Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025;37(6):544-557.
doi: 10.1080/08995605.2024.2413726. Epub 2024 Oct 28.

Fluid teams

Tripp Driskell  1 , Gregory Funke  2 , Michael Tolston  2 , August Capiola  2 , James E Driskell  1
Affiliations
Review

Fluid teams

Tripp Driskell et al. Mil Psychol. 2025.

Abstract

Fluid teams are teams whose members are drawn from various technical domains or organizational divisions and assembled to undertake a critical, time-limited task. Members of these teams are rapidly assembled, have no prior familiarity or experience working together, must begin work immediately to accomplish the task, and then cease to exist following completion. In this article, we elaborate and clarify the construct of fluid teams, examine the challenges of the fluid team context for military team performance, and propose approaches for supporting fluid team performance.

Keywords: Teams; fluid teams; team performance; teamwork.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

References

    1. Arrow, H., & McGrath, J. E. (1993). Membership matters: How member change and continuity affect small group structure, process, and performance. Small Group Research, 24(3), 334–361. 10.1177/1046496493243004 - DOI
    1. Arrow, H., & McGrath, J. E. (1995). Membership dynamics in groups at work: A theoretical framework. Research in Organizational Behavior, 17, 373–411.
    1. Bales, R. F., & Strodtbeck, F. L. (1951). Phases in group problem-solving. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 46(4), 485–495. 10.1037/h0059886 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bedwell, W. L., Ramsay, P. S., & Salas, E. (2012). Helping fluid teams work: A research agenda for effective team adaptation in healthcare. Translational Behavioral Medicine, 2(4), 504–509. 10.1007/s13142-012-0177-9 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bell, S. T., Brown, S. G., Colaneri, A., & Outland, N. (2018). Team composition and the ABCs of teamwork. The American Psychologist, 73(4), 349–362. 10.1037/amp0000305 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources