Why are teams used in the workplace? Is teamwork beneficial in the workplace.

-- Jamilla Fraser (jsf20@msn.com), September 25, 2002

Answers

work teams are used in the workplace to enhance the performance and to get a better output. a work team basically is a group whose individual efforts result in a performance that is greater than the sum of those individual inputs. 1+1=2 but in synergy it may be 3 or 4.so it is very beneficial to have a work team in the organization or any workplace.

-- Imran Khan (legendary_sage@hotmail.com), October 09, 2002.

Jamilla - don't be fooled by the rhetoric - a lot of companies use teams as a means of controlling the employees behavior. That is to say, if you are part of a 'team' then you are coerced into a feeling that if you are sick you should come to work so you 'don't let the team down', or so fellow 'team members' become psuedo-supervisors placing peer pressure on individuals to work harder.

Nonetheless, it appears teams that are coercive in nature or teams that involve the employee in self-managing both increase levels of labour productivity - hence, companies do whichever suits their needs more (or is easier).

-- Keith Townsend (ktownsend@griffith.edu.au), January 17, 2003.