ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the nature of interdisciplinary teamwork. A team is a specialized group with a performance objective or goal that requires coordinating activities. World War II was a watershed in the history of interdisciplinary teamwork highlighted by the Manhattan Project and the beginnings of operations research. The organizational structures that facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration range from informal clusters within existing organizations to autonomous institutions. The problems of interdisciplinary teams are legion and some derive from disciplinary territoriality and turf battles. The team encounters generic variables of interdisciplinary collaboration. Yet, the task at hand creates a local dynamic of collaboration and integration. The four major areas of collaboration in team teaching are planning, content integration, teaching, and evaluation. All interdisciplinary teams generate a host of raw documents that reflect the process of knowledge negotiation. The taxonomy of tangible knowledge includes target products, instrumental products, and ephemeral products.
