Making the Team: A Guide for Managers

Performance Criteria

What are the criteria by which we should evaluate team effectiveness? By performance criteria, we mean those factors used to evaluate the success or failure of a team effort. Hackman (1987) identified three key criteria in his model of group effectiveness: Productivity, satisfaction, and individual well-being. To this, we add a fourth criterion, organizational gains, suggested by Gruenfeld (1998).

Productivity is probably the most important measure of team success. Did the team achieve its goals? Team productivity requires that the team have a clear goal and be able to adapt accordingly as new information arrives, goals change, and organizational priorities shift. This also holds true for changes in the marketplace—for example, ...