team leadership

Sports fans have heard commentators talk about certain players "understanding the team concept." But what does that mean in the organizational world? Is there such an understanding, and can you measure it in job applicants (and thereby select employees based on it) and does it predict job performance once hired into a team?

Mumford and his colleagues have come up with a measure of this very thing, and have provided evidence that it is a valid measure. They call the aspect of this understanding of teams that they focused on "team role knowledge." They define it as "the knowedge an individual possesses about the nature of team roles and the situational contingencies govening their use." They go on to explain that the term "encompasses the declarative and procedural knowledge of role types and contingencies that is needed to effectively perform team roles."