4.3.2 Practical assumptions

Participants will have approximately 30 minutes to complete the Teamwork section of ALL.

Teamwork will be assessed using paper-and-pencil measures.

Although we expect cultural differences in teamwork, we are not trying to measure differences in culture; rather, we emphasize general factors of teamwork with strong cross-cultural relevance.

The same measurement approach will be used to assess teamwork across cultures.

Respondent experience with teams may be work or non-work related (e.g., sports, community, schools, etc.)

Although team processes cannot be directly observed, knowledge about team skills, attitudes toward teamwork, and historical experience with teamwork can be measured.

Among these assumptions, the final practical assumption is most important. As mentioned in the Introduction, it will not be possible to measure respondent team skill competencies directly because the teamwork measure in ALL will be a short paper-and- pencil measure. Measuring team skills has historically required detailed simulations in which team member behaviors are observed and evaluated (D. Baker and Salas, 1992; 1997; Brannick et al., 1997; Ilgen, 1999). Such procedures are inconsistent with the measurement approach of ALL. However, even with these constraints, it is possible to learn a great deal about both the nature of teamwork, and about critical variables that can affect team performance. In particular, respondents' knowledge of teamwork skills (see Figure 1) and respondents' attitudes toward teamwork can be assessed in situationbased items that elicit behavior-oriented, rather than "textbook," responses. Our strategies for measuring each are detailed below.

4.4 Knowledge of teamwork skills

The primary goal of the ALL teamwork measure will be to measure respondent knowledge of teamwork skills, which have been shown to be positively related to team performance (Salas et al., 1999; Stevens and Campion, 1994b). In particular, respondent knowledge of Group Decision Making/Planning, Adaptability/Flexibility, Interpersonal Relations, and Communication will be assessed. Results from this measure will provide information as to how knowledge of teamwork skills is distributed in the adult population within nations.

4.4.1 Measurement approach

In developing our approach for measuring knowledge of teamwork, we faced two significant challenges: (a) because ALL is the first attempt to assess knowledge of teamwork internationally, results from prior research were not available for guidance; and (b) due to practical constraints associated with ALL, the method of measurement was limited to a short paper-and-pencil instrument. Future large-scale assessments of teamwork may consider the use of computer-based simulations or other similar formats to assess team skills more directly (E. Baker, 1998); however, the necessary technology is not currently available to the ALL.