An Overview of Team Performance Measurement

Teams are a fact of life. From medicine to aviation to the policeman on the beat, from management to modern warfare to the Superbowl clash, teams carry out much of the work (and some of the recreation) in our world. Broad outcome measures of the teams’ performance are generally available (e.g., the plane landed safely and on time; the team won six games, lost nine). Individual tasks within the teams may be sufficiently delineated so that individual performance may, to some extent, be evaluated (e.g., the pitcher pitched a no-hitter; the pilot gave a thorough briefing to the crew). Despite the reliance on teams for much that is accomplished in our society, there is still little known about the processes that occur within a team that help account for real differences in outcomes.