An Empirical Study of the Relationship Between Team Performance and Team Maturity

Katzenbach and Smith conceptually defined the relationship between team performance and team maturity in The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High Performance Organization (1993). However they provided no empirical basis for this relationship. Peters (1997) developed a survey to assess a team's maturity level (this provides a quantitative measure for the maturity parameter of the relationship described by Katzenbach and Smith). To measure the performance parameter, the authors developed a self-directed team performance survey (SDTPS). This paper documents a 112-team study in which team performance (as measured using the SDTPS) was compared to team maturity (as measured using Peters' survey instrument). The findings provide empirical evidence supporting the key characteristics and general form of Katzenbach and Smith's Team Performance Curve. These findings provide a basis for useful recommendations to managers in organizations attempting to implement teams.