Firefighters who eat together do their jobs better than those who don’t, says a team of researchers led by Kevin Kniffin of Cornell University. After visiting 13 firehouses in a midsize American city and surveying the 395 officers (captains and lieutenants) of the firefighting force, the researchers found a significant positive correlation between eating together and team performance. For example, cooperative behavior was about twice as high among team members who ate with one another than among those who didn’t. The cooperative behaviors underlying the firefighters’ meal practices—collecting money, planning, talking, cleaning, and eating—all enhance group performance on the job, the researchers argue.
Source: Team Building in the Cafeteria
