Developing ideas and concepts in teamwork research: where do we go from here?

Abstract

Purpose

This editorial seeks to explore changes in both teamwork and developments in teamwork research over the last decade.

Design/methodology/approach

The editorial review importantly focuses on the key debates that emerge from the papers covered in this special issue.

Findings

A review of the papers in this special issue, as well as historical analysis of teamwork research, indicate that while traditionally, analysis of teamwork was embedded in a manufacturing archetype, much of the contemporary research on teamwork is centred on service sector work where issues of cultural diversity, customer service, and lack of normative integration or task interdependence are increasingly apparent. This editorial suggests that we need to take account of the expansion of the service sector when attempting to conceptualise teamwork and the challenges that collective forms of working in such an environment bring.

Originality/value

This editorial and the special issue more generally provide an important contribution to the development of understanding of how changes in the workplace have had an impact on organisational and academic interest in teamwork.

Citation

Marks, A. and Richards, J. (2012), "Developing ideas and concepts in teamwork research: where do we go from here?", Employee Relations, Vol. 34 No. 3, pp. 228-234. https://doi.org/10.1108/01425451211217743