I will be presumptious and add an example to Glenn Rowe's posting. When I
was a Ph.D. student at Berkeley, we had a "team" that used to play a lot
of pick-up basketball. We typically played against groups of players that
were collections of individuals or maybe a couple of friends who added
strangers to get enough individuals to play a game. We were the old guys,
typically playing against talented kids of 19-22 that were in better shape
and had superior physical skills. But we consistently dominated our
opponents because we were a team. We all understood that Ray Miles, who
went on to become Dean of the Business School, had lost a step, but still
had a great outside shot. And I knew exactly where Dave Bowen would be
dancing along the baseline where he never missed a jump shot. I had a
left-side drive with a bank shot that never missed, while Howard Rosenberg
had a pull-up jump shot that he sank like a machine and Bob O'Sullivan had
the craziest hook shot ever seen. We were a collection of one shot
wonders, but we were effective in head-to-head performance tests
with groups of individuals with superior talents because we were a team.
Since this list is organized to discuss management education and training,
I would like to pose a question that relates the team question to this
purpose: where in management training and education programs do
individuals learn to work in teams and to manage teams? We used to joke as
students that the most important course we took was Competitive Basketball
with Coach Al Kite, a man that understood teams, division of labor, and
making the most of the limited talents of a group of individuals. Where do
we provide these lessons in business schools and corporate training
programs?
============================================= Jack [
Brittain@UTDallas.edu]
On Mon, 17 Feb 1997, Glenn Rowe wrote:
> Dutch
>
> I will answer the last question first. Teams have a shared understanding of
> what an organization is about. They work together to achieve this. They
> know what they themselves have to do to achieve it but have enough of an
> understanding of what other team members are doing to help when help is
> needed and it is at that point more of a priority than what they are doing.
> Within a team it is also very difficult to assess who is responsible for
> doing what; whereas in a group you have individuals who from an outside of
> the group perspective it is very easy to determine who is doing what. Teams
> are composed of individuals who know their jobs and how to integrate what
> they do into the jobs of their teamates so that the organization benefits as
> a whole. Members on a team cooperate whereas memebrs of a group may
> cooperatre but more than likely may compete to the detriment of the
> organization.
>
> If these thoughts are correct, I may have actually answered all three
> questions. I look forward to others responses.
>
> Glenn
>
> At 08:44 AM 2/17/97 -0600, you wrote:
> >I am pondering on the prevailing attraction business has for the team
> >concept.
> >
> >#1. Why?
> >
> >#2. How is a team different from a group?
> >
> >#3. How do teams fit into the scheme of an organziation's bottom-line
> > concerns?
> >
> >______________________
> >Great Optimism,
> >
> >Dutch Driver
> >Dept. of Communication
> >McMurry University
> >Abilene, TX
> >
ddriver@cs1.mcm.edu
> >
>
> W. Glenn Rowe
> Faculty of Business Administration
> Memorial University of Newfoundland
> St. John's, NF, Canada, A1B 3X5
> 709 737 4363
> 709 737 7999 (Fax)
>
> ASAC 97 is being held in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada from May 31 to
> June 3, 1997. St. John's is the oldest city in North America and is only 8
> miles west of Cape Spear, the most easterly point of North America. Come
> join us at ASAC 97 and help us celebrate the 500th anniversary of the
> arrival of John Cabot to Newfoundland in 1497.
>