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Written by Carol McGowan
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One of the most predominant features you will find within a business is a team. Teams perform a number of functions and can be used in a variety of ways which includes:
- Product development
- Project co-ordination and realisation
- Service provision
- Negotiation of deals
- Advice and support (within and external to the business)
- Assistance with decision making
As this variety of activities would imply there are a number of different types of teams. This article will seek to highlight and explain some of the more common types of teams.
| Team Type |
Description |
| Operational Teams |
These groups are the most commonly found in business and work together on a daily basis. Common examples would be Finance, IT, HR, Sales and Marketing. |
| Leadership Team |
This is the group of people within an organisation who have responsibility for providing the strategic direction and making the significant business decisions. A common term for this group is the ‘C' suite ie: CEO, CIO, CFO etc. |
| This is the group of people within an organisation who have responsibility for providing the strategic direction and making the significant business decisions. A common term for this group is the ‘C' suite ie: CEO, CIO, CFO etc. |
| Cross Functional Team |
Another common term for this group is project team. This type of team works across functions to bring together a diverse range of expertise in order to achieve a common goal. This can include such things as launching a new product or redesigning core processes that have implications for the whole business. Committees and Board of Directors are a form of Cross Functional Teams as they draw from a range of capabilities in order to drive an activity or the business. |
| Task Force |
This is a very focussed and deliberate team structure that is formed to resolve a clearly defined, pre-determined one-off need. |
These two groups could be collectively described as Problem Solving Teams each having a slightly different emphasis. These teams will offer suggestions and recommendations. It will depend on the terms of engagement and organisational need as to whether they will be charged with implementing the solutions recommended. This is usually determined on a case by case basis.
A common form of Problem Solving Teams in the 1980s was Quality Circles. These groups had a strong focus on investigating and resolving quality issues. |
| Self Managed Teams |
An alternative term for this type of team is self-directed team. This type of team has responsibility to achieve a common goal. It will depend on the organisations particular approach as to whether they will have day to day responsibility or not. In these groups no one person or position has delegated authority. It is up to the team itself to develop its own method of operation including roles and responsibilities and operational practices. |
| Virtual Teams |
This categorisation of a team is a little unusual. The reason being that virtual teams could have the same construct or characteristics of any of the other teams. The distinguishing factor of a virtual team is that they are geographically spread across a number of different locations. Technology in a variety of formats is used to bring them together to achieve a desired objective.
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After identifying the different types of teams it can be helpful to consider some of the factors that influence the makeup of a team. Some of the more common ones are described below.
- Management style - is the team lead by a manager, self-directed or some other method? If they are lead by a manager is the manager part of the team or are they separate from it due to having functional responsibility as opposed to line responsibility? The overall management framework will have an impact on how the team is managed. Is it a hierarchical arrangement or more of a matrix style? Then there is also the question of whether some groups have more than one manager they have responsibility to based on the organisations operational framework.
- Team duration - is the group established simply to achieve a defined objective or is it a routine part of the organisational structure? Project teams and task forces are more likely to have a set timeframe to achieve a goal, which can be anything from a number of days to years, whereas operational and leadership teams usually exist for longer often years. Organisational restructures is the usual driver of a change for operational or leadership teams.
- Structure - this relates to how many people are within the group and how they interrelate in order to achieve the defined objectives of the team. The usually accepted span of control is 1 manager/leader to 5-7 staff members.
What teams exist in your organisation? Are they serving their defined purpose? If not you may wish to consider if some re-alignment is required based on having a better understanding of the types of teams that can exist within an organisation.
Carol McGowan is a Business and Life Coach, Counsellor and Educator. Her passion is helping individuals and businesses to make successful transitions. Carol has over 35 years experience in business as well assisting over 300 people make successful career transitions after having faced redundancy. She may be contacted at
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