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82 ORGANIZING TEAMS AND TALENT
ffective teams are the key
IN CONTEXT to great organizations.
E This is especially true in
FOCUS
business, where teamwork merges
Teamwork
individual talent into something
KEY DATES greater than the sum of its parts, Members of a team seek out
1965 US professor Bruce enabling “common people to attain certain roles and they perform
Tuckman proposes that teams uncommon results” in the words of most effectively in the ones
go through five stages: US industrialist Andrew Carnegie. that are most natural to them.
forming, storming, norming, Manufacturing companies in Meredith Belbin
performing, and adjourning. Europe and the US began to explore
the idea of teamwork in the 1960s
1981 British management and 1970s, in response to the
theorist Meredith Belbin success of Japanese team-based
writes Management Teams: working methods such as kaizen
Why they succeed or fail, (staff are responsible for a company’s
describing nine distinct continuous improvement) and in profit, and improved job
roles that are essential to “quality circles” (groups of staff satisfaction. In Honeywell’s
team success. tasked with improving quality). In commercial flight division in
the 1980s, as many companies Minneapolis, for example, teamwork
1992 Peter Drucker describes
adopted “total quality management” was credited with achieving an
three kinds of team in “There’s
(organization-wide quality), 80 percent market share in flight
more than one kind of team,”
teamwork began to spread beyond and navigation systems—and for
published in The Wall
its genesis in manufacturing. generating profits that were
Street Journal. Today, it would be rare to find an 200 percent higher than projections.
1993 Jon Katzenbach and organization, of any type or size, Teams succeed because they
Douglas Smith write The that did not value teamwork. provide an environment where
Wisdom of Teams, claiming weaknesses can be balanced out
The benefits of teamwork and individual strengths multiplied.
that forming a team leads to
Teamwork has been credited with Teams also safeguard against
greater success than
bringing about substantial individual shortcomings, such as
individual efforts.
reductions in absenteeism, lower underperformance and personal
staff turnover, significant increases agendas. Projects are more likely to
stay on track when peers support
Meredith Belbin consultant. Belbin studied each other and review each other’s
teamwork in the UK, US, and and the team’s work. Teams also
Meredith Belbin was born in Australia, and in 1981 wrote create an environment that most
Beckenham, UK, in 1926. He Management Teams: Why they people enjoy. The security of a group
earned a degree in Classics at succeed or fail, which became makes each individual feel less
the University of Cambridge, and one of the world’s best-selling exposed and, in turn, more likely to
then a doctorate in psychology, management books. Belbin has take risks, be more creative, and
during which he did research on advised the US government, the therefore be better able to perform.
the importance of teamwork. He European Union, companies and
then took a research fellowship public service bodies. Storming and norming
at Cranfield—where he studied Effective teams take time to
the benefits of ergonomics Key works
develop. It is rare that a group of
(designing tools and systems people can come together and
that fit best with people’s needs) 1981 Management Teams: Why
and improving efficiency in they succeed or fail begin to perform immediately; most
production lines—before 1993 Team Roles At Work teams go through a series of stages
becoming a management 2000 Beyond the Team before effectiveness is achieved.
Bruce Tuckman, a US professor of
