From daily exercise to regular water consumption, healthy practices can be overdone and result in diminishing returns when put to the extreme. But does the too much of a good thing axiom also apply in the working world? Indeed it does, according to a newly released study.
The somewhat counterintuitive finding derives from a team of researchers at the Columbia Business School in New York City, who determined that teams with an abundance of talented professionals can often underachieve in performance measurements.
Led by Adam Gallinsky, an economics professor at Columbia's Vikram S. Pandit Business School, researchers analyzed several different situations where top-notch performers do their work, both among animals and humans. For instance, egg production was observed among a flock of chickens, with an eye on the hens that laid the most. Professional basketball and baseball games were also deciphered, identifying players who excelled on the base paths, at the rim, or in the field.
Roles must be specified
Analysts discovered that when groups didn't have a chain of protocol, pandemonium reigned. In other words, if roles weren't clearly identified as to who the leaders and "followers" were, for lack of a better term, participants wound up getting in the other's way.
"If a team does not have a clear pecking order, status conflict and chaos emerges," Gallinsky explained. "As a result, the overall performance goes down because coordination goes down."
He added that it's very similar to the notion of there being too many cooks in the kitchen. In short, when are several "alpha dogs," each is vying to be the one that's in command.
Tiers of talent ideal for teamwork
This can serve as a lesson to employers, Gallinsky stressed. For instance, for organizations where teamwork is crucial to productivity, there's something to be said for hiring people with differing amounts of experience. While some roles may be best for those who are experts, others are better for people with entry-level work under their belt.
However, for firms where coordination is not always necessary – and people primarily work independently – hiring the "best of the best" is a safe bet.
Many employers indicate that the current employee market is experiencing a skills gap. In a recent poll conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of online job search engine CareerBuilder, nearly two-thirds of respondents said their business has suffered as a result. Specifically, 50 percent said they've had to leave important job posts unfilled because of an inability to find the right person for the job.
With many companies hiring again, an increasing number of full-time workers are seeing what's out there, which means employers have a larger pool of potential replacements to select from. Whether for better employee benefits, higher pay or a new challenge, nearly 20 percent of job seekers hope to be in a new position before the end of the year, according to a separate poll also conducted by CareerBuilder.
