Teams in organizations: Recent research on performance and effectiveness

Richard A. Guzzo and Marcus W. Dickson

Psychology Department, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742

KEY WORDS: group dynamics, organizational change, autonomous workgroups, computer assisted groups, cockpit resource management

ABSTRACT

This review examines recent research on groups and teams, giving special emphasis to research investigating factors that influence the effectiveness of teams at work in organizations. Several performance-relevant factors are considered, including group composition, cohesiveness, and motivation, although certain topics (e.g. composition) have been more actively researched than others in recent years and so are addressed in greater depth. Also actively researched are certain types of teams, including flight crews, computer-supported groups, and various forms of autonomous work groups. Evidence on basic processes in and the performance effectiveness of such groups is reviewed. Also reviewed are findings from studies of organizational redesign involving the implementation of teams. Findings from these studies provide some of the strongest support for the value of teams to organizational effectiveness. The review concludes by briefly considering selected open questions and emerging directions in group research.

INTRODUCTION

Scope and Objectives

For more than a decade now, psychology has enjoyed a rekindled interest in groups and teams. Chapters in previous Annual Review of Psychology volumes have considered group research (e.g. Levine & Moreland 1990) and organizational behavior (e.g. Wilpert 1995), but this chapter is unique because of its special focus on team performance in organizational contexts, especially in work organizations.

The literature reviewed considers, among other emphases, research conducted in organizational settings with groups or teams that must meet the demands of producing goods or delivering services. Although we review some research conducted in other than organizational settings, we emphasize studies in which the dependent variables were clearly indicative of performance effectiveness rather than studies on intragroup or interpersonal processes in groups (e.g. studies of conformity, opinion change, conflict). We also include studies of interventions made to test the efficacy of techniques intended to improve team effectiveness. Such interventions may be targeted at individual team members (e.g. enhancing member skills that are important to team performance), at teams as performing units (e.g. team development interventions), or at the organizations in which teams work. Thus, research on larger-scale organizational change efforts of which the implementation or enhancement of teams are one part...