Smaller teams–better teamwork: How to keep project teams small

Abstract Scholars and practitioners have long suggested that smaller teams perform better teamwork, yet it is surprising to find that many organizations are using teams of 10 and more members. This paper explains how large team size affects teamwork. Moreover, it suggests four ways to keep teams small: (1) Create a multiteam project; (2) create a core team and an extended team; (3) outsource tasks and define team-external contributions; and (4) keep members on the team only for specific project phases.

[1]  M. Hoegl,et al.  Teamwork Quality and the Success of Innovative Projects , 2001 .

[2]  Robert C. Ziller,et al.  Group Size: A Determinant of the Quality and Stability of Group Decisions , 1957 .

[3]  Norbert L. Kerr,et al.  Effects of group size, problem difficulty, and sex on group performance and member reactions. , 1978 .

[4]  T. G. Cummings.  Self-Regulating Work Groups: A Socio-Technical Synthesis , 1978 .

[5]  Rajesh Sethi,et al.  Structural and contextual correlates of charged behavior in product development teams , 2001 .

[6]  M. Hoegl,et al.  When teamwork really matters: task innovativeness as a moderator of the teamwork–performance relationship in software development projects , 2003 .

[7]  K. Williams,et al.  Many Hands Make Light the Work: The Causes and Consequences of Social Loafing , 1979 .

[8]  R. Golembiewski.  Handbook of Organizational Behavior , 2001 .

[9]  I. Steiner.  Models for inferring relationships between group size and potential group productivity. , 1966, Behavioral science.

[10]  Eric M. Olson,et al.  Patterns of cooperation during new product development among marketing, operations and R&D: Implications for project performance , 2001 .

[11]  J. Hackman,et al.  The design of work teams , 1987 .

[12]  Susan Albers Mohrman,et al.  Designing Team-Based Organizations: New Forms for Knowledge Work , 1995 .

[13]  Hans-Georg Gemünden,et al.  Interteam Coordination, Project Commitment, and Teamwork in Multiteam R&D Projects: A Longitudinal Study , 2004, Organ. Sci..

[14]  S. Harkins,et al.  Effects of task difficulty and task uniqueness on social loafing. , 1982 .

[15]  Robert F. Easley,et al.  Relating Collaborative Technology Use to Teamwork Quality and Performance: An Empirical Analysis , 2003, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[16]  Deborah G. . Ancona,et al.  Bridging the Boundary: External Activity and Performance in Organizational Teams. , 1992 .

[17]  Todd R. Zenger,et al.  Organizational Demography: The Differential Effects of Age and Tenure Distributions on Technical Communication , 1989 .

[18]  David A. Kravitz,et al.  Ringelmann rediscovered: the original article , 1986 .