A different party formation can greatly affect the combat.
I have a mook fighter,two monks,a valkyrie,a bard,a gadgeteer,a ninja and a bishop in my team.
My party formation:
front:empty
right:monk,ninja(short)
mid:mook fighter,valkyrie(extended)
left:monk(short)
back:gadgeteer,bard,bishop(long)

enemies next to the front block can be reached by
all the party members.Right/left sides are also well-guarded.Maybe some objects(door,rock,wall...) can block the enemies's way to the back.I found this formation very effective.
So what about your formation?

I do something very similar but my party goes with alot of extended weapons:

front: empty

l flank: dwarf fighter w/polearm
rfs-81 w/staff

r flank: liz fighter w/polearm
vi w/polearm

middle: mook ranger w/giant sword
human ninja w/dual chucks
felpurr bard w/sword + shield

back: elf bishop w/staff

Pretty much guaranteed that anything near the middle rank characters is reachable via melee weapons by all 8 characters. It's a lazy man's formation, very little moving around in combat to get within melee range - also great for preserving initiative which you give uo to walk or run. And they are all skilled in a ranged weapon to some degree so no one ever goes idle.