Book Review: Team implementation issues

Teamworking in organizations appears to have become elevated virtually to the status of 'one best way' in recent years. As with all such panaceas, it is rarely long before more considered perspectives appear, counselling greater caution. This volume, although basically supportive of the long-term merits of team-based structures, offers a lot of constructive criticism. Intriguingly, the editors' own introduction quickly concedes that 'many attempts to implement work teams fail' (p. x), even going so far as to speak of 'the probability of failing (p. xi). So why bother? Edited by Michael M. Beyerlein, Douglas A. Johnson and Susan T. Beyerlein. JAI Press Ltd, London, 1997, 318 pp., ISBN 0-7623-0173-2, £49.95