Teamwork Versus Individual Work
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Teamwork Versus Individual Work
You’ve thought about this topic – teamwork versus individual work – many times when deciding how to organize your employees’ work. Have you personally experienced both types of work? Which one do you prefer?
The choices you make in this regard impact how fast a task or activity is performed, the quality of work, the relations between employees, their engagement, and their motivation.
Each of these two types of work has some characteristics that differentiate them, as well as possible advantages and disadvantages. I say ”possible advantages and disadvantages” because these may be or not be present, depending on various factors, such as how efficient the team is, whether the team has dysfunctionalities, the personal qualities of team members, the employees’ competencies, and so on.
In this blog post we’ll discuss about:
- The unique characteristics that differentiate teamwork from individual work
- The types of tasks for which teamwork is more suitable, and the types of tasks for which individual work is more suitable
- The possible advantages and disadvantages of teamwork
- The possible advantages and disadvantages of individual work
- The situations where employees need to collaborate, but don’t work together in a team
TEAMWORK
Teamwork is the work done by a group of people who share a common goal.
For example, employees assigned to work on a project share the same goal. If the project’s goal is to develop a feature of a digital product to meet certain customer needs, all project members share the goal of developing that specific feature.
1. Characteristics of Teamwork
Team members need to interact with each other to accomplish the goal they all share.
They can interact directly, face-to-face, or through various online communication tools.
Even when some members work individually on certain parts of the project, everything they do is shared and discussed with the other members.
Implies that team members need to reach a consensus. They must agree on how they will act.
In a team formed to accomplish a specific goal, members make decisions together. This means they all need to participate in the decision-making process, proposing actions and analysing other members’ proposals or ideas. Consensus is achieved when every member agrees on the actions that will be taken to reach the team’s goal.
Sometimes, this is not easy, and disputes or disagreements can escalate into conflicts. Group discussions also need to be coordinated by someone so that every member has the chance to express their opinions and contribute. Some members may be more reserved and hold back from speaking, while others may try to dominate the discussions.
To ensure smooth communication, it helps if the team establish communication rules, such as how feedback should be given, how ideas should be presented, and how much time each person has to share their ideas.
Although it takes more time to make group decisions than individual ones, the advantage is that once employees agreed on what they will do, they are more engaged because they made those decisions. These were not imposed. Even when these decisions need to be approved by the team leader or someone outside the team, the team members are still the ones who created them.
Implies participation of every member
If a group is formed by three members and only two of them perform the work the team is supposed to do, we cannot say that this team is functioning properly. The causes for this situation can vary.
For example, two members might ally against the third member, the third member may feel discouraged because of harsh criticism received from another member, or the third member could take advantage of the other two members.
2. Situations When Teamwork Works Best
Usually, teamwork is more suitable for the activities that involve creativity and innovative solutions
In a team, different methods can be applied to generate ideas, such as brainstorming. By combining different ideas, the group can come up with solutions that an individual alone might not think of.
For example, in some marketing or product development projects, working in a team could be a good choice.
When a project can’t be completed by a single person because of its volume of work
When the amount of work required by a project within a certain timeframe is more than one person can accomplish, even if they have all the necessary knowledge and skills.
For example, it can be difficult for a member of the HR team to find and select candidates for six positions for the same job, within one month, even when there are enough candidates. The numbers of CVs review, calls to make, and e-mails to send could be too much for the limited time available.
When you need people with different expertise to accomplish a task or a project
For example, to create a website you may need a programmer, a marketing specialist and maybe a graphic designer at the same time. Each of them brings knowledge and skills that influence how the website looks and its conversion rate.
They have to communicate, collaborate, and coordinate with one another to combine their skills and complete the project.
3. Possible Advantages Of Teamwork
More Diverse Ideas
Sometimes, the ideas generated in a group are more diverse and better than those of individual members.
The work results can be better, but this is not always true. Sometimes the individual ideas of employees can be better because they are not blocked in team discussions by objections, critics, fear of being judged, or rejection.The degree to which team members feel safe and confident to communicate freely will have a big impact on team results.
A Stronger Feeling of Belonging
Another benefit is that teamwork can fulfil the social needs of employees and create a stronger feeling of belonging than when they perform individual tasks. They have the opportunity to interact more often and get to know each other better. They can build stronger relationships and even friendships. The company benefits from this because when employees are satisfied with their work relationships, they are more motivated, and as a result, their performance improves.
However, this last benefit will not be achieved if the team is not united or if members don’t get along. It’s normal for team members to disagree and experience conflicts at the beginning, when the team is first formed and members don’t know each other well. This stage is well explained in Bruce Tuckman’s five stages of team development. If the team overcomes this stage and reaches the norming phase, it will become high-performing.
Teamwork Can Contribute to Team Members' Development
An important benefit of teamwork is that team members have the opportunity to learn from each other. They must complete a task or a project together, and in the process of collaborating, they are exposed to the knowledge, skills, and competencies of other team members.
This is beneficial for employees because they get to develop themselves. It’s also beneficial for the company because it will have more competent members. Furthermore, when more than one employee is competent in a particular area, the company has back-ups – in case one is, for example, in vacation, it will not be an issue.
The Team Members Keep Themselves Accountable for Their Progress
Team members check in with each other to see where they are. This pressure from the team may make members more responsible for their work.
4. Possible Disadvantages of Teamwork
a). Disadvantages Related to Responsibility for Team's Results
Responsibility for achieving the common goal is shared between team members. A single member cannot take full credit for the team’s results.
This thing can be an issue for an employee who wants to advance. His or her efforts and contributions may not be fully recognized when working in a team. They may also not have the chance to apply their ideas if these are not accepted by the group. Furthermore, even if their ideas are applied, these may be considered the group’s ideas since they were communicated and discussed within the team.
Unfortunately, sometimes some team members take credit for ideas and actions even when their contributions are small or insignificant.
Members identify themselves less with the team’s successes. If the team is large, this tendency is more pronounced.
Those who have strong needs for achievement prefer situations in which they can take full responsibility for their work results, so working in a team will not help them satisfy these needs.
b). Groupthink
Groupthink tends to appear in highly cohesive groups and refers to the way members of the group think. They tend to reject ideas or opinions that are contrary to those of the majority, or refrain from expressing opinions that conflict with those already expressed or accepted by the group. They want to avoid conflicts and maintain the harmony within the group.
This term was first used and developed by the social psychologist Irving Janis in 1972. He highlighted several traits of groups that are affected by groupthink:
Group members assume that the group knows best.
They assume that the majority shares the same way of thinking. Because members refrain from expressing their own opinions when these differ from those of the group, they don’t have a clear picture of what the individual members truly think. As a result, the group’s consensus is false.
The group pressures members to conform, and any contrary idea or argument is rejected.
Team members spend too much time justifying or rationalizing their decisions and actions.
Facts or information that contradict the group’s way of thinking and acting are ignored. The group also tends to isolate itself from other groups or individuals.
Thus, they don’t properly evaluate the ideas that are communicated within the group, which can lead to poor decisions. They don’t put ideas through a thorough evaluation process and fail to consider alternative options.
c). Teamwork May Lead to More Conflicts in the Workplace
Team members may have personal or different interests that influence the quality of the decisions that are made.
Two members may have a difficult relationship or personal disputes, making it harder for the group to reach consensus. This situation can even lead to the group splitting into two fractions.
For example, in a hiring project, current employees in similar or higher positions may sometimes be involved in evaluating a candidate for a position. To assess a candidates’ knowledge and competencies for an accountant position, for example, an economist might be asked to pose specialized questions. If the economist fears that the new hire could threaten her own position in the company, she may oppose hiring him or her, even if the candidate is considered highly suitable by others involved in the hiring process.
d). Dysfunctional Roles Within a Group Affect Teamwork
For example, one dysfunctional role is that of a person who tries to dominate the group. This can influence the group’s decisions. Other team members may not be able to participate, which lowers both their acceptance of the decisions and their engagement.
INDIVIDUAL WORK
Individual work is the work done by a person who has individual goals.
For example, a sales person who must secure five new contracts per month, has individual goals. Similarly, a marketing professional who must increase the number of social media followers by 40% within a specific timeframe has individual goals.
1. Characteristics of Individual Work
One person does their work alone, without contributions from other colleagues.
The person organize their work independently or in collaboration with others, but without sharing the same goals.
The employee performing individual work is responsible for their results and can take full credit for them.
2. When Individual Work Is More Suitable
Some tasks can’t be performed in a team.
- In a sales team, it’s better for sales agents to have individual targets rather than a single common target.
- In an accounting department, where tasks are repeated every month, individual work is more effective. Department members don’t need to generate too new ideas frequently.
- It also doesn’t make sense for an IT hardware engineer, who handles computer systems issues, to work in a team. If there are two employees in this role, it is more efficient to assign them to resolve two different issues rather than both working on the same issue. This saves time and increase efficiency.
3. Possible Advantages of Individual Work
Less Time Consuming
Because group discussions are eliminated in this case, decisions can be made faster, without spending time in meetings trying to reach a consensus.
More Control Over Work and Results
The employee organizes their own work. Decisions can be made by the employee or by their supervisor, depending of how much autonomy they have in the job.
The Employee Can Take Credit for Work Results
Even if decisions are made by the supervisor or with the help of other colleagues, the employee is the person who performs the work, so he or she is more entitled to take credit for the results than when they work in a team.
4. Possible Disadvantages of Individual Work
a). Social Needs are Less Satisfied
When an employee who works individually has strong social needs, he or she may perform better in a team. For this type of person, a team is like water for a fish. They are more comfortable and satisfied when they can work with others.
b) Lack of Knowledge Sharing Between Employees
As mentioned earlier, teamwork is an easy way to develop employees’ skills and competencies because team members learn from each other, especially when they have different levels of skills and areas of expertise.
When Employees Need To Collaborate But Have Separate Goals
There can be interdependencies between employees’ tasks and they must collaborate, but they may not share the same goals.
For example, an accountant needs the invoices that are received by an employee who makes acquisitions, a customer support person may sometimes need help from a technical person to answer customers’ questions, or certain reports can be made only after certain data is provided by other employees.
Let’s do a simple exercise that will help you improve this kind of collaborations.
Identify all these dependencies and analyse whether you have clear rules or procedures for how the employees involved in these tasks need to act.
These dependences are sensible points that can produce frustrations, stress, and conflicts between employees, when are not managed well. The workflow is also disturbed, and the results are affected as well.
Sometimes the employee who depends on another employee to perform a certain task doesn’t have enough tools or authority to assert themselves to obtain what they need, how or when they need it. The person on whom the task depends on may be from a different department and may have the same, higher, or a lower status level.
This is why it’s so important to establish rules and procedures for these interactions. These rules and procedures are the tools that the dependent employee has to do their work as expected. They have ownership of the task and are responsible for it. At the same time, they need to have the authority to obtain the resources they need. Otherwise, you can’t truly consider them responsible for the results.
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