When Teamwork Is Too Much

The widespread push to make jobs less “siloed” and more collaborative may be making things harder for workers carrying large loads.

More teamwork means employees tend to depend more on others to complete their work.

When those interactions with others go smoothly, job satisfaction improves, says Brian Kropp, managing director at advisory group the Corporate Executive Board Co. What’s more, Corporate Executive Board research finds that organizations can reap a 2 percent increase in revenue when they help employees work better together.

But collaboration can go awry when people have too many partners to work with or the teammates are frustrating.

“When it’s bad, it’s really disengaging,” Kropp says. “And it’s more often bad than not.”

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Ed Frauenheim is Workforce Management’s senior editor. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.