Team performance measurement: let's reward teamwork

The appeal of team working has been of interest to behavioural management theorists since the 1930s but over the last decade the attractiveness of team concepts within the business community has experienced a renaissance. Traditional team philosophies consolidate the objective of the task with the well-being of the employee, part altruistic in its intent and tactical in its application. Today the objective is strategic, better performance - faster, delivering a corporate edge in a competitive, dynamic and fluid commercial environment. Whilst team working is advocated as a viable business opportunity present-day performance management principles align with a more orthodox, individualistic perspective of organisational wellbeing. The management and reward of team performance remains the exception rather than the rule, perpetuating a contradiction in action (team work) and HRM policy (the individual). Disparity between corporate structure and team ethos has the potential to frustrate the management of collaborative working practices upon which the construction sector relies. The research, in cooperation with three major UK contractors collated site project information related to both the team dynamic and corresponding project performance. Team attributes were assessed using attitude questionnaires issued to all permanent site team members. Project performance was measured by employing Kaplan and Norton's balanced scorecard framework in concurrence with seven carefully selected Key Performance Indicators taken from the Constructing Excellence suite of KPI's. The statistics disclose a significant level of confidence in the authenticity of the team - performance equation. The innovative capture of team - performance data and the resultant empirical evidence presents a rational argument for the implementation of a sound and organisationally transparent team related performance incentive. The potential for managing teams and rewarding their performance has never been more opportune and will in all probability support the pursuit of High Performance Cross-Functional Team (HPXfT) working in construction.