Team Competencies

Competencies can also be discussed with regard to teams and organizations. Team competencies have been defined as what team members need to know, how they need to behave, and what attitudes they need to hold (Salas, 2005) and are typically expressed as the knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) required for efficient task performance. Organizational competencies are defined as the things that organisations are best at (Whiddett and Hollyforde, 2007, p. 8) and refer to technical competencies rather than behavioral ones. 

The key issues surrounding the concept of operator competencies are related to the identification of the competencies that are required for each of the different jobs and roles within an organization, the training and maintenance of staff competence levels, and the assessment of staff competence levels. Collectively, this process is known as competence management. A brief summary of the key issues surrounding each area is presented below. 

Operator competence refers to the ability to undertake responsibilities and to perform activities to a regular standard on a regular basis (HSE, 2007b, p. 2). Organizations should have a clear understanding of what the competencies are for each job or role and what their current staff competence levels are. 

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Eight teams are playing in a doubles tennis tournament. How many games must be played to arrive at one final winner Two teams compete, and then only the winning teams move on to play another winning team. 

The team competencies will furthermore be expanded and complemented by external experts. 

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. Soccer exists in almost every country. Soccer players are sometimes more famous than movie stars. Soccer teams compete every few years for the World Soccer Cup. Soccer fans often riot if their team loses. Soccer fans even commit suicide. Soccer is the only game in the world that makes people so crazy. 

Intercollegiate parliamentary debate team, competing regionally and nationally. 

The collective term lO Mindset includes people s relation and attitude towards new work modes, new technology and their team competences. In addition to individual competence and attimdes on cooperation, team competence also implies how the teams are working together. 

Workrate capacity = team competence and motivation -I- resource increases... 

Ensure team competence. This factor encompasses identification, recruitment and training of the change-effort steering committee and its leader—a group crucial to success. 

Successful BBS programs use a process blueprint, emphasize communication, demonstrate leadership, ensure team competence, use action-oriented training, use data to ensure continuous improvement and provide technical resources. 

Within the hnman factors literature, the concept of competencies has received most attention from the point of view of team competencies, particularly within the aviation domain (i.e., flight crew competencies) with regard to the development of flight crew training programs. A brief overview of the hnman factors literature on competencies is presented below. 

Most human factors practitioners now agree that team competencies can be decomposed into the KSAs required for efficient task performance for example, Cannon-Bowers, Tannenbuam, Salas, and Volpe (1995) suggested that teamwork competencies are comprised of three components ... 

Attitude-based competencies refer to what team members/cd during teamwork performance and are those affective competencies that are required during task performance. Examples of attitude-based competencies include motivation, mutual trust, shared vision, collective orientation, team orientation, teamwork efficacy, and team cohesion (Salas, 2005 Salas and Cannon-Bowers, 2001). A breakdown of team competency classifications is presented in Table 2.1. 

Smith-Jentsch, K.A., Baker, D.P., Salas, E., and Cannon-Bowers, J.A. (2001). Uncovering differences in team competency requirements the case of air traffic control teams. In E. Salas, C.A. Bowers and E. Edens (Eds.), Improving Teamwork in Organizations Applications of Resource Management Training (pp. 31-54). Mahwah, NJ Lawrence Erlbaum. 

Be sure that team competence is sufficient in all areas and that technical support is available. 

Maintaining team competencies such as skill, knowledge, and attitudes is a d)tnamic process that requires a structured approach as opposed to a short course, if lifelong teamwork habits are expected to occur. One approach is based on a framework that seeks opportunities to entrench those competencies during the routine care of PMV patients. Key items include ... 

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