Selection for Team Membership

For well over half of a century, scholars have agreed that selecting the right team members is a key variable in the team ¹ effectiveness equation (e.g., Mann, 1959; Mathieu, Maynard, Rapp, & Gilson, 2008). However, despite the importance of team selection, significant knowledge gaps remain regarding how to distinguish “team players” from “team inhibitors” and how to create teams whose members have the right mix of competencies. Ironically, despite a wealth of accumulated knowledge about how to select individuals to fit jobs and a burgeoning team literature, relatively little of this research has systematically focused on team selection issues (e.g., Mathieu, Tannenbaum, Donsbach, & Alliger, 2013; Zaccaro & DiRosa, 2012). Instead, the team composition literature has been described as fragmented and in need of coherence (Mathieu, Tannenbaum, Donsbach, & Alliger, 2014).