Team Evolution and Maturation

This report represents culmination of three years of research on Team evaluation and Maturation TEAM in the Navy. Participants in this research during a period of three years were ships team members engaged in training and their instructors at naval Gunfire Support, Anti-Submarine Warfare, and Guided Missile schools in the Norfolk area. The primary objectives of this research were to 1 delineate the process variables that comprise teamwork 2 develop a set of instruments to measure these variables 3 increase the understanding of how teamwork develops i.e., how teams evolve and mature over the course of training 4 develop ways to diagnose, correct, and enhance team performance in training and 5 examine the generalizability of the findings when compared to previous efforts. These objectives were organized into two sequential phases of research. In Phase I, a longitudinal model of team evolution and maturation was incrementally refined and empirically validated. The model then used as a framework for construction and validation of instruments used to obtain data at several points in the course of training from team members and their instructors on behaviors exhibited, performance levels attained, and perceptions emerging. Phase II research utilized the products of Phase I to identify dimensions of team behavior that were 1 critical to team work development and 2 reveal patterns of team training needs across a substantial portion of teams. Six intervention strategies were designed to address those team development needs for which cost-effective and performance-enhancing opportunities had been identified.