Team Diagnostic Survey

TLDR

The TDS is grounded in existing research and theory on conditions that foster team effectiveness. This article develops the Team Diagnostic Survey (TDS) to diagnose strengths and weaknesses of work teams and to support research on team behavior and performance. The TDS assesses team structure, support, leadership, and provides indicators of members’ work processes and affective reactions to the team and its work. Psychometric analyses of data from 2,474 members of 321 teams demonstrate satisfactory properties, and the article outlines appropriate uses of the instrument.

Abstract

This article describes the development of the Team Diagnostic Survey (TDS), an instrument intended for use both for the diagnosis of the strengths and weaknesses of work teams and for research on team behavior and performance. The TDS is based explicitly on existing research and theory about the conditions that foster team effectiveness. It provides an assessment of how well a team is structured, supported, and led as well as several indicators of members’ work processes and their affective reactions to the team and its work. The psychometric properties of the TDS are satisfactory, based on analyses of data from 2,474 members of 321 teams in a diversity of organizations. Appropriate uses of the instrument are discussed.