Teams have become a mainstay for the organization of work. Economic models of teams focus on productivity declines due to free-riding and on mechanisms to avoid it. Unfortunately, few empirical studies have systematically examined the impact of teams on output. Furthermore, the literature does...

This paper identifies and evaluates rationales for team participation and for the effects of team composition on productivity using novel data from a garment plant that shifted from individual piece rate to group piece rate production over three years. The adoption of teams at the plant improved...

This paper examines how compensation systems impact peer effects and competition in collocated sales teams. We use department store sales data to show that compensation systems influence worker incentives to help and compete with peers within and across firms, which in turn changes how coworker...

The popular press often touts workforce demographic (e.g., ethnicity and age) diversity as profit enhancing. Diversity may reduce the firm's communication costs with particular segments of customers or yield greater team problem solving abilities. On the other hand, diversity also may raise...

The popular press often touts workforce demographic diversity as profit enhancing because it may reduce the firm's communication costs with particular segments of customers or yield greater team problem-solving abilities. On the other hand, diversity also may raise communication costs within...