Are there Differences in Teamwork Across Team Type?

Abstract

Team performance is a complex and illusive phenomena that has not yet been fully understood. Teams rely on certain underlying processes to shape their performance. These underlying processes (i.e., “the black box”) have been investigated over the last few years. However, a significant amount of the research has relied on command-and-control teams. The current study focuses on the differentiation of teams based on interdependence, performance arrangement and shared awareness to test the relationship between performance and teamwork behaviors. In addition, the effects of stress, operationalized as workload using a secondary task was also tested. Results showed some support for different communication patterns in different team types. No effects of workload were found. These results should be further investigated and applied to future team research.