Influence of task characteristics on team performance

Although many models of team performance acknowledge the importance of task characteristics and their effects on team outcome, task characteristics have often been neglected in empirical research. Instead, the focus has been on variables regarding internal team processes such as coherence, motivation or coordination and team composition variables. In this paper the effects of task characteristics and team characteristics on team outcome are evaluated empirically. A total of 21 teams participated in a laboratory experiment. Teams were designed as either age homogeneous or age heterogeneous groups while task characteristics were accounted for by requirements. Task requirements differed according to diverse needs for task completion within stages of the innovation process. This was implemented using two tasks which are approximations of the different challenges within the completion of an innovation process. The results show that both, task characteristics and team composition, have significant effects on the outcome of team performance. The evaluation allows an analysis of the impact of team and task factors on service productivity across the whole chain of value creation, e.g. within a complex engineering service setting.