A comparison of individual and team research performance: A study of patents in III

Individual and team efforts are the two widely accepted forms of conducting R&D activities in organizations. Based on an analysis of 10 years of patent records from the Institute for Information Industry (III, a prestigious national research institute in Taiwan), the authors found that individual and team efforts are both productive approaches to organizing the research. However, in what circumstances will a researcher or a research team outperform its counterpart? This study purports to answer this question. The authors conducted 9 face to face interviews with patent owners; among them, three were both individual and team patent owners. The analysis revealed that individual researchers are more efficient than research teams in applying patents; however, research teams are superior to individual researchers in terms of passing rate and quality of patents granted. The coverage of a patent is the most important determinant of the organizing approach, while the characteristic of the project management system of III is the second important determinant. Team size, team composition, and voluntary members are also key determinants of research team effectiveness. The most effective teams are consisted of 2-4 members, including at least one experienced member. And there are many patent owners who prefer team approach only. No matter conducted by an individual or a team, the initial idea of a R&D project was generally derived from routine meetings or through casual colleague exchanges and proposed by one or two individuals. Being a possible patent, the initial idea has to be worked out through several phases and to obtain outside help.