COMPUTER GAMES USAGE FOR THE PURPOSE OF TEAM BUILDING

Grupna dinamika i njen utjecaj na organizaciju danas dobiva sve veći značaj u razvoju efektivnosti zaposlenika. Organizacije imaju koristi ako zaposlenici imaju dobre međuljudske odnose, a kontinuirani razvoj navedenih odnosa je ključ konkurentske prednosti poslovanja. Često primjenjivana metoda poboljšanja grupne dinamike je team building. Radi se o aktivnosti koja pokušava poboljšati efikasnost rada radne skupine, održati dobre odnose članova i time pridonosi širem organizacijskom sustavu (Coghlan, 1994.). Značajan pozitivni učinak team buildinga je stvaranje svijesti i pozitivnog stava pojedinaca u grupi za stvaranjem želje da rade s drugim članovima i da međusobno rade u sinergiji, tj. potiče razvoj grupne kohezije. Team building aktivnosti su raznovrsne, ali se kontinuirano trebaju razvijati s obzirom na promjene navika generacija zaposlenika. Danas se tako čak 79 % svjetske populacije u nekom obliku susreće i bavi računalnim igrama (Newzoo, 2022.), a čak je i 64 % generacije Baby Boomera priznalo kako su igrali računalne igre tijekom radnog vremena (Wordtips, 2022.). U ovom radu analizirala se primjena računalnih igara u svrhu team buildinga na uzorku poduzeća koja su sudjelovala na događanju „Good Game Zagreb 2022.“. Na ovom business to business događanju, grupe su imale priliku zajedno se boriti na virtualnim terenima računalnih igara i pritom razviti kvalitetne grupne odnose. Na uzorku 176 zaposlenika igrača i 120 zaposlenika navijača, koji su popunili prilagođeni GEQ anketni upitnik, ustanovljeno je da je postignut proces transformacije grupe zaposlenika u kohezivnu grupu. Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su da je primjena računalnih igara u svrhu team buildinga imala pozitivne učinke za razvoj grupe. Uz provođenje anketnog upitnika, provedeni su i dubinski polustrukturirani intervjui s voditeljima ljudskih potencijala poduzeća natjecatelja, gdje je uočen pozitivan učinak za razvoj grupe uslijed gaming predaktivnosti organiziranih od strane odjela. Svi ispitani potvrdili su da je team building imao pozitivan učinak na sve zaposlenike, posebice na međusobnu prihvaćenost i povezanost sudionika u natjecanju.Group dynamics and its impact on the organization are gaining more and more importance in obtaining employee effectivness. Organizations benefit if employees have good interpersonal relationships, and the continous development of there relationships is the key to a business's competitive advantage. A frequently used method of improving group dynamics is team building. It is an activity that tries to improve the efficiency of the work group, maintain good relations among the members and thus contributes to the wider organizational system (Coghlan, 1994). A significant positive efect of team building is the creation of awareness and a positive attitude of individuals in the group for creating a desire to work with other members and to work in synergy with each other, i.e. it encourages the development of group cohesion. Team building activities are diverse, but they should be continuously developed in the view of changing habits of generations of employees. Today, as much as 79 % of the world’s population is involved in computer games in some form (Newzoo, 2022), and even 64 % of the Baby Boomer generation admitted playing computer games during working hours (Wordtips, 2022). In this paper, the usage of computer games for the purpose of team building was analyzed on a sample of companies that participated in the event “Good Game Zagreb 2022.“. At this business to business event, teams had the opportunity to fight together on the virtual fields of computer games and at the same time develop quality team relationships. On a sample of 176 employee players and 120 employee fans, who answered the customized GEQ questionnaire, it was found that the process of transforming a group of employees into a cohesive team had been achieved. The results of the research showed that the usage of computer games for the purpose of team building achieved positive effects in the development of the team. In addition to conducting a survey questionnaire, in-depth semi-structured interviews were held with human resource managers of the competitor companies, where a positive effect in team development was noticed due to gaming pre-activites organized by the HR department. All respondents confirmed that team building had a positive effect on all employees, especially regarding the mutual acceptance and connection of all tournament participants