The Cost & Benefits of Teamwork
Teamwork is a concept that many organizations take great pains to implement. Teamwork is generally considered beneficial and essential for a company to maximize its productivity. While teamwork can offer a number of important benefits, it can also be costly to an organization if it not carried out properly.
Boosting Morale
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One key benefit of teamwork is that it can boost morale, as employees can feel they are working together to achieve a goal that benefits all members of the team, as well as the organization. This spirit of camaraderie can motivate employees to work harder so they don't disappoint other team members by failing to meet expectations. Employees also can develop stronger working relationships with other team members, which can be of benefit to the organization for future projects.
Multiple Ideas
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Another teamwork benefit is that each member of a team brings his own knowledge, experience and perspective to the project. This can lead to several different approaches or solutions that a person working alone may not have been able to devise. By using techniques such as brainstorming, each team member has the opportunity to interject his own ideas, which can be discussed by the team as a whole until a consensus is reached.
Personality Clashes
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One potential cost of teamwork is that personality clashes can alienate team members and lead to an unproductive effort. One member of the team may have a strong personality and attempt to dominate the project. Team members who have an initial idea rejected by the rest of the team may come to resent the other members and become disengaged from the project. If the personality conflicts remain unresolved, it is possible they could have a lingering negative effect on employee morale.
Lack of Clear Purpose
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A team can be assembled for the wrong reasons, such as a manager believing that teams are necessary to be politically correct or to comply with corporate mandates. As a result, not enough thought may be given when choosing the team members, or the team may not have a clear understanding of what it is supposed to accomplish. The cost to the organization is a waste of productive time or team members who simply go through the motions.
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Writer Bio
Chris Joseph writes for websites and online publications, covering business and technology. He holds a Bachelor of Science in marketing from York College of Pennsylvania.