nd ng a teams i d a Le g agin forth and n a i m Stan d t Davi Wes l e a Mich Surprisingly little has been written about leadership in the particular context of teams, yet leadership in teams is of paramount importance. The quality of leadership is likely to affect both the efficiency and effectiveness of a team. Effective leadership can provide motivation, task and goal clarification and prompt and appropriate feedback. While there is a wealth of written material on leadership, little focusses on leadership within teams. Variables in teams Why, then, do these two important areas of research (leadership and team functioning) fail to address this important issue? One major reason is the multiplicity of variables at work in teams. This makes it particularly difficult to focus on just one, for example leadership. Furthermore, theories on what constitutes effective leadership are rarely conclusive. Traditionally, leadership was seen as a team role performed by one person. With increasing emphasis on participation, empowerment and de-centralization of decision making, it is perhaps more appropriate to consider \"distributed leadership\". Rather than leadership residing in one person, a team or shared approach might be adopted. However, distributed leadership is even more difficult to study. These obstacles account, in part, for this omission in the research. Popular writings on the topic suggest that teams are easy to form, straightforward to manage and largely capable of producing both efficient and effective outcomes. However, the reality is very different. Some of the common problems include slow decision making, role conflict, unclear goals and negative synergy. Other potential disadvantages surround the increased costs often associated with team decisions. While \"many hands make light work\