Teams vs Collaboratives

I noticed that there are some confusion about two concepts that may be considerate similar, but they are not the same.

I talk about collaborative work and team work.

The main, and first, difference is about the objectives that they try to achieve. While collaborative work goal is getting a larger quantity of knowledge, teamwork try to achieve an specific objective.

By example, a soccer team objective is goal scoring. All players plays in order to do that, they collaborate from their own task (goalkeeper, defense, forward) and following a direction indicated by the coach. That is a teamwork.

On the other hand, when those same players was training, playing to kicking a ball, then they produce a collaborative work. They don't have any collective objective to achieve, and each individual give to the play his own capabilities, and in the collective work those capabilities are improving individually, producing at the same time a collective improvement. That is collaborative work.

Well, as you can see, the confusion appears because frequently is necessary both kind of work in order to do anything. But if keep in mind the former examples, I think that we can differentiate it easiest.

Moreover, next I show an useful table, getting from Wikipedia

As you can see, the objectives are not the only one difference between those two concepts, another one, and very important is the Coordinator or Director Role. Collaborative groups are self-managed and self-determined groups, they usually comes together spontaneously and carry out their activities voluntarily and freely. Teams, instead, needs a directing because |their task are necessarily complementary, and the head of the group need all members in order to complete their goals.

Well, if you confuse those concepts in your daily work life, may be that you don't have any problem and in the organization all continue in the same way, but I think that is important to know this distinction in order to know exactly what we are talking about when we mention one or another.