Abstract
Purposes. The purposes of this study were to identify the types of teams and important teamwork practices in organizations as derived from the literature into a model of team performance; to identify the types of teams' most important teamwork practices as judged by city managers, and the extent to which cities in Los Angeles County, California, have incorporated the important teamwork practices derived from the model into their teamwork practices; and to develop a prototype model for municipal team performance. Methodology. An original instrument, Teamwork Practices Survey, was designed for this study to gather descriptive data about the current applications of teamwork in Los Angeles County municipalities and important teamwork practices based upon the model for team performance derived from the literature. Surveys were mailed to eighty-seven city managers in Los Angeles County municipalities; cities governed by the Council-Manager form of government. Findings. (1) Problem resolution teams were found in 65.2 percent of respondent cities, operating teams were found in 41.3 percent of respondent cities, and management teams were found in 87.0 percent of respondent cities. (2) Management teams were more widely used in Los Angeles County cities than they were found to be used in a 1978 study of other local government agencies. (3) Mean team size in Los Angeles County municipalities was found to be consistent with the literature-based research. (4) Twenty-six important teamwork practices comprised the literature-based model. These practices were configured under seven headings: (a) Team Mission or Vision; (b) Team Goals; (c) Team Performance Objectives; (d) Team Member Roles; (e) Team Training; (f) Performance Measurement and Evaluation; (g) Environmental Assessment. (5) Respondent city managers judged sixteen of the twenty-six teamwork practices as essential or important in promoting employee productivity and/or quality of work life. (6) These sixteen teamwork practices comprised the prototype model for municipal team performance. Recommendations. (1) Similar studies should be designed to identify the current and most important teamwork practices as judged by department heads or city managers in other areas of the state or nation. (2) A study of teams involving municipal employees, city council members and other community stakeholders should be designed to assess team member's judgments of the importance of teamwork practices and team training topics. (3) Future research should focus on whether there are significant differences between the ratings of city managers using the teamwork practices and those not using the practices, in terms of the value these practices add to the organization. (4) More research on the training of teams should be conducted to better identify training topics of greatest value to teams as differentiated by team type, purpose, size of team membership, and length of tenure as a team.