Working in multiple teams at the same time only improves performance in the long-term

In the modern workplace, employees are often involved in multiple teams. Researchers at the University of Groningen (UG) analysed whether so-called ‘multi-team membership’ (MTM) is a useful and efficient working method. They concluded that at first, an increase in the number of teams that an employee is involved in can lead to a decrease in the quality of the employee’s performance. Nevertheless, it is still worth increasing the number of team memberships of employees, as this results in significantly improved performance in the long term.

These are the conclusions of Joost van de Brake, Frank Walter, Floor Rink, Peter Essens and Gerben van der Vegt. Together, they analysed the data of 1,875 employees at a large knowledge-intensive organization over five consecutive years. The researchers presented their findings in the Journal of Organizational Behavior. Recently, the editorial board of the academic journal singled out the article by Van de Brake and his colleagues as one of the three best publications in 2018.

More information

• Contact: Joost van de Brake
• Van de Brake, H. J., Walter, F., Rink, F. A., Essens, P. J., & van der Vegt, G. S. (2018). The dynamic relationship between multiple team membership and individual job performance in knowledge‐intensive work. Journal of organizational behavior , 39(9), 1219-1231.
• Read more about the research by Van de Brake via the blog: ‘Diverse, unstable, and complex’: a Q&A on teams in the modern workplace

________________________________________________
> More news from the Faculty of Economics and Business
> FEB experts in the media