Data from the Israeli Professional Football Leagues was examined by researchers to evaluate the way team members’ efforts mutually influence one another. The research disclosed that individual effort is enhanced by the effort of peers, implying that the consideration of effort in deciding compensation and accentuating team dynamics could be valuable for workplaces.
The latest studies involving the Israeli Football League succeeded in calculating effort instead of merely evaluating performance.
Consider the possibility of gauging effort rather than only performance. What if we could scrutinize how the hard work of a single person elevates the entire team? Or discern how shared efforts impact individual commitment? Contrary to most research that considers effort and performance synonymous, researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev explored an exclusive dataset to directly assess effort, using extensive statistics from the Israeli Professional Football Leagues.
The football league keeps track of various statistics about the game, and Dr. Naomi Gershoni, Prof. Danny Cohen Zada, and former master’s student Itai Dayag applied this information for the 2017/2018 season to firsthand examine how the efforts of teammates interact.
Their discoveries were recently shared in the Management Science journal.
Among the elements monitored by the league are the distances run by players, the number of sprints, and player substitutions at five-minute intervals during each game. By observing changes in a player’s running distance in a specific five-minute game segment when playing with peers or teammates that usually exert more effort, the researchers demonstrated that individual effort is positively influenced by peer effort.
To corroborate their results, the trio of researchers also examined player substitutions. By analyzing the periods before and after a substitution, they determined how individual exhaustion impacts the team. They juxtaposed the departing player’s last five-minute segment with the first five-minute segment of the arriving player and uncovered a noticeable increase in team effort prompted by the new player’s vigor.
The researchers posit that their findings could apply to various other professional team settings like R&D departments, legal teams in court, political advocacy groups, and marketing branches, as these entities, akin to a football team, operate in a competitive setting that demands high levels of cooperative, expert effort. Additionally, in all these scenarios, performance is infrequently observed (like innovations or winning a legal battle) and challenging to gauge on an individual basis.
Cohen Zada, Dayag, and Gershoni discovered that collective efforts shape individual efforts, and vice versa.
The study’s strong evidence of peer effects led them to suggest that managers should structure employee compensation based not only on direct output but also on their effort. This could be particularly effective where group performance heavily relies on effort and individual performance is seldom observed, hard to quantify, or irrelevant for substantial portions of the team.
Lastly, the researchers found that positive peer effects in effort might be boosted by social bonds and responsibilities among team members. This illustrates why promoting social interaction among colleagues and investing in team-building activities might be advantageous for organizations.
Reference: “Effort Peer Effects in Team Production: Evidence from Professional Football” by Danny Cohen-Zada, Itay Dayag, and Naomi Gershoni, 7 June 2023, Management Science.
DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2023.4811
Both Dr. Gershoni and Prof. Cohen-Zada are associated with the Department of Economics in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about fokus keyword: Team Dynamics
What data did the researchers analyze for the study on team dynamics?
The researchers analyzed data from the Israeli Professional Football Leagues, including players’ running distance, number of sprints, and player substitutions during the 2017/2018 season to directly measure how teammates’ efforts affect each other.
Who conducted the research on quantifying effort in team dynamics?
The research was conducted by Dr. Naomi Gershoni, Prof. Danny Cohen Zada, and former master’s student Itai Dayag from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
How does peer effort impact individual effort according to the study?
According to the study, peer effort positively affects individual effort, meaning that teammates that typically run more or exert more effort have a positive influence on each other’s effort levels.
What are the potential implications of the study in professional work environments?
The findings could be generalized to various work teams such as R&D units, court litigation teams, political lobbying groups, and marketing divisions. Managers might determine workers’ compensation based on effort and direct contribution, particularly in environments where effort is strongly related to group performance.
Where were the findings of the study published?
The findings were published in the journal Management Science on 7 June 2023.
How might organizations apply the findings to enhance team spirit?
The results indicate that social connections and obligations among team members contribute to positive peer effects in effort. Organizations might encourage social interaction among coworkers and invest in activities that help forge team spirit.
More about fokus keyword: Team Dynamics
- Management Science
- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev – Department of Economics
- Israeli Professional Football Leagues
5 comments
it’s about time someone looked into effort not just performance! Theres so much more to team work than just the end results. Kudos to the researchers.
Interesting stuff but how reliable can this really be. Football and R&D units seem so different to me, applying it to my marketing team might not be so straigtforward.
what’s with the focus on Israeli Football Leagues only? Might’ve been beter to have more diverse data but I guess its a start. Cool findings overall though.
This is great research but i dont get why they use football data for things like work compensation? Seems a bit off but maybe I’m missing something
Found this really inspiring, can we get more research into areas that actualy matter like team dynamics rather than dry statistics? This has real world applications.