Bridging the Gap between I/o Research and Hr Practice: Improving Team Composition, Team Training, and Team Task Design

to the present day, the use of teams in organizations has increased dramatically. Organizations have and are continuing to restructure work around teams rather than individual jobs (Ilgen, 1994). In parallel, the need and demand for theoretical and empirical research on team functioning has intensified. Past reviews of the literature on small groups and teams note considerable growth in the volume of team research over this same time horizon. However, as Levine and Moreland (1990) indicated, “[teams] are alive and well, but living elsewhere.” The health of team research is strong, but those who have traditionally focused on small groups are not fueling the evolution of team research (Ilgen, 1999). Rather, those working in organizational behavior, speech communications, political decision making, and education are now driving the increased emphasis on teams (McGrath, 1997). The domains of organizational behavior and industrial and organizational (I/O) psychology have served as the principal caretakers of team research and, over the last decade, have made considerable strides in advancing knowledge on team functioning. Despite the proliferation of teams embedded in organizations (Ilgen, 1999) and significant advancements in team research, teams still do not serve as a central element in the extensive base of literature BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN I/O RESEARCH AND HR PRACTICE: IMPROVING TEAM COMPOSITION, TEAM TRAINING, AND TEAM TASK DESIGN