Teams are critical to any organization’s success. Teams are the “collaboration of individual members, who bring different skills and resources to produce a collective work product for which all members are held equally and mutually accountable.” (Kief, 1999, p.23) By successfully utilizing teams, organizations can accomplish much more than if individuals worked on their own.
President George W. Bush had a difficult decision to make, regarding his economic team, one that he had hoped he would not have to make mid-term in his Presidency. With vacancies at the Treasury Department and the National Economic Council (NEC), plus the possibility of one at the helm of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), the criterion used to select the potential candidates is critical. In addition, given the way in which the CEA gives advice to the President, additional criteria should be considered. And, finally all groups, especially one in the position of the CEA, must find ways to avoid groupthink.
