Making the Team: A Guide for Managers, Fifth Edition

Chapter Capstone

For teams to be effective in their work, they need to have a shared knowledge base. The knowledge base allows teams to more efficiently process and encode relevant information and then act upon it in a thoughtful and appropriate fashion. However, the shared knowledge base that governs a team is only as adequate as its communication system. Communication among team members is a collaborative effort. Human biases in communication can play havoc with effective teamwork. It is the responsibility of team leaders to ensure that successful communication occurs among team members. The development of accurate team mental models and a TMS can partially combat the threat of the common information effect and hidden profiles.