David Wright's The Myths And Realities Of Teamwork

Myths About Teamwork

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Why do we form teams? The goal of a team is to be able to do something together that could not be done alone. In this big, international, world of business and life we do, in fact, need teams. We need to work together to do all that we truly cannot do alone. Yet, knowing that we need teams is only the first step of many. Everyone has some experience being on a team, but few of us are experts who have done extensive research. A byproduct of this is that there are many common myths that abound about teams. These include misconceptions related to varied topics such as: what makes a team, how to run a team effectively, general attitudes about teamwork, its (teamwork’s) value to business and even its very nature.

Learning

In David Wright’s “The Myths and Realities of Teamwork,” (Wright, D., 2013), he outlines six myths that are ubiquitous and perpetuated by many people. Here is a short examination of all six.
Myth 1:

“Teams are harmonious people who compromise their needs for the sake of the team.”
Here we discover that teams aren’t necessarily a Zion on earth and that the best teams are often constructed of diverse groups of people who may not have many similar characteristics.
Myth 2:

“Team conflict is unhealthy.”
Conflict is energy, conflict is excitement, conflict is often driven by a passion that is necessary to progression. In other words, we need many of the characteristics that might cause conflict and conflict itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The important thing is learning how to manage

It’s a balancing act of motivating others, limiting your own role and working to achieve goals.
Myth 6:

“Senior Managers encourage teamwork.”
Teams sometimes take some direct-control away from managers. While many may be fine with this others are most definitely not. The point is that not all managers promote and encourage teamwork.

For me the most intriguing of the six myths is the second one because I have a hard time accepting an alternate reality to what I currently believe. I think that there is a fine line between productive and unproductive conflict. As humans beings we are often emotional and irrational, and it’s hard to always respond positively to conflict. I have observed that in most myths, there is a grain of truth that helps to keep it (the myth) alive. This is no exception. We’ve probably all seen the chaos that conflict can cause and the damage that can happen if people are allowed to do and say whatever they want. I understand that the author (David Wright) is probably focused on making a point that not all conflict is bad, and I acknowledge that. However, I will stubbornly maintain that some conflict is destructive and that not all types are