Explain the differences between a group and a team Essay

Explain the differences between a group and a team - Essay Example To describe it briefly, it will be suffice to say that all teams are form of work group but not all groups are teams. There are several fundamental principles that distinguish the two. First is accountability. In groups, members are individually accountable within the group; they have to be alert from people within the group. In teams, however, individual accountability does exist but on a minimum level; teams are accountable mutually. Instead of reporting to one another or someone from amongst group, teams report to a higher authority. This means that teams are more united and open with each other. This also highlights the fact that usually groups work on lower levels while teams work at higher, more independent level in the hierarchy (Thornton, 2010). Secondly, members working in the group meet regularly to circulate information and discuss perspectives whereas team members just meet occasionally to make decision, plan, and solve any problems that arise in a meanwhile. This implies that team member share more trust than group members do, making them more self-reliant and confident of their own actions. Thirdly, group members work on individual goals while team members work on mutual goals. This shows more unity and togetherness that is shared by people working in the team. For instance, people in groups may work hard for promotion/to please their supervisors/ in order to get a pay upgrade but team members will worry less about such petty matters and try to get bigger tasks done. Fourthly, groups focus more on individual products while teams emphasize more on team products. Instead of getting their names high like in groups, team members focus more on efficiency and excellence, making merit the parameter for judgment. Next, groups have defined roles and responsibilities whereas team members are more liberal with these lines and feel free to share each other’s work. Lastly, in groups, manager, with little say from members, shapes the goals and tasks desi gned to achieve them. On the contrary, team leader brings the whole team together to shape the goals and delegate tasks on each member with their complete will. This gives a sense of ownership to the goal and creates a free environment where learning and creativity thrives (Levi, 2010). As the world is coming together to form a global village, it is important to embrace, appreciate and celebrate the diversity, which flourishes as people from across the world come together to accomplish goals of mutual interest. However, diversity is tough to handle since it requires a lot of compromise and patience to settle down with. Nonetheless, importance of diversity cannot be over-emphasized. With people from different backgrounds, religious views, ethnicities, social status, and education coming together on a common platform, the ideas generated, and discussions held are more multi-lateral and creative. In addition, the solutions found with diverse bodied thing tank are applicable to more tha n a single thinkers and work in more than a few conditions since its planners have put together their own personal experience in planning and critiquing it, refining into more applicable and garnishes the concept. On the other hand,

Describe the performance track record and rationale behind the Essay

Describe the performance track record and rationale behind the investment decisions of your Dummy Portfolio this term, in the style of a Hedge Fund Investor Letter - Essay Example The return from S&P 500 return is 45%, weekly standard deviation of S&P 500 is 2.95% and total standard deviation of S&P 500 is 21.24%. Here we have bought several stocks such as FTSE100 which has beginning level of 6627 and end level of 6722.67 and it has earned total gain of 1.44%. CAC40 had beginning level of 4244 and end level of 4390.18 and it has earned total gain of 3.44%. DAX had beginning level of 9369 and end level of 9980.85 and it has earned total gain of 6.53%. Dow Jones Industrials had beginning level of 17614 and end level of 17828.24 and it has earned total gain of 1.22%. S&P500 had beginning level of 2039 and ending level of 2067 and it has earned total gain of 1.40%. NASDAQ had beginning level of 4660 and end level of 4791.63 and it has earned total gain of2.82%. Nikkei225 had beginning level of 17197 and end level of 17459.85 and it has earned total gain of 1.53%. Topix had beginning level of 1377 and end level of 1410.34 and it has earned total gain of 2.42%. Shanghai Composite had beginning level of 2494 and end level of 2682.92 and it has earned total gain of 7.57%. CSI300 had beginning level o f 2594 and end level of 2808.82 and it has earned total gain of 8.28%. Spot Gold had beginning level of 1165 and end level of 1167.41 and it has earned total gain of 0.21%. USD against Japanese yens had beginning value of 1$= 115.33 yen and the value has increased to 1$=118.68 yen and it has earned total gain of 2.90%. Brent Spot beginning level of 81.01 and end level of 77.75 and it has earned total loss of -4.02%. NY Crude Oil had beginning level of 77.32 and end level of 73.69 and it has earned total loss of -4.69%. The dummy portfolio has also earned negative returns or loss for spot silver, spot platinum, pound against dollar and pound against euro. Thus it can be said that the dummy portfolio has average to good return in the period. The