Background Questionnaire
The Background Questionnaire presents
an opportunity to collect information about
demographic, social, and economic factors
that affect teamwork. Such information
should be of interest to policymakers and
educators from countries participating in ALL
because it will provide information on the
determinants of teamwork. Results can be
used for structuring policy and/or educational
programs to improve the levels of teamwork
in the workforce and elsewhere.
Based on what is currently known about
teamwork and our approach to measuring
teamwork in ALL, we hypothesize that several
background variables may have an effect on a
respondent’s knowledge of team skills, and his
or her belief in the importance of teamwork
and collective orientation. Specifically, past
experience in teams, whether or not the
respondent has received formal or informal
team training, and demographic variables like
respondent age, gender, economic status, and
educational level may have an effect. Each of
these is briefly discussed in some detail below.
Experience in Teams
The nature and extent of respondents’
experiences in teams are likely to significantly
affect their attitudes toward teamwork and
knowledge of what to do in teams. In addition
to including questions about respondents’
experiences in teams in the background
questionnaire, we developed a short team
experience measure (see Annex E). This scale
asks respondents to rate their past experiences
in teams on a series of bipolar adjectives. An
initial version of this scale was tested on the
sample of business students described earlier
(refer to item development for the team
attitude scales for a detailed description of the
sample). Results indicated that the scale was
reasonably reliable (∝=.79).
Team Training
Whether or not respondents have received
formal or informal team training is likely to
have a significant effect on both knowledge of
teamwork skills and attitudes toward
teamwork. Sufficient research exists to
support the efficacy of team training for
improving attitudes toward teamwork,
increasing knowledge, and enhancing
teamwork skills (see for example, Salas et al.,
1995; Salas et al., 1999). Collecting
information on whether or not ALL
respondents have received team training and
the nature of training content should prove
useful to policymakers interested in improving
teamwork skills in the workforce. Data
collected through ALL could provide
significant insight into specific training
strategies that are effective in different
countries.
Demographics
Demographic characteristics such as age,
gender, economic status, and educational level
may also affect respondent knowledge and
attitudes toward teamwork. Little, if any,
research on the effects of these variables
currently exists. ALL will present an
opportunity to assess whether or not
knowledge of teamwork skills and attitudes
toward teamwork vary as a function of these
and other demographic characteristics