Title: The role of teams in the competence development process

Authors: Lars Schweizer, Mirjam Geiger

Addresses: University of Frankfurt, Gruneburgplatz1. 13, D-60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. ' das talentbuero, Hopfengartenstr. 1, D-63457 Hanau, Germany

Abstract: Teamwork and competence development are two issues of growing interest in knowledge-intensive organisations, especially in dynamic high-tech sectors. So far, existing literature has not addressed the role teams play in the development of competences that are crucial to the individual organisation member. Therefore, we chose the high-tech sector, in which teams are the predominant form of job design, to conduct an exploratory case study of the competence development process at Microsoft Germany. Our research results show that in a fast-paced environment, teams can provide an adequate learning context and environment for specific competences, as long as they are purposefully integrated in an individual competence development process, contributing to the development of individual competences like problem solving, building team spirit and self-development.

Keywords: teams; teamwork; competence development process; high tech sector; high technology; knowledge-intensive organisations; Microsoft Germany; learning; integration; problem solving; team spirit; self-development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMD.2011.039954

International Journal of Management Development, 2011 Vol.1 No.1, pp.60 - 78

Published online: 28 Nov 2014 *