Managers recognize that a good team organization can be the most valuable of their firm's competitive advantages. Lucrative markets draw competitors, efficient technology is copied, profitable products lose their appeal, but a well-run team organization continues to introduce new technologies, find new markets, create new products, and improve service to clients. However, as Dean and Mary Tjosvold reveal, there is a significant shortage both of strong leaders and of strong teams in corporate America today. Most employees are reluctant to step forward and take charge, because they doubt they have the ability to turn an organization around.

The Tjosvolds present here a model for creating, leading and participating in teams that illustrates that only by working in teams throughout the organizational structure can a company reach its potential. They further demonstrate how to invlolve supervisors, middle managers and unions in productive teams and how organizations can use teams effectively to generate innovative programs or to solve specific problems. A case study runs through the book that illustrates precisely how the team-building model can be applied