There are some pros and cons for both. For example, small teams tend to be more cohesive, there is higher member satisfaction and faster and effective decision making. While there are more capabilities, resources, and more ideas and possible solutions in higher teams.
According to Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon “… if a team couldn’t be fed with two pizzas, it was too big” He is called the 2 Pizzas Rule. This is your secret for productive meetings. Fuente
The online course “Leading Teams” offered by The University of Michigan includes the following graph in their team size analysis. It shows that the optimal team size is between 5-10. Of course, it depends also on other variables as task structure and environment. Fuente
Study case:
In our case (my own company), the team appears to be too high, since there are actually 12 members. This number should be reduced at 5-10 members in order to impact team innovation performance and effectiveness.
We will divide the team and form 2 group of six. Each group will be leader for 1 person. Hence, there will be 1 leader and 5 team members. This action will reduce conflicts in meetings, and foster decision making consensus. Moreover, it is going to increase coordination between individuals and innovation. And also, there will have more effective individual contribution.
And now, what is your opinion? Would you prefer large o small teams? What do you think is more effective?
