Teamwork: When Employees Reorganize Their Own Work

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Many employees today work in multiple project teams simultaneously. What companies view as a flexible and efficient way to organize their work can quickly become a burden for employees. A study led by LMU reveals that many employees are responding by independently reorganizing their work behind the scenes. This is their way of trying to reduce their workload – but it often has consequences for their colleagues.

“Although individuals work in multiple teams simultaneously, each team thinks it’s the center of the universe – and expects immediate responses and full availability,” says Professor Helene Tenzer from LMU Munich School of Management.

The burden on employees has increased significantly in many organizations in recent years. “In many companies, the prevailing notion is still: if you just apply enough pressure, everything will get done,” says Tenzer. “At the same time, the level of competition between companies is intensifying, projects are becoming more complex, and staff numbers are being cut rather than expanded. As a result, the work often lands on the shoulders of just a few specialists.”

Pressure is mounting in many companies

Together with Professor Martin Högl, Director of the Institute for Leadership and Organization at LMU, Maria Tims (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Philip Yang (University of Paderborn), and Steffen Wütz (ESB Business School Reutlingen), Tenzer investigated how employees cope with this situation. The study was published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior.

The study focuses on a phenomenon known as multiteaming that is widespread in many organizations. Employees work simultaneously in multiple project or agile teams – small, self-organized work groups that collaborate in short development cycles. While this increases companies’ adaptability and allows them to deploy a small number of skilled personnel across various projects, it also creates highly fragmented workdays.

Working in ten or more teams simultaneously

For its study, the research team interviewed 81 employees at a European automotive corporation who were working in multiple agile teams simultaneously. Most of them worked in two to nine teams at the same time, and some even worked in ten or more.

This way of working often entails a high level of time pressure and frequent task switching. Employees are constantly jumping back and forth between topics, teams, and meetings – a process that takes up a lot of energy, especially when employees are dealing with complex tasks. “Specialists in particular need time to reacquaint themselves with a topic,” says Tenzer.

To cope with this, many employees are actively changing their work methods. In work research, this is referred to as “job crafting”: employees independently reshape their tasks or workflows so they are better able to cope with the demands of their jobs.

The researchers identified three typical strategies: employees eliminate tasks, reduce the effort required to perform certain activities, or deliberately bundle work into uninterrupted blocks of time.

These adjustments can noticeably reduce a person’s own workload. At the same time, new tensions will arise within the team. “When someone drops tasks, someone else often has to take them on,” says Tenzer. “Especially in agile teams, we’re extremely dependent on one another.”

Many employees also face a moral dilemma in this situation. They know that their decisions can place an additional burden on their colleagues. “Some interviewees said: I know this means more work for others – but I can’t keep going like this,” reports Tenzer. Some people are more self-centered. They reduce their tasks or set clear boundaries – even if this means their colleagues will suffer.

The results also reveal that most of the respondents are already working at their limit. In the interviews, almost all of them reported working overtime. “None of these people were lazy,” emphasizes Tenzer. “It’s about mental health and remaining able to work over the long term.” Especially at a time when there is a shortage of skilled workers, this is a key challenge for companies. There is not an unlimited supply of highly qualified experts.

What organizations can learn from this

From the researchers’ perspective, companies should take a closer look at how many projects they expect individual employees to handle simultaneously. Multiteaming can be useful – but only if the extent of it is realistic.

At the same time, it is important to create spaces where teams can openly discuss workloads and priorities. In the agile workplace, one example of how this happens is so-called sprint planning, when teams organize the next steps, or in retrospectives, where they reflect together on what went well and what could be improved. “We should consciously make room for conversations like these,” says Tenzer. “Then teams can work together to find solutions before burnout sets in.”

Tenzer, H., Hoegl, M., Tims, M., Yang, P., & Wütz, S. (2026). I Can’t Split Myself in Two (or Five): Job Crafting in Highly Demanding and Interdependent Work Environments. Journal of Organizational Behavior.