Missing Team Dynamics? An Integrative Review of Research on Team Development Over Time

Abstract

Theory describing the development, functioning, and performance of work teams emphasizes their dynamic nature. For many years, empirical research on teams has failed to keep pace with theory, impeding understanding of how teamwork unfolds over time and teams as a whole. However, over the past several decades, research examining the onset and functioning of change in teams has significantly increased. Our review distinguishes two primary theoretical perspectives that have dominated the field’s understanding of team development and provides a foundation for integrating both perspectives, which would allow for a more nuanced understanding. With the overarching goal of summarizing findings from this burgeoning literature, we conduct a systematic review of 110 articles (116 studies) that examine team development and teams over time. We synthesize evidence to illustrate how team phenomena (i.e., composition, leadership, emergent states, processes, and outcomes) change over time and interact dynamically with one another. We conclude by offering several high-level critiques of the literature, along with proposed solutions to address these issues. In doing so, we move beyond a general call for more research on team dynamics toward a more precise account of the decisions and considerations that should guide future work. Taken together, our manuscript provides scholars with a detailed account of how teams develop over time, challenging the long-held assumption that there is a dearth of work in this domain, and a foundation to position future work within a more integrated understanding of team development.