Making the Team: A Guide for Managers

Conclusions

Teams are not independent entities within the organization. There is a critical tension between the internal relations of a team and the external ties. Both are necessary; neither is sufficient to ensure long-term survival of the team. Depending upon the nature of the task that the team is working on, structural solutions should be put into place to ensure that the team is integrated with other individuals and teams within the organization. This activity itself requires that some members of the team act as boundary spanners and gatekeepers to bring needed information to the team, as well as distributing knowledge outside the team.

Managing the internal and external dynamics in a team is a difficult task, requiring constantly changing ...