Why should we work together?
In our hyper-connected, digital and global age, teamwork is seen as the key to success. But is working together really the best way to get things done?
Open plan offices, hot-desking, group brainstorming sessions: collaboration seems to be king in the modern workplace. Recent studies have found that we are spending up to 80% of our working days either in meetings or dealing with requests from our colleagues. But is working together really the best way? Is the idea of collaboration something we鈥檙e fetishising at the cost of productivity and creativity, and have we lost sight of the benefits of working alone?
Nastaran Tavakoli-Far shares her own dislike of the 麻豆社鈥檚 open-plan office and asks, in some desperation: why should we work together?
Guests:
Art Markman, professor of psychology and marketing at the University of Texas at Austin, and author of Bring Your Brain to Work
Kerstin Sailer, reader in social and spatial networks, The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London
Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
John Maeda, global head of design at Automattic
Image: Workers in an open-plan office (Credit: Getty Images)
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Broadcasts
- Mon 8 Jul 2019 12:32GMT麻豆社 World Service except News Internet
- Mon 8 Jul 2019 17:06GMT麻豆社 World Service Australasia
- Mon 8 Jul 2019 21:06GMT麻豆社 World Service
- Tue 9 Jul 2019 01:32GMT麻豆社 World Service
- Mon 15 Jul 2019 08:06GMT麻豆社 World Service East and Southern Africa & East Asia only
Get the podcast
Subscribe or download individual episodes for free
Why do we look the way we do?
Tattoos, trainers, jeans, hair, ties ... why?
Podcast
-
The Why Factor
The extraordinary and hidden histories behind everyday objects and actions