It's a lovely ideal-democracy in the workplace. In the 1980s business gurus told businesses that they needed to embrace teamwork. The authoritarian structure was no longer effective, but with teamwork businesses would be more successful.

Today, these same gurus are changing their minds. While teams were once actively promoted, individual leaders are now being promoted as the key to success. One of the several companies spotlighted in this video is ESG Canada. Five equal partners produce a sound monitoring system used in underground mines. While the product is a big success, teamwork takes so much time and effort that the partners are considering a change.

The concept of teamwork was first embraced by the auto industry. Automakers were losing market share to the Japanese imports. Many felt that the key to Japanese automakers' success was teamwork. Unlike American workers, Japanese workers did not work in traditional assembly lines. They worked in teams and were given a voice and encouraged to make productivity suggestions.

This concept quickly spread into the auto sector, into other manufacturing sectors, and then into other industries. While many firms have tried to embrace teamwork, it has not led to the success that many expected. Today, while teamwork can provide many benefits, it is still not completely understood what conditions need to be in place for teams to be successful and under what conditions teams can derail.

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The Trouble with Teams

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1			What are some of the benefits of teamwork?What are some of the challenges of teamwork?
2			Is there proof that teams improve a company’sperformance in the long run?
3			Why have automakers not used teams to theextent expected?
4			What impact does our society have on thepotential success of teams?