Abstract
Purpose – This editorial seeks to explore changes in both teamwork and developments in teamwork
research over the last decade.
Design/methodology/approach – The editorial review importantly focuses on the key debates
that emerge from the papers covered in this special issue.
Findings – A review of the papers in this special issue, as well as historical analysis of teamwork
research, indicate that while traditionally, analysis of teamwork was embedded in a manufacturing
archetype, much of the contemporary research on teamwork is centred on service sector work where
issues of cultural diversity, customer service, and lack of normative integration or task
interdependence are increasingly apparent. This editorial suggests that we need to take account of
the expansion of the service sector when attempting to conceptualise teamwork and the challenges
that collective forms of working in such an environment bring.
Originality/value – This editorial and the special issue more generally provide an important
contribution to the development of understanding of how changes in the workplace have had an
impact on organisational and academic interest in teamwork.