Putting the “Team” into Teamwork: Alternative Theoretical Contributions for Contemporary Management Practice

This paper establishes that teamwork is afunction of how team members perceive the team and theirrole in it. Social identity theory (Hogg & Abrams,1993; Tajfel & Turner, 1986) and self-categorization theory (Turner, 1987) offer explanations forthe cognitive, evaluative, and emotional processes whichmotivate individuals to join a social group and enhancetheir ability to contribute to the maximum of their ability, which would be desirable formany team tasks. Social identity theory posits that themotivation for thinking, feeling, and thus working as acohesive unit is socially constructed. Highly productive teamwork requires that team membersrecognize the team as a unit and as an attractive workarrangement. Fundamental assumptions of contemporarymanagement, and management research, are challenged to integrate social identityfindings.