Time to Re-Group

Abstract

Action teams are unique among group types in that their work is focused on time-constrained performance events that cannot be redone later. This aspect of their team temporality gives rise to an emphasis on simulation—a technique used by teams to replicate the taskwork, coordination, and communication of real-life events—and adaptation—in which teams use “time-outs” to give members a chance to regroup and communicate. In the present article, we attempt to offer more precision in research and theorizing across diverse team types through first offering a typology of action teams that considers the work of critical, contending, and performing teams. This typology informs the nested phase model introduced next, which accounts for the unique temporality of teams that place a heavy emphasis on performance and the related issues of cyclicity, finality, and epochality that characterize their work. Testable propositions intended to guide future research are offered.