadvantages-group-work