How do teams become effective? A literature review and implication for Ethiopia

Teams have been recognized as the heart of organizations in previous decades and proved to be so in the current situation. However, in recent years different global forces have pushed organizations to their limit and forced them to restructure work and teams. Thus, this paper reviews articles on team effectiveness from 2000 to 2017 with the help of Google Scholar Search Engine using key words “teamwork” and “teamwork effectiveness” and suggests strategy for teamwork effectiveness. The reviewer found that most studies focused on the input-process-output framework. However, recent studies improved the linear relationship found in input-process-output framework and introduced the advanced input-mediator-output framework. Based on this framework, organizational and team context factors were categorized under the input side. Whereas, processes and emergent states were considered as part of mediators and finally multiple criteria (performance, viability, and satisfaction) were used for explaining outcomes. Therefore, the reviewer concluded that organizations and their teams are dynamic that need more explanation through complex frameworks. The reviewer also suggested common clear goal, indoctrinating teamwork ideology, rewarding hard working teams, using diversity as an opportunity, and inform leaders and team members about team effectiveness frameworks as a strategy for teamwork effectiveness. Additionally, the reviewer recommended for future researchers, to come up with mixed (qualitative and quantitative) studies concerning teams in dynamic organizations. Finally, organizations in Ethiopia are advised to exercise current knowledge of team effectiveness that focuses on systems and team design, training and development, and leadership.   Key words: Inputs, mediators, outputs, team, team effectiveness.