An interdisciplinary team is characterized as which type of team?

An interdisciplinary team is best characterized by its collaborative nature, where team members from various disciplines work together towards a common goal while integrating their distinct perspectives and expertise. This type of team emphasizes communication and shared decision-making, allowing for creative solutions that draw from the breadth of knowledge present among its members. The focus is on interlinking various fields to enhance outcomes, which is particularly valuable when addressing complex issues that require diverse viewpoints.

While coordination and multidisciplinary teams also bring together experts from different fields, they typically do so with less integration. A coordination team might focus solely on organizing joint efforts without forging a strong collaborative environment among members. Similarly, a multidisciplinary team involves professionals working in parallel, each contributing their specialized skills without necessarily interacting or integrating their efforts as deeply as in an interdisciplinary setup. A transdisciplinary team goes even further by transcending traditional boundaries, but they do so in a way that can involve a broader societal and contextual perspective, which is not the defining characteristic of an interdisciplinary team.

Thus, the focus on collaboration as the defining trait of an interdisciplinary team aligns with the true nature of how these teams operate, distinct from other types that either coordinate efforts or remain within the confines of their specialized disciplines.