Contextual performance and teamwork: Implications for staffing

The changing nature of work has led to the increased use of teams and increased importance of contextual performance. However, there has been no published research that considers the confluence of these two trends. This chapter addresses this gap. We illustrate how scholars have focused attention on team processes related to the completion of teams' tasks (i.e. taskwork) and also on team processes related to the maintenance of teams' social systems (i.e. teamwork). We suggest that contextual performance (i.e. individual-level behavior that supports the social, organizational, and psychological environment in which task behaviors are performed) underlies teamwork, and task performance (i.e. individual-level behavior focused directly or in support of task accomplishment) underlies taskwork. Because contextual performance research specifies links between specific individual differences and task performance (i.e. individual differences in ability) and contextual performance (i.e. individual differences in personality), this framework provides a foundation for understanding how individual differences ultimately influence team effectiveness. We note several unresolved issues and possible future research directions.