Team member acquisition of team knowledge, skills, and abilities

Teams have become increasingly popular in firms of all sizes and industries. Managers believe that teams often provide better outcomes than individuals. Firms can hire such talent or develop it. This study explored whether team training, team experience, mentoring, participation in team sports, and collectivism/individualism orientations were correlated with team knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) in problem solving, communication, conflict resolution, goal setting and planning. The most consistent finding was that those with mentors were more likely to be high on all team KSAs. Employees whose teams had been together longer and those in large firms were more likely to report strong team skills. Those with training in conflict resolution and team skills reported higher conflict resolution, goal setting, and planning skills. Implications of these findings for managers are provided.