People are perfectly willing to take part in the nature of cutthroat tactics in order to further their personal success and climb up along the corporate ladder, especially where management has established a tone at the top that rewards this behavior. Employees must put themselves first, no matter the cost to their co-workers, even if it means sacrificing the success and profitability of the business for which they are employed. Management puts in place these incentives for individual achievement as a basis for improving overall company performance. What they may not realize is that these incentive structures detract from the success that teamwork and team synergy can bring.
Indeed, there are multiple causes and triggers for the lack of teamwork displayed in the workplace. Whether it is due to poorly constructed incentive programs, management’s tone at the top or just a lack of skill development opportunities for employees, a lack of teamwork is a predominant problem in the workplace. First, managers must be convinced of the benefit of teamwork in the workplace. Then, they must recognize the lack of teamwork as a problem. Finally, managers must be willing to devote the resources necessary to foster a team environment.
The lack of ability to work well in teams, however, does not stop in the workplace. It seems to be missing even from family life. Stunning statistics seem to show nearly a fifty percent divorce rate in the United States in recent years.[1] Without a doubt, our family is very much a team and unless families work and play as a team, families will continue to splinter. We have seen an absence of teamwork in the workplace but why are we seeing similar trends in our personal lives?
photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rammorrison/151368488/
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