Management

Three Kinds of Teams
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frustration and nonperformance. And a similar confusion seems to have prevailed
at P&G.
Teams, in other words, are tools. As such, each team design has its own uses, its
own characteristics, its own requirements, its own limitations. Teamwork is neither
“good” nor “desirable”—it is a fact. Wherever people work together or play
together, they do so as a team. Which team to use for what purpose is a crucial, difficult,
and risky decision that is even harder to unmake. Managements must learn
how to make it.
SUMMARY
Teams are very much in vogue. It is, therefore, important to know not only when
the team is the appropriate design principle but what kind of team is appropriate
for a given task. There are three kinds of teams. First, in the baseball team, each
player is a specialist, plays mostly as an individual, and rarely leaves a fixed position.
The surgical team is an example of the first kind of team. The second kind is the
football team, where each person has a specialty but each performs their specialty in
parallel as directed by the coach, and teamwork is critical to success. The team of professionals
that care for patients in a trauma unit is an example of the second team.
Finally, the third kind of team is the tennis doubles team, where team members are
trained in a number of positions and have considerable flexibility with respect to the contribution
they must make to achieve the goal of the team.