This multi-method qualitative investigation examines teamwork process of a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 collegiate basketball team. The investigation was framed across multiple but complementary theories---dimensions of teamwork, symbolic interactionism, and dualities and tensions. The principal researcher conducted participant observations of team practices, meetings, meals, games, and travels to away games. Players and coaches also were interviewed during and after the season to reflect on the ways they worked together throughout the season. Finally, qualitative archival data analysis, including media coverage of the games and team documents (e.g., scouting reports), was conducted to compare and confirm information.

This investigation found that the ways the team members developed and managed some of the fundamental dimensions of teamwork (i.e., vision, roles, operations/procedures, and vision) revealed underlying complexities associated with teamwork processes. More specifically, team members needed to negotiate several tensions (e.g., leadership and followership, performing and performance), in order to engage in processes critical to developing and managing teamwork. Effectively managing these tensions meant that members needed to be cognizant of their changing circumstances as well as sustaining some of their fundamental relational elements, such as trust and respect.

More generally, findings also suggest that developing and managing teamwork is a context-sensitive process---one that transcends singular and linear path ideology of development. Attempting to develop and manage ambiguous situations underlying the dimension of teamwork dimensions demands frequent and reflective collaborations among members. Hence, these tensions and the ways members negotiate and collaborate in light of these tensions offers another approach to understand the quality of teamwork processes---one that is less hinged on the outcomes of teamwork.