Dynamic Team Composition: A Theoretical Framework Exploring Potential and Kinetic Dynamism in Team Capabilities

Organizations are increasingly called upon to solve complex problems in changing conditions that require the combined knowledge, skills, perspectives, and efforts of multiple individuals. These dynamic situations often require dynamic team composition. Dynamic team composition is sometimes thought of as synonymous to changes in membership, however, we contend that it also can occur through other means including team member development, the alignment between team member capabilities and the team’s tasks, and changes in the accessibility to team member capabilities. Given the lack of overarching theories to organize and provide guidance on research and practice related to dynamic team composition, we take an interdisciplinary approach and leverage the fundamental concepts of potential and kinetic energy as a guiding framework to integrate the disparate literatures on dynamic team composition. We bring dynamic team composition to the forefront and delineate four types of dynamic team composition through staffing, development, situational relevance of member knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) and access to member KSAs through relational resources. Next, we provide tangible recommendations for the design, measurement, and analysis of dynamic team composition. Finally, we provide guidance on developing dynamic research questions and infusing dynamics into existing theories.