ABSTRACT
The last several decades have witnessed an increased use of teams as a key organizational strategy. Accompanying this increase is a focus on training and evaluating the effectiveness of organizational teams. The foundation of both training and evaluation relies on a determination of the competencies (i.e., knowledge, skills, and attitudes) that need to be trained and/or evaluated. Perhaps one of the most common and theoretically grounded methods for determining the requisite competencies is the use of a task analysis. Goldstein (1993) defines a task analysis as a tool that is used to “determine the instructional objectives that will be related to performance of particular activities or job operations.” (p. 54)
While there are numerous methods for analyzing team tasks, most do not typically capture the requisite cues, conditions, and standards that provide the basis for team tasks (Swezey et al., 1998). Most methods of analyzing team tasks focus on identifying only one of the two behavioral tracks needed when completing team tasks (i.e., the taskwork track). However, Glickman et al. (1987) have shown that both taskwork (i.e., taskoriented skills) and teamwork skills (i.e., behavioral, attitudinal, and cognitive responses needed to coordinate with fellow team members) are needed to complete team tasks effectively. Thus, procedures for analyzing team tasks need to capture both tracks of skills. In light of this need, several researchers have been working over the past decade to develop and refine a procedure known as team task analysis (Bowers et al., 1993; Bowers et al., 1994; Levine and Baker, 1990, 1991; McNeese and Rentsch, 2001). This procedure not only allows researchers and practitioners to identify the operational skills needed within team tasks, but also the teamwork skills needed for smooth coordination among team members. However, the procedure is still not widely used among organizations (except for the military and aviation communities) because of a lack of prescriptive guidance and the effort required to complete team task analyses.
