Getting Work Done: In Groups and Alone

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advantages and disadvantages of teamwork

Some people prefer to work individually and others in teams. Both have advantages and disadvantages. The key is finding the rights tasks for each one. Take a look below for pros and cons of these work styles.



Advantages and Disadvantages of Teamwork

  • Working in teams increases collaboration and allows brainstorming. As a result, more ideas are developed and productivity improves.
  • Two or more people are always better than one for solving problems, finishing off difficult tasks and increasing creativity.
  • Everyone is unique and has different skills, backgrounds and experiences. Therefore, others in a team can help you see things from a different angle.
  • Teamwork encourages communication between team members. For this reason, relations between employees tend to be better and over time employees learn to communicate better.
  • In some teams, there may be members who sit back and let others do all the work. In these types of teams conflicts may occur and this can affect the mood of others in the team.
  • Working in a team requires many meetings and these meetings, if not managed well, can go off topic and decrease the efficiency of the team.
  • Making decisions can take longer for the sake of finding a consensus. Hence, delays occur.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Individual Work

  • You can work in your own pace not depending on someone else. You can decide what to do when.
  • You can concentrate easier and work faster. If you are working on a familiar task, you can get it done quicker since there are no outside interactions and extra meetings.
  • You get the whole credit for the work you do since you are working alone! There won’t be any situations where one does less but gets the same credit with others.
  • You get to make your own decisions.
  • You are the sole person responsible for the job. If you fail, it is your fault. There aren’t any others to blame it for.
  • You have to motivate yourself. There are no others to motivate you for getting things done.
  • You can get bored working all by yourself. There isn’t anyone to talk to, share ideas with or get help from.
  • When you are working alone, if you get sick or need to take days off, the work will be delayed because there won’t be anyone to continue it for you.

Team Photo via Shutterstock

5 Comments ▼

Personal Branding Blog The Personal Branding Blog is part of the Small Business Trends Publisher Channel, offering branding and career advice from Dan Schawbel and his team of experts. The blog helps professionals build a powerful brand to remain competitive in the job market.

5 Reactions
  1. I think each has its pros and cons and some people specialize more on working with teams while others specialize on individual work. To each his own. It depends more if you’re an introvert or an extrovert. Some people are more productive in teams while others are more productive working alone.

    • I agree. I think that it depends on the person. People work differently. But I still think that everyone should try to work in both situations even if it is not their forte.

    • I agree with Mobopreneur. Today it’s a crucial skill to be able to work independently and in groups, even if you like one over the other. As a committed introvert, I’ve found some great inspiration in group work – even if I don’t join the team for drinks after work!

  2. For business owners, I think the key to hiring success is finding individuals that can both work well independently and with a team. Regardless of the business size, collaboration is important. So even if the position is for someone who is adept at working alone, it is important to know that that person can also thrive when he or she is required to do some group work.

  3. I had some problems at school personally and, of course, we have to be prepared for problems with myself. It was a very hard thing that I went to college to specialize in physics. Practical projects and the theory we were asked for were in particular challenging. Fortunately, I’ve still been fortunate enough to find very cool wiseessay who helped me to create this type of work very quickly and have had an enormous review for them separately. Moreover, the project’s efficiency was also not challenged.







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