The Essentials of Teamworking

Michael A. West is Professor of Organizational Psychologyand Head of Research at Aston Business School. He graduated fromthe University of Wales in 1973 and received his PhD in 1977. Hethen spent a year working in the coal mines of South Wales beforebeginning his academic career. He has authored, edited or co-edited14 books including Effective Teamwork (2004, Blackwell), the firstedition of which has been translated into 12 languages, The Secretsof Successful Team Management (2004, Duncan Baird), Developing TeamBased Organisations (2004, Blackwell), the International Handbookof Organizational Teamwork and Cooperative Working 2003, Wiley),Effective Top Management Teams (2001, Blackhall), DevelopingCreativity in Organizations (197, BPS), and the Handbook ofWorkgroup Psychology (1996, Wiley). He has also published over 150articles for scientific and practitioner publications, as well aschapters in scholarly books. He is a Fellow of the BritishPsychological Society, the American Psychological Association(APA), the APA Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology,and the royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturesand Commerce. His areas of research interest are team andorganizational innovation and effectiveness, particularly inrelation to the Organisation of health services. Dean Tjosvold is Chair Professor of Management, LingnanUniversity in Hong Kong. After graduating from PrincetonUniversity, he earned his Master's Degree in History and his Ph.D.in the social psychology of organization at the University ofMinnesota, both in 1972. He has taught at Pennsylvania StateUniversity, Simon Fraser University, and was visiting professor atthe National University of Singapore in 1983-84, the StateUniversity of Groningen in The Netherlands, 1991-92, Hong KongUniversity of Science and Technology, 1994-95, and the CityUniversity of Hong Kong, 1995-96. In 1992, Simon Fraser University awarded him a UniversityProfessorship for his research contributions. He received theAmerican Education Research Association's Outstanding Contributionto Cooperative Learning Award in 1998. His review of cooperativeand competitive conflict was re cognized as the best article inApplied Psychology: An International review for 1998. He is pastpresident of the International Association of Conflict Management.He has published over 200 articles on managing conflict,cooperation and competition decision making, power, and the othermanagement issues. He has served on several editorial boards,including the Academy of Management Review, Journal ofOrganizational Behavior, Journal of Management, and Small GroupResearch.