ABSTRACT
Imagine you were to discover your grandfather’s pocket watch in the attic. You see it still working, so you turn it over and look into the back of the watch to find out how it runs. What you observe is a series of individual moving gears, large and small. They appear to be interconnected, but they are all moving at seemingly random paces; some gears move slowly, whereas others turn at a much faster rate. And yet, by their coordinated, unified effort, one collective goal is effectively reached—namely, you can tell the time. Multiteam systems (MTSs) work in much the same way: Individual units, each performing their own tasks that involve unique episodic durations, cycles, and pace, interconnect their activities in order to achieve a collective superordinate goal. Whether or not this goal is achieved effectively, however, depends on how successfully these individual teams can coordinate with one another, and successful coordination involves the element of timing.
