Teams
Teams are used by organizations to streamline tasks, to resolve complicated problem-solving activities, to develop new innovative products, and a number of other critical tasks that could not be completed in a timely manner by any one individual. DeChurch and Mesmer-Magnus (2010) identified that today's work required by organizations has become complex, and that it requires organizations to use the ability of teams in order to collaborate and work effectively toward solving complex problems.
Teams are often referred to as groups. For the purposes of this website, teams will be used interchangeably with groups; however, most references will be to teams. Teams are usually made up of two or more individuals that have a common purpose or goal. Teams made up of two members are often defined as dyads. Some researchers view dyads as part of the team phenomenon, while others view them as a separate phenomenon. This website will view teams as having three or more members, primarily since some of the team constructs will not work with only two members — three or more are required.
Not all team members have an equal reward or punishment structure, but they all have a common purpose or task at hand. Team members work interdependently as well as individually. Each individual within the team brings with them different skills, knowledge, life expectancies, and come from different levels of the hierarchical structure within the organization.
Ilgen, Hollenbeck, Johnson, & Jundt (2005) identified a team as: “complex, dynamic systems, existing in larger systemic contexts of people, tasks, technologies, and settings” (p. 519).
Kozlowski and Bell (2003) defined a team as: “collective who exist to perform organizationally relevant tasks, share one or more common goals, interact socially, exhibit tasks interdependencies, maintain and manage boundaries, and are embedded in an organizational context that sets boundaries, constrains the team, and influences exchanges with other units in the broader entity” (p. 334).
Composed through various definitions of teams, research from Cohen & Bailey (1997) defined a team as:
“A team is a collection of individuals who are interdependent in their tasks, who share responsibility for outcomes, who see themselves and who are seen by others as an intact social entity embedded in one or more larger social systems (for example business unit or the corporation), and who manage their relationships across organizational boundaries” (p. 241).
McGrath, Arrow, and Berdahl (2000) described the coordinating patterns of member-task-tool relations, by team members as they pursue their team functions, as the coordination network. McGrath et al.'s coordination network consists of six networks: the team network, the task network, the tool network, the labor network, the role network, and the job network.
This website is designed to compile the vast body of literature, empirical studies, and publications related to teams. The purpose of this website is to provide a single source where current research findings and current theories, as they are related to teams in the organizational setting, can be found in one location.
What You Will Find Here
Team Principles
Foundational concepts: what defines a team, core domains of team science, the 20 principles of teamwork, and enabling conditions for team effectiveness.
Team Models
A history of team modeling and the major frameworks — IPO, IMO/IMOI, TIP, and temporally-based taxonomies — that structure how researchers study teams.
Team Cognition
How teams think collectively: shared mental models, transactive memory systems, information sharing, group learning, and the information-processing approach.
Team Learning
The processes by which teams acquire, share, and apply knowledge — including landmark definitions, Edmondson’s framework, learning climate, and diagnostics.
Team Conflict
Intragroup conflict theory, the tripartite model, why conflict matters for performance, and the three facets that distinguish constructive from destructive conflict.
Team Leadership *
How direction, structure, and support are provided within teams — vertical, shared, and distributed leadership approaches and their effects on team outcomes.
Teamwork *
The collaborative behaviors and processes that enable teams to work together: communication, coordination, backup behavior, mutual monitoring, and adaptability.
Teamwork Training *
Evidence-based strategies for developing teamwork KSAs — including CRM, Team Dimensional Training, and TeamSTEPPS — and how to make training transfer to practice.
Workbooks
Eleven downloadable participant workbooks from The Flow System Playbook — hands-on team science resources covering training, design, learning, cognition, effectiveness, and more.
Types of Teams
A survey of the major team configurations found in organizations: action teams, project teams, management teams, virtual teams, and more.
References
Cohen, S. G. & Bailey, D. E. (1997). What makes teams work: Group effectiveness research from the shop floor to the executive suite. Journal of Management, 23, 239–290.
DeChurch, L. A. & Mesmer-Magnus, J. R. (2010). The cognitive underpinnings of effective teamwork: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(1), 32–53. doi: 10.1037/a0017328
Ilgen, D. R., Hollenbeck, J. R., Johnson, M., & Jundt, D. (2005). Teams in organizations: From input-process-output models to IMOI models. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 517–543. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070250
Kozlowski, S. W. J., & Bell, B. S. (2003). Work groups and teams in organizations. In W. C. Borman, D. R. Ilgen, & R. J. Klimoski (Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Industrial and organizational psychology, 12, pp. 333–375. London: Wiley.
McGrath, J. E., Arrow, H., & Berdahl, J. L. (2000). The study of groups: Past, present, and future. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4(1), 95–105. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.