Conducting research is a challenging task that requires thorough planning and organization. Therefore, some researchers are completed in teams, lessening the amount of work distributed among the authors and writers. However, according to the statement by J. Richard Hackman, developing and writing research in a team is not the most effective way of writing it. As for a writer who engages in teamwork to write researches, such a statement is concerning, which creates a need for research on the effectiveness of approaches to academic writing. I hypothesize that J. Richard Hackman’s statement is not true, and teamwork can be considered an effective way of working on a complex research project.
Teamwork has been a subject of many kinds of research, which focus on business, organizational work, and technology. One of the foundations of an effective production process is the delegation of responsibilities. Adam Smith identified the effectiveness of this method (Mehta, 2018). He established that the production of an item could be done faster and on a larger scale when operations are distributed between different workers. However, the development of complex research cannot be evaluated simply by its scale and the time required for its completion. Therefore, to reach an objective answer to the question of whether teamwork is an effective way of conducting research should include aspects of the research’s quality.
First, complex research should have clear goals and a developed methodology. When a single scholar conducts research, the time and effort that is required from him or her are much more than when these aspects are brainstormed or discussed between the team of professionals. The aspect of control within the group of professionals allows academic integrity in the process. In addition, the experts in specific research areas can contribute to the effectiveness of research as many calculations, and data analysis may require applying sophisticated techniques or software that takes years to master.
In order to prove the hypothesis of this report, comparative research can be designed, where the same complex project’s research question is assigned to several teams of researchers and a number of single authors. The aspect such as the time needed for the completion, the number of sources utilized for the research, credibility of the study, complexity, and finding of the study will be compared. As a result, J. Richard Hackman’s statement will either be approved or disapproved.
Reference
Mehta, N. M. (2018). The productive-unproductive puzzle in Adam Smith: what have we missed?. Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice, 33(2), 163-182.