'Is a Team Necessary?' The Meaning Behind This Question Raised by Office Reopening [Jjinbit]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] 'Do we still need teams?'

With the recent rise of remote work and hybrid work arrangements, most companies are facing a common challenge: collaboration among employees. Unlike the days when everyone worked together in the office, meeting face-to-face and exchanging ideas throughout the day, working alone at home or participating in remote meetings has made collaboration more difficult. Changes in work styles inevitably lead to changes in organizational structures, prompting questions about the very existence of 'teams.'

Companies are now wondering whether they can maintain the current team structure and still find ways to collaborate effectively in a hybrid work environment, whether cooperation between teams is functioning well, or if they need to seek new organizational forms instead of traditional teams. As the world is just emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic and adapting to new work styles, no clear answers have yet been found anywhere.

On the 7th, Jinbit introduces recent concerns raised by experts studying organizational behavior. By examining and analyzing the problems arising from the new hybrid work style from an expert perspective, solutions and improvements can be found. Let’s take a look at what experts are observing in the current situation.

What makes a good team, and do we need teams?

Constance Noonan Hadley, Professor at Boston University Questrom School of Business, and Mark Mortensen, Professor at INSEAD in France, published an article titled 'Do We Still Need Teams?' in the Harvard Business Review (HBR) on the 26th of last month (local time). They argued that the current team structure, which groups white-collar workers, is a "concentrated organizational paradigm developed in response to technological advances and globalization in the early 1980s," and that operating teams inevitably incurs costs.

The two professors pointed out that with the advent of hybrid work, the cost of running teams has increased. Teams go through processes such as sharing information and tasks, giving instructions, setting healthy standards, and resolving conflicts. They also need to motivate members and foster harmony among diverse team members. Global companies face additional challenges such as managing time zone differences and cultural and language barriers. The process of managing these factors becomes a kind of cost to maintain the team.

The professors analyzed that as hybrid work has expanded widely, the factors to consider for collaboration have become more complex. In addition to existing challenges, team members now work from different locations and at different times, which must be taken into account. Ultimately, coordination becomes more complicated, increasing the time, effort, and energy costs involved. They said, "The level of change brought about by hybrid teamwork is unprecedented in organizational life and pushes many managers to their limits."

The difficulty of obtaining creative ideas through current team structures and the decreased connectivity within teams, which leads employees to feel disappointment or loneliness, prompt a reconsideration of the team system. The professors proposed alternatives such as dismantling or reducing existing teams and moving toward project-based groups with somewhat less cohesion than teams. They advised, "We are not against teams; teams are worth investing in," but also cautioned, "Teams often fail to perform their roles adequately. It is time to seriously consider new ways of working."

"Hybrid work is not suitable for team-to-team collaboration"

Now, let’s look at an expert’s concern that hybrid work has made collaboration between teams more difficult.

According to the U.S. business magazine Inc., in February, Wharton School’s Singla Emily Hu, Stanford University’s Melissa Valentine and Baikal Bernstein, and Rebecca Hinz, head of research at cloud-based collaboration tool Asana, published a paper titled "Facilitating collaboration within teams can harm collaboration between teams." They analyzed that "organizations are designed to maximize the success of individual teams, and the norms, routines, and goals set within individual teams create boundaries with other teams," and "these boundaries become more rigid under hybrid work."

The paper cited a case of an IT organization with 80 employees. Members of this IT organization, who were open to remote work, adapted easily to remote work after the COVID-19 outbreak. Although there were some conflicts during processes like video meetings, adjustments were eventually made. Each member performed their assigned tasks while maintaining loose yet cohesive relationships with teammates and developed a sense of belonging through shared software systems.

However, these IT organizations experienced difficulties collaborating with other teams. A manager recalled in an interview that before COVID-19, natural interactions in the office helped build networks, and even without knowing names or skills, people became familiar with each other’s faces, which fostered trust. But after COVID-19, face-to-face contact drastically decreased, making communication difficult. The foundation for conversations disappeared, and attempts at remote collaboration often failed, leading to a tendency to avoid collaboration whenever possible.

The experts suggested that to break down boundaries between teams and overcome the silo effect?departmental selfishness?while maintaining hybrid work, organizations need to create a role called a "boundary spanner." This coordinator understands the perspectives and technologies of both organizations, facilitates information sharing, and supports preferred communication methods to enable collaboration. They emphasized, "Interdepartmental collaboration is essential for organizational success and even more important in hybrid work environments," and warned, "Without designing organizations and technologies to support successful inter-team collaboration, organizations will struggle to achieve cooperative success."

Editor's Note[Jinbit] is short for 'Jeong Hyunjin’s Business Trend' and 'Real Business Trend,' a segment showcasing trends in corporate management such as organizational culture and HR systems. Based on analyses from foreign media and major overseas institutions that have been overlooked, we aim to deliver fresh and differentiated information and perspectives.