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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Clin Transl Sci. 2012 Oct 17;6(1):60–71. doi: 10.1111/cts.12004

Table 3.

Design considerations for the establishment of MTT. The specific structure, processes, and functioning of an MTT will differ based on its goals, its membership, and the design features summarized here.

Design Domain Design Factors for MTTS
Context
  • Changing institutional support and federal funding

  • Traditional academic structures promote silo based philosophies

Tasks
  • Scientific inquiry and production requiring high degree of autonomy, interdependence, multidisciplinary thinking, technology mediation, and knowledge management

  • Acceleration of project to individual and population based health impact

Individual Members
  • Selection based on member personalities: openness, self-efficacy, scientific/academic/social capital

  • Selection based on potential for high scientific and team skills

Skill Acquisition
  • Core competencies in clinical and translational research

  • leadership development

Team Development
  • Frequently nonlinear and based upon opportunities and needs

  • Based upon collaboration, exchange, active engagement, and is subject to frequent reorientation

Team Structure
  • Strategic core of team members maintains scientific focus and continuity

  • Loosely coupled networks of internal and external collaborators based on need

Team Processes
  • Agreed upon charter, vision, goals

  • Agenda based meetings/team documentation

  • Internal and external collaboration/network creation

  • Clarity of roles and responsibilities

  • Acknowledgment and resolution of conflicts and barriers

  • Focus on results and translational goals

  • Empowerment-based leadership and support

  • Effective decision making and problem solving

  • Acknowledgement/use of expertise

  • Focus on development

  • Challenge of process and scientific inquiry

Team Reactions and Affective States
  • High self-awareness, consensus on team model, knowledge of individual and team-based expertise and capacities

  • Strong commitment to team satisfaction, justice, efficiency, potency, and trust

Team Evolution
  • Continuous changes promote learning and adaptation

  • Episodic, radical, and unexpected changes creating disequilibrium based change and growth

Team Performance
  • Accelerated innovation and discovery to address human disease

  • Translation to population based health outcomes