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Chapter 9: Teams and TeamworkLearning Objectives

• Explain why the use of teams is increasing.

• Explain the concept of teamwork.

• Describe the structure and processes of teams.

• Explain how teams make decisions and share mental models.

• Explain how personnel selection, training, and performance appraisal apply to teams.

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Chapter Summary

• Work teams are an adaptive response of organizations to the changing business world.

• Teams exist at a level of analysis that is in between the individual and the organization.

• What distinguishes a team from several individuals working together are five core principles pertaining to the processes that operate within the team.

• Teams have a definable structure as indexed by the roles members assume within a team.

• Teams function through important processes pertaining to communication, conflict, cohesion, and trust.

• Teams must learn to make decisions that affect every member and result in the emergence of a team mentality.

• Some teams, known as virtual teams, consist of members around the world who may have never met each other face-to-face, yet they function through electronic communication.

• Issues such as personnel selection, training, and performance appraisal apply to teams, just as they do to individuals.

• The social processes that hold teams together and allow them to function are influenced by the cultural backgrounds of their members.