Working in teams or working alone: What works best in public service?

Working alone or working as a part of a team can affect how we work, how we feel and what we want to achieve in our work life.

Given the differences across organizations and societal institutions it is an interesting question to find an answer to. Effectiveness of workplaces practices, or so to say their ineffectiveness, can easily be changed with a manipulation of such trivial variables where teams run the projects.

Teams bring a lot to the table. Different perspectives at issues, different solutions, and a degree emotional richness to a work environment.

Teams also create an environment where team members monitor each other and are accountable for each other to ensure that the job is done well. Imagine a sales person who wants to slack and just seat in the corner of the shop not really bothering to help the customers. This slacking behaviour will not as easily sustained if there were a number of sales people working as a team and being rewarded by a good sales performance. Our research demonstrates this in a simple lab experiment.

Civil services have been prompting organizational leaders to engulf the diversity and inclusion of all parts of the society being represented in public decision making agencies. By creating divers teams, public sector leaders create an environment which is motivating and engaging. Team working lets team members develop new skills, learn from each other, cover for each other’s ’non-working days and can support individuals’ work preferences. The research has shown that, women are less likely to step up with an initiative when the work task is completed individually compared to when it is completed as a part of a group. We also know that when the same problems are presented to groups or to individuals, groups make more sophisticated decisions and take into account more characteristics of the issue faced.

What is even more effective in workplace productivity is creating friendly competitions among teams for a (mostly) costless symbolic awards. Competition has always been shown to boost productivity and motivation and to add to a working environment slightly exciting sports flavour. Our own research also shows that by adding competition for a small prize to a work environment, leaders can significantly increase productive effort.

10/11/2017