Final answer:
The workplace today is rapidly changing due to shifts in technology, economics, foreign competition, globalization, and workplace demographics. Organizations are restructuring to delegate work to teams with diverse skills and expertise. Team-based approaches may not always lead to greater productivity and are an active area of research.
Step-by-step explanation:
The workplace today is rapidly changing due to a variety of factors, such as shifts in technology, economics, foreign competition, globalization, and workplace demographics. Organizations need to respond quickly to changes in these factors. Many companies are responding to these changes by structuring their organizations so that work can be delegated to work teams, which bring together diverse skills, experience, and expertise. This is in contrast to organizational structures that have individuals at their base (Naquin & Tynan, 2003). In the team-based approach, teams are brought together and given a specific task or goal to accomplish. Despite their burgeoning popularity, team structures do not always deliver greater productivity-the work of teams is an active area of research (Naquin & Tynan, 2003).