Individual Achievement versus Team Performance: An Empirical Study with Business Games

Abstract

Undergraduate students (160) were ranked according to their performance in three objective tests (two multiple-choice quizzes and one objective exam) and then grouped in teams of 5 to 6. During seven weeks the teams managed companies in a medium complexity business game (MMG). One would expect that better performance in the objective tests (individual knowledge acquisition) would produce better performance in the business game (knowledge deployment in teamwork). The results however did not indicate any consistent and significant correlation between level of individual knowledge and company performance. This shows that theoretical knowledge is not sufficient to explain teamwork successful performance.