A Survey Study of Design Teamwork in the Context of Professional Photography Studios

Abstract Little has been written about teamwork within design organizations. This chapter contributes to knowledge by examining and evaluating the role of teamwork within professional photography studios. Several photography studios were contacted electronically and asked to take part in the research. A questionnaire survey was used to collect the data and answer each research question. The author used both qualitative and quantitative analysis methodologies to interpret the gathered data. The main research findings suggested that in some cases, no clearly defined teamwork model has been adopted. However, the attitudes and opinions of the designers (i.e., photographers, art directors, and stylists) are very promising for improving such a model. It was also clear that designers within professional photography studios may face the same issues of teamwork as within any other business organization, i.e., differences in working practices are evident and contribute to some degree to the performance of each studio.