Evaluating the Effectiveness of Teamwork Through the Team Context, Morale, and Norms From the Team Members´ Perspective

Abstract

Organisations face the challenge of adapting to rapid change in a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA). They need to seize opportunities faster than their competitors and are therefore increasingly relying on teams to tackle complex tasks and solve challenging problems. The aim of this paper is to identify team members' perceptions on the scales of Context, Morale and Norms of the Team Assessment Survey II (TAS-II) in 85 Slovak work teams - important for effective collaboration. Examination of responses to the individual items using “Heartbeat analysis” revealed relatively fewer favourable votes for all but 2 of 9 items on the Norms scale, for Conflicts and Celebration (Morale scale) and Assumptions (Context scale), in contrast to the Safeguard and Accountability (Norms scale) and Understanding (Context scale) items Proud, Cooperation and Trust from the Morale scale. We discuss the possible causes. The results provide new insights and help to understand how important organisational context, team morale and norms are for the effectiveness of teamwork, as they can promote resilience, sustainable development and competitiveness.