Does team training improve team performance? A meta-analysis.
OBJECTIVE
This research effort leveraged the science of training to guide a taxonomic integration and a series of meta-analyses to gauge the effectiveness and boundary conditions of team training interventions for enhancing team outcomes.


BACKGROUND
Disparate effect sizes across primary studies have made it difficult to determine the true strength of the relationships between team training techniques and team outcomes.


METHODS
Several meta-analytic integrations were conducted to examine the relationships between team training interventions and team functioning. Specifically, we assessed the relative effectiveness of these interventions on team cognitive, affective, process, and performance outcomes. Training content, team membership stability, and team size were investigated as potential moderators of the relationship between team training and outcomes. In total, the database consisted of 93 effect sizes representing 2650 teams.


RESULTS
The results suggested that moderate, positive relationships exist between team training interventions and each of the outcome types. The findings of moderator analyses indicated that training content, team membership stability, and team size moderate the effectiveness of these interventions.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that team training interventions are a viable approach organizations can take in order to enhance team outcomes. They are useful for improving cognitive outcomes, affective outcomes, teamwork processes, and performance outcomes. Moreover, results suggest that training content, team membership stability, and team size moderate the effectiveness of team training interventions.


CONCLUSIONS
Applications of the results from this research are numerous. Those who design and administer training can benefit from these findings in order to improve the effectiveness of their team training interventions.
Salas
Eduardo
E
Institute for Simulation & Training, Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida, 3100 Technology Pkwy., Orlando, FL 32826, USA. esalas@ist.ucf.edu
DiazGranados
Deborah
D
Klein
Cameron
C
Burke
C Shawn
CS
Stagl
Kevin C
KC
Goodwin
Gerald F
GF
Halpin
Stanley M
SM
D003071:Cognition; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D019992:Databases as Topic; D004526:Efficiency; D006804:Ergonomics; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012107:Research Design; D012984:Software; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013663:Teaching; D014937:Work