.The relationships between work team strategic intent and work team performance

The Problem. Teams can be a significant resource to business leaders and can help lead to greater program successes. Little empirical data exist on what strategic characteristics make teams more effective. Does a work team's success depend on how strategically focused or intent the team is? Do the team's developed purpose, objectives, and strategies (its strategic intent) have an effect on how well the team performs? This research study hypothesized that work team strategic intent characteristics (team developed purpose, objectives, and strategies) were directly or positively related to the performance of student work teams.; Method. A descriptive correlation study was conducted using a framework of several related research areas, including strategic behavior, work team performance, and strategic intent. These variables were measured with surveys administered to student work teams attending a 6 week executive level program manager course and to the instructors of the student work teams.; Results. Significant positive correlation relationships were found in all 15 studied hypotheses between work team strategic intent and team performance measured by team self-assessments and instructor assessments. Additionally, a positive correlation was found between the team self-assessment of performance and the instructors' assessment of the team performance.; The research supported all 15 hypotheses and provided the following: (1) Empirical data on the positive correlation relationships between work team strategic intent and work team performance. (2) Defined characteristics that were used to determine the strategic intent of a work team or any work unit. (3) Created empirical support for Katzenbach and Smith's theories from their studies in The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization (2003) on the success of real teams, based on being committed to a common purpose and performance goals. (4) Created a survey to measure strategic intent of team members and teams in general. (5) Introduced the study of strategic thinking or use of strategic intent as a method or process for evaluating team performance.