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Why some teams boost motivation while others totally sap it

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Why some teams boost motivation while others totally sap it

Working in a team can inspire striving – or encourage free-riding. What makes a difference is how the teamwork is designed.

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Does teamwork enhance or diminish individual performance? 

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Conventional wisdom suggests that teams can achieve more than individuals. Yet teamwork can be a soul-destroying experience — for example, when a classmate slacks on a group project. In German, the word “team” offers a tongue-in-cheek acronym that stands for Toll, ein anderer macht’s, (“Great, someone else does it”). But if you carefully design your team’s work, according to TU Dortmund University researchers Ann-Kathrin Torka, Jens Mazei, and Joachim Hüffmeier, the acronym can stand for “together, everyone achieves more.” Their treatise provides a helpful blueprint for boosting team performance.

Summary

Teamwork can either enhance or diminish an individual’s motivation, depending on how the work is designed.

Imagine a typical high school student. She gets assigned to a group project with three other students, one of whom happens to be the smartest kid in the class. The project is due in one week. She immediately disengages. Rather than working on the group assignment, she opts to save her time and energy, because she believes that her contributions would be redundant and dispensable. 

The same student then participates in a relay race at a swim meet. During her leg, she pushes herself to the limits of her endurance to ensure her team’s victory. Why does the student demonstrate such a wide discrepancy in effort between the two activities?

You might think the answer lies in the nature of the task — that is, perhaps the student excels in physical activities, or her culture celebrates athletics more than academics. However, data from a...

About the Authors

Ann-Kathrin Torka is researching a PhD in psychology at TU Dortmund University, where Jens Mazei is a postdoctoral researcher, and Joachim Hüffmeier is professor for social, work, and organizational psychology.

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