Power disparity has the potential to benefit and harm team outcomes. In this article, we review the growing body of work on power disparity in teams and use this review to develop an emergent theory of how power disparity impacts team outcomes. This paper is organized in the following sections. First, the concepts and measurement of power disparity are discussed. Second, we contrast the findings of this review from the functionalist perspective and conflict perspective with what is known about the effects of power disparity on team process. Third, we show that the relationship between power disparity and team outcomes is exacerbated by aspects of power related factors (i.e. power distance, power stability), team tasks (i.e., interdependence, complexity), and leadership characteristics (i.e., competence, legitimacy). Lastly, some suggestions for future research are provided to better understand why and when power disparity may affect team outcomes.