REPORT

Effective Team and Performance Management Analysis and Evaluation

Effective Team and Performance Management Analysis and Evaluation

Introduction

Nearly four decades ago, Terreberry (1968) argued that adaptability would become crucially important to organizational success due to externally-induced organizational change and those organizations successful at adapting would be most effective in the marketplace. This forecast could not have been more prescient. Organizations increasingly rely on teams to manage the complexity of modern work. This continuing shift from organizing units of work around individuals to teams is being driven, in part, by factors such as the rate of change in task demands and the pervasive nature of change in business environments (Kozlowski, Gully, Nason, & Smith, 1999). Additionally, the same factors spurring creation of team-based organizations impose demands on teams, once formed, to rapidly and continuously adapt their performance processes.

To address this emerging need, the available theoretical and empirical literature on team adaptation has increased significantly in recent years (e.g., Burke et al., 2006, Chen et al., 2005, DeShon et al., 2004, Entin & Serfaty, 1999, Kozlowski et al., 1999, LePine, 2003 and LePine, 2005). Throughout the scientific literature, researchers describe team adaptation as a complex phenomenon, one comprising multiple inputs, interaction processes, and emergent states that results in event-driven changes in team properties and processes, enabling higher levels of effectiveness in complex environments.

Managing the adaptive performance of teams is, therefore, of great practical concern to organizations as well as a fertile ground for scientific investigation. However, much of the relevant scientific literature has yet to be integrated into the processes by which organizations manage performance. This paper addresses this gap by providing an initial synthesis of theory and methods from the science of teams. This effort is intended to provide guidance on measuring and managing adaptive team performance and organizing future research.

Specifically, this paper addresses three primary goals. First, the theoretical drivers of team adaptation are reviewed and summarized in an extended framework of processes and emergent states. This framework outlines the content a team adaptation measurement system should capture. Second, six guiding principles for measuring team adaptation are presented. These principles are rooted in the theoretical review as well as the team performance measurement literature. Third, example measurement strategies based upon each guiding principle are presented to illustrate the process of implementing the principles presented in this paper. Before addressing these goals, the need for including the measurement of team adaptation in performance management systems is discussed.

The need for measuring team adaptation in team performance measurement systems

In a 'matrixed organization' where project teams are formed to address specific and unique client needs from pools of personnel with different types of expertise, the effectiveness of a team is in large part a function of the quality of the inputs to this process such as the characteristics of the individuals selected for the team (Bell, 2007). An extensive body of work is available to guide organizations in managing the performance of the individuals in this scenario. However, team interaction processes as a whole also contribute ...