Teamwork: emerging principles

Abstract

Although organizations are increasingly utilizing teams to accomplish work tasks, there still remains a lack of prescriptive guidance for organizations in terms of how to capitalize on the potential synergy teams offer. Although team researchers have made many advancements in understanding the antecedents, processes and consequences of effective team performance, there remains some confusion. This confusion is in part due to the following. First, by its very nature, teamwork is a multidimensional construct that is elusive and dynamic, making it difficult to study. Secondly, it is argued that there is confusion and a lack of clarity as to the particular components that comprise team process, teamwork. Thirdly, not all teams are created equal. More specifically, there are several different types of teams (e.g. action, production, management), all of which require slightly different process requirements in order to remain effective. The current effort represents a review of work that has been conducted over several years in order to answer the question –‘What is teamwork?’. This work culminates in the delineation of several teamwork principles.