A collaborative team is much more effective than a hierarchical team. In a hierarchical team, there is a leader or captain who guides the entire team, like in a cricket or baseball game. The leader takes important decisions and each team member has a distinct role to play. Whereas in a collaborative team, there are no leaders and the groups are self-managed with everyone sharing the responsibilities equally. We can say a hierarchical team is a leader with a team and a collaborative team is a team without a leader.
There needs to be a high degree of competence and trust in a collaborative team as there is no leader to keep everyone in line. Consequently, a collaborative team functions as a matured form of a team. When organizations have more ‘individuals’ who are keen to play their own roles and responsibilities, collaboration fails and a leader is needed to manage the team.