Dissolving the Conceptual Barriers to Teamwork

Teamwork forms the basis for innumerable approaches to workplace reorganization and its popularity appears to continue unabated. This is despite the predictions of institutional economics and social psychology that teamwork is an intrinsically inefficient form of organization. This paper examines the objections to teamwork raised by these two disciplines, focusing on the problems of “free riding” or “social loafing” respectively, both of which stem from the exercise of self-interested utility maximizing behavior in group situations. The paper shows that changes in workplace technology and organization mean that free riding or social loafing are now less likely to occur under conditions of teamwork. In the light of these observations, the implications for further research into teamwork are assessed.