ABSTRACT

The recent rise in use of teams in modern industry can be traced to several sources. First, advances in technology have resulted in more complex systems that often require contributions from physically dispersed team members. Second, it has been recognized that team-based organizations have advantages in terms of employee motivation and involvement. Third, teams can often accomplish more than individuals and provide the redundancy required in highrisk environments. For these reasons, it has been important in recent years to examine the factors that contribute to team effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of these factors, in particular the competencies required for effective teamwork. Other papers in this volume describe additional factors that have been shown to have an impact on team performance (Bowers et al. 1999).