Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior - Soltanieh ...

COMPOSE TEAMS TO ASSURE SUCCESSFUL BOUNDARY ACTIVITY
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composition, Moreland, Levine and Wingert note that “ . . . few researchers study
group composition, and no general theory guides their work. Progress toward
understanding group composition has thus been slow and sporadic ” (1996, p. 11).
Unfortunately, relatively little has changed in the last few years.
In our view, much of this lack of progress has come about because much of the
research has been done with groups that do not have meaningful external connections.
Such groups do not reflect the true nature of most organizational groups. For
most groups in organizations, links with other groups and the external environment
are critical for success. Information and resources must be imported if teams are to
make effective decisions and the output of the group must be transferred to others.
We propose that selecting group members on their ability to facilitate these boundary
activities can be an important element in teams ’ success.
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