Groups/Teams: Are They Really As Successful As We Are Told?

While reading pages 32-40 of Business Communication Today, 12th edition, Bovée and Thill, I noticed a lot of discussion in support of groups/teams. Yes, it is true that the ideas of Team Based Management are infiltrating the American business realm at increasing rates. After all, it was Theory Z, created by Japanese management theorist and UCLA MBA grad William Ouchi. It is a Japanese theory of Management that assumes some invalidity of the Western, English-Speaking world's Theory X and Y. It is a theory based upon group-trust; it is a theory that assumes that Team-building and some degree of employee (as a group) involvement can improve workplace productivity and employee fulfillment. I pose two questions:
-Would you prefer to work in a Team-Based Workplace?
-Do you agree with Theory Z?
-Is it easier to identify with group success or your own success? Why?
While I love the concept of Team Based approaches, and there is evidence to support its success in several large American companies, I am skeptical to say that this approach can really work in the US.

We are America. Land of the free. The pinnacle of individualism. We have been told for generations: "You can be someone" and "You have potential" not "We". While we are a patriotic country, we are not a nationalist country; we have a Constitution focused on Individual rights and we have Capitalism, perhaps the embodiment of Renaissance belief. We also have Western-based philosophies such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which never addresses the idea of Team success but rather focuses on individual fulfillment, or Self-Actualization as the highest goal of need-satisfaction in human existence. My point is that all of these theories of 'how things should be done' are culturally-relative; the Japanese are a collectivist culture. The satisfaction of group goals is a priority for them. It is deeply embedded into the culture and has been for thousands of years. Even the religions of the island address the interconnectedness of things and collective salvation.

As a manager or even an employee in an American company, I would refrain from focusing on teams too much. Americans, the wonderful people that they are, owe their success as a group to the pursuit of individual goals/dreams/needs/wants and they are aware of this. For that reason, I know exactly what will arise from too much "teamwork". Social loafing, frustration, disagreements, and those folks that just ride-the-coattails. Either "too many chiefs and not enough Indians" or "the blind-leading the blind. Even beyond freeloading, there are those who are cutthroat and success-focused. Think about Beyoncé. Surely, Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland would've loved to ride her coattails into superstardom. It wasn't even like Beyoncé had any competition with Kelly or Michelle for attention (you never see Michelle except maybe one time per music vid) and they compliment her voice perfectly in Destiny's Child. Think about all the members of NWA (Dre, Easy-E, Ice Cube). Think about New Edition. All these groups had problems regarding individuals using a group to initiate their success, and then ultimately deciding that their interest transcends the goals of the group. Think Don Henley of the Eagles, Steve Perry of Journey, or even about all of your favorite TV shows that were cancelled because a major cast-member decided not to return. We tend to be focused on our paycheck, our promotion, our careers, and our family's livelihood. This culture is what separates us from Japan. We have dangers in placing too much trust in a Theory Z form of Management simply because of the nature of Americans, which I believe, with much supporting evidence, are more likely to work best in a Performance-Based Management philosophy that borrows some from Theories X and Y. This ultimately hinges on individual performance rather than Team-Building. We can instead have "collaborations" for tasks, rather than "teams", when needed.

When I think about Theory Z, and really all of Asian collectivist philosophies, I am almost frightened. Why should we work for a collective goal? Is there really any reason to be more excited about your company's new profit margin than your new promotion; or your town's new public projects more than your own home renovation; or your country's high ranking over your surplus of disposable income? I am drawn to dystopian stories like the grotesque Orwell novel 1984 , or the new Lego Movie with Will Ferrell, where the mindless citizens run around singing "EVERYTHING IS AWESOME, EVERYTHING IS GREAT WHEN YOUR PART OF A TEAMMMM!".