| Teams (a) that complete their tasks in performance environments with one or more contextual features that are atypical in level (e.g. extreme time pressure) or kind (e.g. confinement, danger) and (b) for which ineffective performance has serious consequences (e.g. compromised health or well-being of the team or the team’s clients) | Bell et al. (2018) |
| These new, externally oriented, adaptive teams, which we call X-teams … are set apart from traditional teams by five hallmarks: external activity, extensive ties, expandable structures, flexible membership and internal mechanisms for execution | Ancona et al. (2002) |
| Teams performing in complex environments; such teams work under the most extreme, dangerous and stressful task environments, in which they often encounter unexpected events that force them to perform adaptively | Beckhy and Okhuysen (2011) |
| Extreme teams operate in environments that are complex, dynamic and often unpredictable | Burke et al. (2018) |
| Required to provide dynamic responses within a complex environment, as well as interact with diverse groups and populations to effectively and efficiently respond to a crisis event. Crisis events present uniquely complex situations, which require teams, or teams of teams to effectively manage and respond to the events as they unfold, as they can overwhelm individuals | Cooke et al. (2007); Salas et al. (2008) |
| People with different backgrounds, skills and roles come together only for a specific task and must immediately be able to coordinate their actions in intense and unpredictable situations | Edmondson (2003) |
| Caring for patients in trauma situations is often characterized by high-stakes outcomes, elevated stress and intense time constraints | Gardner and Ahmed (2014) |
| Disaster intervention development team as two or more interdisciplinary experts developing an intervention to aid in response to a disaster | Hale-Lopez et al., 2023 |
| A context-specific typology into risky contexts, emergency contexts and disrupted contexts | Hällgren et al. (2018) |
| Teams working in stressful environments for long periods of time with physical and psychological consequences | Kanas et al. (2007b) |
| Teams whose highly skilled members cooperate to perform urgent, unpredictable, interdependent and highly consequential tasks while simultaneously coping with frequent changes in team composition and training their teams’ novice members | Klein et al. (2006) |
| Small teams performing in other isolated and extreme environments, including planetary exploration | Leon and Venables (2015) |
| A group of people work together on a highly task-focused and time-limited mission, functioning in conditions of potential and actual danger and often experiencing states of intense discomfort due to extreme cold, blizzards, unstable ice, fatigue and sometimes limited food rations | Leon (1991) |
| Highly task-focused and time-limited situation marked by intense and physical exertion and discomfort, periods of monotony and boredom and conditions of potential and actual danger | Leon et al. (1995) |
| Any environment to which humans are not naturally suited, and which demands complex processes of physiological and psychological adaptation | Manzey et al. (1998) |
| The ICE teams work in isolation from the outside world with little to no contact with those outside their crew, confined to a small space where crew members both live and work together, and under extreme circumstances, such that there are serious consequences associated with failure | Marcinkowski et al., 2021 |
| Reduced gratification of basic needs like sex is some of the potent stressors | Mullin (1960) |
| Monotony of the social environment in winter because of the lack of environmental stimulation and interaction with a limited number of individuals | Natani and Shurley (1974); Taylor (1969) |
| Characterized by the ambient environment, the social environment and the nature of the task | Orasanu and Lieberman (2011 |
| Prolonged confinement and isolation because of severe weather conditions, limited communication with family and friends, limited private space | Palinkas (1992) |
| Defined by both an external and internal dimension, namely, environmental extremeness and task extremeness | Schmutz et al. (2023) |
| Groups of experts who conduct interlinked tasks during complex, time‐limited performance events involving audiences, adversaries or challenging environments | Sundstrom et al. (2000) |
| Teams encounter extremely physical and emotional traumatic situations and are often the first to respond. Typically involves a harsh environment. The harshness can be defined as the weather conditions, travel distance of the rescue teams and the number of victims | Tracy (2006) |
| Teams that must rapidly share information and make numerous decisions to address the situation | Uitdewilligen and Waller (2018) |
| Those in extreme, stressful and unpredictable situations that are more unstable in regard to team membership than most traditional work teams, yet often facing life and death consequences | Vashdi et al. (2013) |
| Action teams engage in complex, time-limited engagements with audiences, adversaries or challenging environments in events that often require time-bound performance and improvised coordination in response to unpredictable behaviors | Walter et al., 2024 |