In teamwork, one bad apple really does make a difference

 WHEN it comes to the workplace, a team is only as efficient as its laziest member.

This is the conclusion a PhD student, Benjamin Walker, came to after seconding 158 undergraduates, sorting them into teams and assigning them a task.

Presenting his findings at last week's ninth Industrial and Organisational Psychology Conference in Brisbane, Mr Walker, from the University of NSW's Australian school of business, said it put proof to the one bad apple theory. The findings were surprising, however, because it was previously assumed that in a workplace scenario, a team worked to the capacity of its average member.

Advertisement: Story continues below

Each student was psychologically tested for their level of conscientiousness before being placed in one of 33 teams. Each team had a member who was what the researchers called motivation-challenged - and what the rest of the population might call bone lazy. The students in each team were told they would all receive the same mark, depending on how well they completed the problem-based case study they were assigned.

The study found that a single lazy person dragged the team down, reducing its satisfaction and performance overall.

The participants were also evaluated for impulsiveness, to see whether this trait affected performance, but it found the overall group mentality over-rode the reckless element.

But the team could not compensate for its laziest link. "These findings show the person who contributes the least has a huge impact,'' Mr Walker said. ''Even if on average the rest of the team is pulling their weight, they won't be able to compensate for that member and they won't be happy about it."

Mr Walker feels vindicated with his research, which was inspired by his own undergraduate years. Working in a team with one student who consistently skipped classes and spent his nights partying, the reprobate nevertheless received a high distinction, thanks to the effort of the others. He then did everything in his powers to get placed within the same group for the next assignment.

While the research pinpointed the fact that it was the laziest contributor which led to the most feelings of resentment within the team and its ultimate failure or success, Mr Walker conceded he did not separately collate reactions of the perceived offenders. Presumably they were satisfied with the exercise.