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An Experimental Study of Team Size and Performance on a Complex Task.

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Area of Science:

  • Economics
  • Psychology
  • Management Science
  • Collective Intelligence

Background:

  • The relationship between team size and productivity is complex, especially for intricate tasks.
  • Existing research often uses small groups or simplified tasks, limiting real-world applicability.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of team size on productivity for a realistic complex task.
  • To reconcile conflicting theoretical and empirical findings on team size and performance.

Main Methods:

  • Conducted an online experiment with 47 teams (n=1 to 32) performing a crisis mapping task.
  • Analyzed team collaboration, individual effort allocation, and overall productivity.
  • Compared experimental results to a field deployment of crisis mappers.

Main Results:

  • Individuals in teams exerted lower effort than independent workers, focusing on less demanding sub-tasks.
  • Collaboration increased with team size, partially offsetting effort reduction.
  • Largest teams (n=32) outperformed equivalent numbers of independent workers, indicating collaboration benefits.

Conclusions:

  • For complex tasks, large teams can achieve superior outcomes due to enhanced collaboration.
  • Online experiments can effectively simulate real-world scenarios to study collective intelligence.
  • Findings have implications for optimizing team structures in practical problem-solving.