Encyclopedia of Organizational Psychology, Entry: Work Teams

Teams are central to contemporary business organizations. Teams occur in all industries ranging from manufacturing, to professional services, to IT, to healthcare, and are at all levelsfrom top management executive teams to production line teams, cross-functional teams, project teams, quality circles,virtual teams, etc. However, teams are not always productive or effective. How teams are organized, develop team processes and emergent states, their dynamics, has an impact in their collective ability to be productive and effective.