2. Teams and teamwork

2.1 What is a team?

Although a widespread consensus acknowledges the prevalence of teams in society, the research literature reflects only marginal agreement concerning the definitional components of teams. The variance in definitions is due in part to the diversity of team types. Teams carry a variety of purposes (e.g., learning, producing a product, solving problems, gaining acceptance), forms (e.g., virtual, co-located), and sizes and longevity (e.g., adhoc, long term) (Cohen and Bailey, 1997).

In an attempt to extract key features of teams and develop a working definition of teams for ALL, we reviewed several often-cited definitions (Dyer, 1984; Guzzo and Shea, 1992; Mohrman, Cohen, and Mohrman, 1995; Salas, Dickinson, Converse and Tannenbaum, 1992). This process produced four common characteristics of a "team."

• Two or more individuals
• A shared or common goal(s)
• Task interdependency
• A desired productive outcome(s)

These characteristics serve as the basis for developing our working definition of a "team." A clear definition of a team is essential because it provides measurement boundaries and clearly distinguishes teams from small groups, which do not necessarily connote interdependence. (A team is also a "small group," but a small group may or may not be a team.) Our definition of a team is as follows:

A team consists of two or more individuals who must interact to achieve one or more common goals that are directed toward the accomplishment of a productive outcome(s).

In addition, the definition and core characteristics provide preliminary insight into the nature of teamwork and its key facets. For example, the characteristics of task interdependency and shared goals imply that team members must collectively decide on team goals (team decision making) and work cooperatively (coordination) to achieve these goals.

2.2 What is teamwork?

Teamwork has traditionally been described in terms of classical systems theory in which team inputs, team processes, and team outputs are arrayed over time. Here, team inputs include the characteristics of the task to be performed, the elements of the context in which teamwork occurs, and the attitudes team members bring to a team situation. Team process includes the interaction and coordination among members required for performing team tasks and achieving specific goals. Team outputs consist of the products that result from team performance (Hackman, 1987; Ilgen, 1999; McGrath, 1984). With regard to teamwork, the process phase is the defining point at which teamwork occurs; it is during this phase that team members interact and work together to produce team outputs.