Team working is vital in service provision and success depends on management styles and function. Susan Major uses one example of a teamwork initiative to show how teams might work in a culture of stability, productivity and openness

AS LONG ago as 1975, Dale stated: ‘The human resources of most organisations are properly viewed as their most important asset.’ Little has changed in the interim. The Welsh National Assembly (2001) regards team working as a vital component of clinical governance – ensuring high standards, quality of care and evaluation. However, without a shared framework of objectives and clarity of role, almost any team is meaningless and dysfunctional thus making the human resource a liability rather than an asset.