Researchers found that identifying end goals help increase productivity and cooperation among team members.
Team work is difficult when the end goal is hazy. Cooperation among team members plays an important role in the success of team work. In a study that looked into ways to increase cooperation among team members, researchers from Aarhus University's trans disciplinary Interacting Minds Centre (IMC) found that identifying and knowing end goals can increase productivity among team members.
"Our study focused on how to improve levels of cooperation. What we found was that when people know exactly what they're supposed to be doing as members of a team, they are more willing to trust each other and cooperate more in the future," said Panos Mitkidis, a post-doc scholar at Aarhus University, Denmark in a press release.
Cooperation is important in every sphere of life, be it love or business. For example, preparing dinner with a partner becomes easier when both people know what they have to cook. Similarly, an experimental project is more successful when all people working on the project are aware of what they need to achieve.
According to Mitkidis, knowing what a person is working toward increases his/her perception of cooperation and thus, increases productivity. This can be achieved by shifting focus from the process of achieving a goal to the ultimate goal itself.
Researchers of this study state that their findings can be very helpful for businesses where team work, cooperation and productivity hold top priority.
"The study develops an insight into the benefits and consequences of rationalizing administrative processes in modern states and formal institutions. In business corporations some important questions are: how can we make sure that all employees have a clear goal for the work they do, and how can we build trust on a business level?" explains Mitkidis.
The study was published recently in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.