ABSTRACT
The rate of change in political climates, economic conditions, social trends, technological advances and legal regulations and environmental challenges has been growing exponentially since the Industrial Revolution and with the advance of globalization. For example, the top ten in-demand jobs in 2014 did not exist in 2008;1 whereas today there are 3.5 billion Google searches per day, in 2010 there were not even 1 billion searches for the entire year;2 and whereas it took radio 38 years to reach a market audience of 50 million, it took TV only 13 years, computers four years, the iPad three years, Facebook two years and YouTube just nine months!3 Today we have five times as many words in the English language as we had during the time of Shakespeare and the amount of technical information available is being doubled each year. All of these changes mean organizations have to develop ways for their members to be quick learners, constantly innovating and adapting to keep pace. Those organizations (and their members) that fail to learn are left behind. Organizations can no longer afford the slow process of relying on a single decision-making authority at the top of a many-tiered command structure. Stable, hierarchical bureaucratic structures are becoming in many instances akin to post-bureaucratic team-based network structures that facilitate learning, creativity and agility. This chapter discusses the role of teams in stimulating organizational renewal through learning. Critical dimensions and processes explaining team functioning and effectiveness are explored. We analyze Edmondson’s research on combinations of psychological safety and accountability, challenge and support, as engines of deep learning. Communicational and relational patterns that foster and destroy collective intelligence are also considered. Teams are not simply the context where individual actors operate – they are also indispensable in pursuing organizational goals.
