At team level, the need for a particular identity, distinct from other teams, becomes a necessity to strengthen the internal bonds between its members. This differentiation is marked by specific rituals, private jokes and a shared history.

From this intimacy can be built a raison d'être, an objective, a particular function.

For example, a team may specialize in a particular area of expertise, gaining an edge over other teams. By developing specific skills, it will be able to stand out from the crowd and take on a consistency that defines its identity.

The team must always be considered as a living being, as an indivisible entity. Just like an individual, the team needs to be recognized as much for belonging to the group as for its unique personality.

This differentiation is a competitive advantage for the company. As Lawrence and Lorsch already proposed in their contingency theory in '69, a company with greater differentiation of its divisions (organizational entities), not only in terms of technology, but also in terms of attitudes and behavior.

To this differentiation is added integration, which defines the quality of cooperation between these divisions to meet the demands of the industrial environment.

In conclusion, according to Lawrence and Lorsch, the company's external variables interact with its internal variables of differentiation and integration. In an efficient organization, the state of differentiation is compatible with each sector of the environment, and the state of integration is compatible with the environment's requirement for interdependence. A company must therefore equip itself with effective integration procedures without crushing the possibility of differentiation, a source of adaptation to the competitive environment.[1]

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[1] La théorie de la contingence

http://science-economique.blogspot.com/2009/06/la-theorie-de-la-contingence.html