I started off with a great deal of hope for this book, and nearly finished with it I am very disappointed. If I would have sat down before I read this book and listed some common sense principles related to teams, I would have put down about 90% of the concepts in this book. That doesn't necessairly bother me about this book, because business isn't always rocket science. The problem is the book is long on fluffy discussions, and short on the nuts and bolts aspect. What studies support their assertions, what does the research say about teams? Even beyond that, give me some ideas for how to accomplish what you say about teams. Give some kind of practical use, or practical application of your theories. I think what was the final straw for me, was when they began rehashing some basic motivational theories withouth mentioning them by name, or even fully discussing them. This book tries to be a lot more than its title proclaims it to be, or it is capable of being. Robbins is a psychologist, who I thought would really be able to add some understanding to what goes on in teams. Unfortunately, that is all but absent from this book. Finley, appears to be one of the dime-a-dozen business writers who reword common concepts and try to resell them. Most of the book winds up blaming management for the cause of team failure instead of helping people become more effective teammates. I usually stick to reading books about specific companies, because those contain real world examples and are usually written by much more credible sources. I strayed in this case, and got burned. Hopefully you won't. If you have an MBA, skip this book, you have already heard it.
