One area in which industrial-organizational psychology concerns itself is the performance of people in team settings. The objective is to find optimal conditions in order to improve performance and teamwork qualities such as satisfaction and experiences. Previous research is conflicted on whether the presence of a leader in a small team can improve efficiency and teamwork quality among the group. We conducted an experiment in an attempt to discover what type of team structure would yield favorable conditions for promoting efficiency and the quality thereof among the members of the team. Subjects played the cooperative board game Pandemic in one of two conditions: hierarchical, in which a designated leader was present, and collaborative, in which no leader was present and subjects were encouraged to cooperate and participate equally. Although data collection is ongoing so far the results support our first hypothesis—that leader presence yields greater efficiency—but fail to support our second—that leader presence increases teamwork quality and degree of accord with statements on leadership. Efficiency was measured by game pieces while teamwork quality and accord were measured via a questionnaire. Our results may be useful for managers looking to improve workplace performance and the quality thereof.

The Effects of Team Structures