The introduction of team-working often has positive effects on team members but
places significant new demands on managers. Unfortunately, little research has examined
whether the impact of the intervention may be enhanced by providing managers with
training during the change process. To test this possibility we carried out a longitudinal
intervention study (with a ‘no training’ comparison group) in a part of the Danish elderly
care sector that was implementing teamwork. Kirkpatrick’s (1998) training evaluation
model was used to examine the effects of training team managers in issues such as
teamwork, transformational leadership and change management on the outcomes of
team implementation. We used a combination of quantitative and qualitative research
methods to isolate the impact of manager training on the success of the teamwork
intervention. The results identified some significant, but modest, incremental positive
effects that could be attributed to the manager training. The results also showed that
significant organizational changes during the intervention had an impact on both the
team intervention and the transfer of manager training.