SURELY, HOW GOOD IS TEAM-WORK ETHIC?

A lot of emphasis has been put on team work as a value that must be central in the running of organizations, corporations, political bodies and in any strategic plans of individuals and groups of them.

Being in the team can be very challenging. It would require sacrificing much of the individual self, seeking approval before taking certain actions on behalf of the group, accepting policies passed the general assembly even when they encroach on individual values and belief systems, and being forced to take a “foolish” idea because the majority people have decided.

As benefits of team-work, people talk about easy problem-solving, less costs, more confidence and moral, greater energy levels or strength, quick results and more success than not towards a specific objective.

There is a strong relationship between team-work and socialism –in the run-up to capitalism. The poor and less able could find team-work or collaboration unquestionably much suiting in trying to compete at a healthy level with others or be in position to meet certain qualities of living as well as to survive tough times. It could be a means for community or individual healing after a traumatic event.

The National Resistance Movement (NRM) has proved itself excellent in team-building and sustainability. Having kept the bond over years (22 years), yet continuing in the same spirit is something that cannot be underestimated. There are people who have wedded like today and divorced tomorrow.

One interesting observation about them is that they are scientific in the running of affairs within the group, in its consolidation and continuity. They use evolutionary principle that people in the group must be selected out if found unfit such that it is only the strong that remain, while at the same time -massively recruiting energetic young generation in its ranks.

It is, however, important to note that life in a team is not different from life out of it. After all, it is all about having supportive healthy relationships whilst ensuring harmony, cohesion and continuity –which could be met from the fact that man is a social being.

As a social being he needs others much as he needs himself. And, at most or certain times, he would seek others or be sought without hesitation. Politicians, in this regard, play it handsomely, as enshrined in the saying, ‘there is no permanent friend or enemy’ in the game.

Nonetheless, there are people who get into teams without ever opening up to the value. In it they continue to jealously guard and nurse individual interests, forming smaller worlds within the bigger one, and accelerated by a lot of mistrust and suspicion.

This could be due to some members in the team having a history of conspiracy, pest-like behavior, back-stubbing, mud-pouring, feeling robust enough to run affairs single handedly, where relating with them could mean risking death or reversing progress and “killing” productivity.

Teams, also, could be good sources of inequality and exploitation of some individuals by the most dominant. The dominant ones begin to create values and rules that elevate them far above the simple and non-questioning ones.

In such, it would be possible to find people earning a lot in wages, but doing so little or no work, while others do heavy work-load and earn very little. An equity element in the team soon drops, as the domineering begin their work of; disrespecting others, feeling and acting as most important in the group worthy to be showered with all the respect, and eventually creating cult-like atmosphere.

It would hardly be so long, when the team begins to break into small or mini-alliances opposing and working against each other. Those suffocated by rules and policies would most likely walk out to find “oxygen” elsewhere -aware that the world is much bigger than the entity in terms of opportunities for development and success.

Affected people must move out and on, and help turn affairs positively from the outside. The experience within the group would most definitely help one prove personal worth, with both determination, and qualities subsequently got to succeed. It would call for a lot of focus and resilience to overcome and make a milestone walk to success.

But, even with largely good membership within the team, some individuals may choose to be wild, where instead of focusing on team progress, resort to foul-play and undermining its advancement, as if they are pests and weevils.

They are the kinds, who like their hobbies, complain without suggesting, and have hidden agendas to destroy and cause disrepute of others, nagging a lot, and above all, carry out acts of aggressions without clear reason.

The condition could be so chronic that separation, as was the case with Abraham and Lot, might provide the best answer -to reduce the spread of mental toxics and its debilitating effect on the individual, group or organization.

There are four basic situations with which to comprehensively describe such people.
1) Presence of Judas Iscariot in the amidst, 2) A snake in a living room, 3) A terrorist bomber on the plane, and 4) A married woman who after having sex goes to her parent’s home just to inform them about how much of it she had.

The biggest tumor could be presence of a higher degree case of individuals, whose characters not only prove dangerous to the team, but also, capable of self-destruction. They could also be the kind of people, whose satisfaction, at best, is got through seeing others in pain as a way to reduce their own. What would happen if this person assumed important responsibilities in society?

The future would most likely have Hitlers, who leave power disgracefully, and with a lot of retaliations or kind of compensations to pursue and execute. In Palestine and Israel, it has been centuries of aggression revenge and counter-revenge – a story that could still run for more years into the future.

Similarly in the team, battle lines could be drawn for as long as members are alive, and even potentially hotter to lead into bloodshed. And the aggression and repression could be too hard to either forget or forgive – as the cycle of assaults continues.

All the ingredients turn out to act like a hobby to the fellow. It is a kind of identity seeking by living rule-less and anarchical life that is key characteristics of adolescents between the ages of nine (9) to twenty four (24). Could they have skipped some stages in it so that in future society suffers as a result?

A good example here is the growth and rise of The Monitor Publication led by Wafula Ogutu, Onyango Obbo and others. But also, in the most read book, the Bible, at one point a relationship circumstances could force a split as the case with Abraham and Lot.

But then, settlement of conflicts among parties could be every member’s responsibility to either calm down the dangerous gut, reconciling and pledging mutual support, and helping save aggressive energy for alternative positive pursuits that would still create a mark in life.

Some sacred values need to remain personal and never be diluted by the team type. There could be a lot of satisfaction if there were a distinction between team and personal values –to keep nursing

The architects of team building must, therefore, not make unlimited furnishings about team-work. Much as team-work is good, people must not be led into it blindly. They must first understand the modes of cooperation, over what and for how long as the tentative and unifying team values are clarified to members and understood.

In it people should freely go in and out without anyone pointing a finger or having to subject them to indoctrination, while uniqueness in personality and diversity of views are appreciated.

And, whilst in the team the values of mutual respect, defending each other’s interests and supporting them, mutual understanding, having equal chance to speak and listen –with appropriate timing and quantity of words, cooperation, accepting to disagree, using politeness and humor to influence ones ideals –with a take it or leave it stance, and demonstrating care about other’s boundaries and constantly checking one’s limits, must be taken into account.

Under extreme cases of madness from the aggressor –where madness of one person predicts similar cases in others, victims should shake off the “mud” by moving away for personal safety, health, to regain hope, focus, regenerate and progress towards one’s life goals.

During such a process –with timing that varies from one person to another and from one situation to another (depending on the impact it has had on the individual or community), patience is vital. There is nothing cowardly about moving to safety. Even in the toughest battles, soldiers retreat.

Jacob Waiswa
Situation Health Analyst
www.situationhealthanalysis.blogspot.com