THE APPLICABILITY OF THE PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM MODEL TO SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING ORGANIZATIONS

摘要

Increasing productivity could enable science and engineering organizations to compete more effectively in the global marketplace. One way in which organizations may increase productivity is to make more effective use of their technical teams. A better understanding of the team development process could help organizations build more effective teams. Today's most popular team development model, the Tuckman model, has been challenged in two recent studies regarding its ability to successfully model team development in the science and engineering environment. It may be possible that Gersick's Punctuated Equilibrium Model could complement or supplant the Tuckman model with regard to modeling team development. This study will evaluate the applicability of the Punctuated Equilibrium Model in the science and engineering environment. A pilot study showed no applicability of the Punctuated Equilibrium Model in the teams studied.