Work teams have been in use for many years, yet research-based knowledge of the keys to high performance still has questions to answer. The development or maturity of a team is assumed to be closely related to the level of performance, but few studies have examined the maturation process thoroughly. Models of that process have emerged over the past half century, but their value seems limited. The chapters in this volume provide ideas, examples, and frameworks for improving our understanding of team development and the models we follow in fostering that development. As ideas like these become...

Complex collaboration refers to situations where working together effectively across boundaries is critical for complex projects and problems. Complex collaboration refers to knowledge-intensive business processes that require highly interactive communication, coordination, negotiation, research and/or development. This work often involves projects of large scope and long duration.

Such projects may cross disciplinary, organizational, national, and/or cultural boundaries. The challenges of managing such situations include ambitious schedules, conflict of cultures...

-Finally, a book that goes beyond the 'how-to' of team building and answers the critical question, 'How do I create a collaborative organization that reaps the harvest of long-term investment in teams?' The 'ten principles of collaborative organizations' outlined in this book are invaluable.-
-- Seth McCutcheon, CEO, Domicile Design Group LLC

The flagship book for the new Collaborative Work Systems Series, Beyond Teams provides an overview of this growing field, defines the basic principles, and points the direction toward a series of books. You'll find a framework...

The Collaborative Work Systems Fieldbook is a comprehensive reference that offers practitioners a resource for dealing with the challenges of designing and implementing collaborative work systems in value chains, organizational networks, partnerships with stakeholders, web-based teams, cross-functional teams, strategic alliances, and team-based organizations. The Collaborative Work Systems Fieldbook is filled with ideas, examples, and tools and includes a wealth of matrices, margin notes, and symbols that make locating relevant information easy. Part of The Collaborative Work Systems series...

Guiding the Journey to Collaborative Work Systems is a hands-on, practical guide for dealing with the challenges of designing and implementing collaboration in the workplace. People working in groups and teams, team-based organizations and networked organizations, and value chains and strategic alliances understand that effective collaboration is mandatory for success in today's business environment. Change leaders-- such as organization development managers, steering committee members, design team members, line managers, and others-- will find this workbook an invaluable source of...

Michael Beyerlein University0/North Texas, Denton. Texas, UnitedStates Those of us in the process of advanced maturation are regularly called upon to the historical development ofcurrent practice and understanding ofwork teams is broad in scope emerging from a complex mix of historical sources. I am not aware of a published source that represents that history comprehensively; full treatment may require multiple publications. There are excellent sources that present useful coverage ofsome components ofthat history, such as the three anthologies that Trist and his colleagues edited for the...

Michael Beyerlein University0/North Texas, Denton. Texas, UnitedStates Those of us in the process of advanced maturation are regularly called upon to the historical development ofcurrent practice and understanding ofwork teams is broad in scope emerging from a complex mix of historical sources. I am not aware of a published source that represents that history comprehensively; full treatment may require multiple publications. There are excellent sources that present useful coverage ofsome components ofthat history, such as the three anthologies that Trist and his colleagues edited for the...