High-performance teams require expert leadership skills.
In a health care delivery system integrated across settings, a team environment becomes increasingly essential. Nurse managers must skillfully orchestrate the activity and interactions of interprofessional teams as well as con- ventional nursing work groups. Understanding the nature of groups and how groups are trans- formed into teams is essential for the nurse to be effective.
Groups and Teams A group is an aggregate of individuals who interact and mutually influence each other. Both formal and informal groups exist in organizations. Formal groups are clusters of individuals designated temporarily or permanently by an organization to perform specified organizational tasks. Formal groups may be structured laterally, vertically, or diagonally. Task groups, teams, task forces, and committees may be structured in all of these ways, whereas command groups generally are structured vertically.