C W Headley* reports on a university study revealing that teams playing video games together also improved their productivity together.
Four information system professors from Brigham Young University (BYU) reported work teams to experience a 20% increase in productivity after playing video games together for just 45 minutes a day.
“To see that big of a jump – especially for the amount of time they played – was a little shocking,” said BYU associate professor Greg Anderson.
“Companies are spending thousands and thousands of dollars on team-building activities, and I’m thinking, go buy an Xbox.”
The study was based on 352 individuals. These subjects were indiscriminately organised into 80 teams.
The first part of the experiment had participants compete in a geocaching competition called, Findamine.
The competition presents players with text-based clues to find landmarks with the hopes of winning a cash prize.
After the first round, teams were randomly assigned to commit 45 minutes to either
- Video Games (Rock Band or Halo 4)
- Quiet homework time
- A goal training discussion.
After these conditions, teams were sent back to the geocaching competition.
The goal-training teams reported a higher increase in team cohesion than the video game team, but the video game team scored significantly higher in the second round of the game itself.
4The researchers concluded that the immediately noticeable effects were not dependent on how much experience the participants had with video games. In fact, players who were novices tended to be more readily able to establish communication norms, and build working relationships.
Video games bring teams together
The games chosen for the experiment were games agreed to require team coordination.
Video games are an optimal productivity booster because it exercises so many fundamental aspects of maximising focus.
It reinforces repetition, it inspires both trust and communication between employees, and it positively impacts part of the brain responsible for memory, information organisations, and fine motor skills.
The study acknowledged that using video games to inspire bonds works best with employees who don’t already know each other.
They went so far as to imply the contrary might even be likely to “reinforce biases” and “negative relations” hitherto developed.
Still, lead researcher Mark Keith, feels optimistic at the prospect of utilising alternative methods of boosting productivity: “Video gaming may truly be a viable — and perhaps even optimal — alternative for team building,” Keith said.
* CW Headley is a reporter for Ladders who can be contacted @CWHeadlee
This article first appeared at www.theladders.com
