Forming memories around shared experiences, whether enjoyable like having pizza or more tension-filled like an employee strike, plays a significant role in fostering connections among people. New research suggests this can also encourage individuals in different roles within the same organization to engage socially and enhance their professional relationships.
In a workplace filled with newcomers, someone proposes a pizza outing. One individual, quite famished, hastily devours a slice and ends up burning his mouth.
Have you ever found yourself in a situation like this? Initially awkward, it often turns into a humorous office tale — but it may carry deeper significance.
Shared experiences create memories that bond individuals, whether it’s a fun time over pizza or the stress of an employee strike. However, as highlighted by Binghamton University Assistant Professor Matthew Lyle in a new study, these memories can also inspire those in various roles within a company to socialize more and fortify their workplace connections.
The findings from this study might aid managers in recognizing the importance of promoting shared experiences for effective cooperation across different job functions at work. Essentially, fostering opportunities for employees to build shared memories with their peers is beneficial.
“A key insight from this research is that larger projects involving teams with varied occupations or experience levels require a shared experience that not only helps them collaborate more effectively but also makes them more comfortable in voicing their ideas,” said Lyle, a specialist in organizational strategy. “However, it’s a bit of a double-edged sword, since a strong unifying event can also disrupt established groups.”
The study, titled “‘We Can Win This Fight Together’: Memory and Cross-Occupational Coordination,” was published in the Journal of Management Studies.
How a strike in South Korea aided researchers
Lyle and his research team anchored their study in a 170-day strike that took place in 2012 at a South Korean public broadcaster, anonymized as “TelvCorp” for the analysis. Over its history, this broadcaster employed a wide range of roles and earned numerous prestigious awards, mainly attributed to its reporters.
The strike was initiated after reporters perceived actions from South Korea’s newly elected conservative administration in 2008 as a threat, believing their CEO had been replaced by someone more favorable to the government agenda. The new CEO, a former TelvCorp employee, faced accusations from staff for promoting executives to oversee news programs and suppress content deemed critical of the government. The reporters decided to strike.
According to Lyle’s findings, non-reporter staff at TelvCorp were initially reluctant to fully engage due to past memories of reporters being self-serving during earlier strikes. However, the CEO’s decision to dismiss union leaders triggered a significant collaboration across teams, united by a common narrative they referred to as a “call to arms.” This group became a “mnemonic community,” sharing lasting memories that persisted beyond the strike.
Unfortunately, the aftermath wasn’t entirely positive. The researchers noted a division between those who participated in the strike and those who did not.
“After the strike concluded, the dynamics became more complex, as normalcy was unlikely to return to that workplace,” Lyle explained. “A new group emerged, with some individuals expressing that they couldn’t consider those who took opposing sides in the strike as good colleagues anymore.”
Applying this research to enhance teamwork in offices
While Lyle and his colleagues based their conclusions on a specific organization, they believe their insights could provide valuable lessons applicable to various workplaces.
Lyle pointed out that engaging in a strong or unconventional experience is more likely to spark collaborative efforts. For instance, he illustrated a hypothetical company retreat, where recalling “the time Jenny fell off the rope swing” or “when Jim face-planted” could develop memorable experiences that promote teamwork.
Though Lyle acknowledged these types of memories might seem trivial, they form the cornerstone of shared experiences that can facilitate cooperation when tackling work-related challenges. Thus, the memory of hastily eating the hot pizza could have far-reaching effects.
“Being part of a team makes individuals more inclined to support one another,” Lyle remarked. “We understand we can create those connections artificially, but why not do so through shared experiences that forge lasting memories, encouraging collaboration?”
