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**Teamwork Defined **  The concept of teamwork is that a group of people work together in order to achieve their common goals. Human beings are social animals and they organize groups such as a family, school, company, government depending on their purposes. From the interaction in many group environments, people learn how to work in tandem with other's personalities and ideals within a given group or organization. People over time have evolved to recognize that working together can produce results efficiently and through the combined effort and shared knowledge of individuals within the group, can provide experience and learning opportunities which are useful anywhere in the work place. . So, where does teamwork start in our life? A person’s first encounter with teamwork occurs in the family. Children learn about teamwork first from their parents. Father and mother deal with conflicts, problems and goals. They work together to resolve them and the first teamwork environment is formed. And then, children observe and copy what their parents do. After they experience the most fundamental form of teamwork, schools and peers provide a more social teamwork environment. Schools encourage students to work together through a variety of programs in order to improve their cooperative minds and teach basic teamwork efficiency. In most cases they will experience teamwork on a larger scale than with their family. Additionally, school’s athletic teams provide opportunities to learn natural teamwork skills such as: the niche concept, tactical collaboration, and competition against other teams. Where are teamwork environments most prevalent? Let’s take our workplace, where people spend most of their time as a model. As businesses expand and grow, one can no longer rely on an individual effort to succeed on the strategic level. People have to work together to achieve monumental tasks. As a result, more often than not, the leader of a business organizes teams and encourages his/her employees to conduct team-based projects. In the workplace, teamwork enhances our skills of coordination, communication and a way to pursue common goals. From these said skills, people learn how to make the most of their individual role on the team. To summarize the efficiency of teamwork, working together is a great part of our lives. It leads to the maximization of our collective skills and abilities. A great percentage of teams throughout the world serving in many different capacities are significant and have a positive effect on whatever it is they are trying to accomplish. However, not all teams are successful. There are several requirements to become an efficient team. Writer, //Kashmira Lad//, shows the six fundamental building blocks to an efficient team are as follows: **(1. Proper distribution of tasks, 2. Clear Communication, 3. High levels of integrity, 4. Proper focus and a clear cut vision, 5. Skills that complement each other 6. Passion for work)**. A healthy balance and blending of these fundamental building blocks will produce positive results applying to any genre of team working in any facet of society.
 * ​SAAK Yi**
 * PROFESSOR KIRK RICHARDSON**
 * UNIV 111**
 * 24 JUNE 2010**

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 * WORKS CITED/CRITIQUES**

1. Teamwork can improve efficiency in corporation ** Belt, Joy. "Teamwork can improve efficiency in corporation." WORKPLACE 15 Nov 1993, Morning: 4D. Print. [] In this article, the author provides a simple concept of team. She emphasizes that by providing meaningful and positive interactions in a properly constructed team environment will increase employees’ job satisfaction. Moreover, the writer describes what factors and rules should be needed in a team in order to achieve mission success, and explains why they are required. At the end of her article, she talks about team members and the conditions that need to set by a team member and leader. I think that the overall structure of this article is very logical and each paragraph is well organized. She covers plenty of information about “teams” such as concepts, advantages, requirements and its members. In the 3rd and last paragraph of her article, she quotes the opinions of John Butman, which is an author of “A Business Adventure in Teams and Teamwork (Amacon Books, 1993). As a result, her writing would have more credibility and objectiveness on her claims. One thing I would like to comment on this article is that it needs more specific explanations about why teamwork has become more important in the past few years and what kind of environment a successful team needs. I believe that teamwork has synergistic effects. One of the most crucial effects is that it gathers many ideas from team members and streamlines members’ opinions to accomplish tasks. An integrated opinion from team members is most likely to be unbiased and objective. I also agree that making a perfect team is very difficult. Adequate conditions should be present in order to make an effective team. Common purposes, rules and roles for each team member are fundamental factors for a successful team. Nowadays, many different job fields encourage teamwork skills. Schools have a lot of programs and tasks which are used to train students in teamwork. All companies use teamwork in order to do major tasks. Therefore, we should realize that teamwork is a necessary life skill.

**2. Teamworking** Whybrow, Alison C. //Teamworking//. 1st ed. New York, United States of America: St. Martin's Press, 2000. 104-105. Print. **Alison Whybrow worked at the Insitute of Work Psychology (IWP), University of Sheffield as a researcher. She researched job design, employee health and organizational effectiveness. ****According to her research, teamwork was initially observed by Trist and Bamforth (1951) as a naturally occurring phenomenon intuitively and spontaneously adopted by people working in adverse conditions. Since the early 1980s, teamwork has received more emphasis as companies moved towards flatter organizational hierarchies (Kirkman et al.,1996). Additionally, many surveys report that the practice of teamwork is increasing. For example, 40-50 % of the US workforce was working in a team environment in 2000. Based on her research, she suggests that teamwork has positive impacts on organizations as well as employees. From teamwork, employees have opportunities to learn important skills, work with a diverse group, and acquire strategic understanding of an organization. Organizations also increase productivity, improve the quality of their products, and enhance morale among employees. ****In this book, I think that the author provides general and practical information of teamwork. She suggests chronological percentages of teamwork increase in countries which utilize teamwork skills. This practical information presents how teamwork has received more emphasis than before. She also emphasizes that employees and organizations get different types of positive impacts from teamwork. From these facts, I realize how teamwork has significantly affected each individual and organization. In this book, Peters and Waterman (1982) argue that ‘small groups are, quite simply the basic organizational building blocks of excellent companies’. I also agree that group working or teamwork can achieve great results. **

PROFESSOR KIRK RICHARDSON UNIV 111 23 JUNE 2010**
 * JON ALBRIGHT


 * WHERE DID IT COME FROM? **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Mankind must keep in mind 3 general things in order to ensure its survival. We must have the ability to procure **food and water**.

We must have **shelter** from nature’s elements. And we need to ensure the **propagation of the species**.

Anthropologists estimate that the first humanoids appeared on Earth between 3 and 4 million years ago.

Among all peoples, the basic social unit is the family. As social animals, man and woman are subsequently bound in the common

interest of successfully raising their offspring. A man, a woman, and a child comprise the most basic and earliest social structure, or

“team.” The extended family branched off of this in which a man and a woman would raise several children who would go on to

have offspring of their own. This concept of the extended family provided the foundation for “clans.” These so called clans paved

the way to the first social order in mankind.

The first fossils of human shelters date back 2 million years which appear to be several hundred stones arranged in the shape of a

ring with higher piles of the stones at intervals to support upright branches over which mud, grass, and animal skin can be stretched

in order to keep out the wind and other elements. Humanoids worked together in small groups in order build these shoddy

structures and huddled together on harsh Winter nights in order to insulate each other’s body heat.

Around the same time period, fossils of large animal carcasses were found around these dwellings which suggest that humans

started to hunt big game in groups. It is unclear whether these early humans actually killed those large animals. Some experts

stipulate that the hominids chased them into swamps and helped them die, or scavenged off of the dead carcasses. Either way

when big game became available, it was sliced up and eaten. Whether these large animals were killed or scavenged after, humans

during this time were required to work together in groups in order to kill, cut, and transport the meat back to their camp. This

allowed the group to distribute work among it’s members. With a large kill, the group may not be required to hunt again for weeks.

This allowed the women and small children to shift their focus from hunting and weapon construction to gathering, and improving

the efficiency of camp living.

This was the time period in which male and female hominids began working together simultaneously completing tasks and

distributing work loads of different types among the members of the group making survival easier and more efficient for everyone. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Mankind’s need to procure **food and water**, seek **shelter** from nature’s elements, and to **propagate the species** are what

started the teamwork revolution and forged the groundwork upon which all other forms of teamwork have been built.

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<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; text-align: center;">**WORKS CITED/CRITIQUES**

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.4pt;">“Why We Meet” MPI Web October 2008 Material accessed 15June2010 Peter Gorman is a noted and award-winning journalist and adventurer. His feature writing has appeared in more than 100 major national and international magazines including Omni, and Wildlife Conservation. Gorman talks about the physicality of humans interacting with other humans face to face. The way Gorman sets up the article in order to go hand in hand with his introduction was great. He began by going all the way back to when the first human groups were formed (the family), and expounded on the natural instincts of human interaction. He then takes the reader through a brief sequential timeline and evolution of human interaction from the forming of alliances to slavery all the way up to present day business and government. I don’t think Gorman necessarily had a “claim,” but I think he was trying to show the reader what goes on in the human brain that we all take for granite everyday when you interact with another human. He puts a very human spin on what shaped civilization as we know it today based on how we all interact physically with one another. This is an interesting topic and got my mind thinking not so much about the history of how and why things are, but the human side as to how and why things came to be.
 * PETER GORMAN** is a freelance writer based in Joshua, Texas

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">**Campbell, Bernard, G.** Humankind Emerging Third Edition. Toronto, Canada: Little, Brown and Company, 1976. Print. Campbell is an Anthropology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and has published works in Human Evolution and Sexual Selection. Bernard Campbell wrote this book in order to improve on his previous editions in areas such as introductory anthropology, and human evolution. Campbell does a great job in taking the reader step by step. He gives a solid background on the human evolution theory and expounds on the different types of early humans and their respective characteristics both physical and mental. He gives a great deal of scientific as well as environmental factors on how it influenced human development. I am no anthropologist, but I think Campbell definitely supports every topic discussed in the book with either scientific fact, or theory. I think this book is well suited for anyone wanted to know more about mankind’s beginnings, although the topic can be a bit technical, it’s written in a language we all can understand.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">**J.M. Roberts**, notes compiled and edited by Dr. Eric Mayer “The Ancient World” //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">The Penguin: History of the World / Emayzine.com, Dr. E’s Social Science Webzine // <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Published by the Penguin Group London England 1990 Accessed by myself on 19 June 2010 <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> Dr. Eric Mayer is a Professor of History at Victor Valley College, CA. emayvvc@earthlink.net Dr. Mayer is the father of this bold new design in distance education courses. His eclectic creativity is the driving influence for this imaginative website that is as entertaining as it is informative J.M. Roberts was a <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">[|British] [|historian] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">, with significant published works, well known also as the author and presenter of the <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">[|BBC] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> TV series //The Triumph of the West// (1985). The article provides an in depth look at the Universal Culture Pattern and man’s need to have food, shelter, clothing and the means to provide for their children’s survival. Mayer structures the notes from Robert’s book very well taking us from the basic needs of humans through the ecological factors that effected culture (it’s geographical position) and with this knowledge allows the reader to note the importance of hydraulic societies and how they shaped civilization. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I think the article supports the theory that ecological factors are the number one factor in shaping mankind’s culture. I think this

topic intriguing to a variety of knowledge seekers especially psychologists who are believers that we are all products of our

environment.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> “Paleolithic public goods games: why human culture and cooperation did not evolve in one step” //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Biology & Philosophy //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">, Jan2010, Vol. 25 Issue 1 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> Published Online: 09 Aug 2009 by Springer Scinece+Business Media B.V. 2009 Pages 53-73 Information accessed by ME: 17 June 2010 Benoit Dubreuil holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the [|Université libre de Bruxelles] (supervisor: Jean-Marc Ferry, 2007). His dissertation; dealing with the nature of cooperation and the emergence of social hierarchies in humans was published by Cambridge University Press. Benoit suggests that human cooperation did not evolve overnight and that this process stemmed from cooperative feeding and cooperative breeding. Benoit does a good thing by taking the reader back to the homo heidelbergensis who pioneered demanding cooperative
 * Benoit Dubreuil**

arrangements in regard to acquiring food and propagating the species so that the reader can form a base knowledge of where this

concept began. Then Benoit develops the latter into the first homo sapiens, and due to an enlarged frontal cortex where able to

build upon the foundations that homo heidelbergensis set. I think the article more than supports the claim, and agree that the

cooperative process was also an evolutionary process.

Minh-Hang Phan Instructor Richardson UINV 111 June 24th 2010 <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: center;">**Teamwork and modern society**

Ever since Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb in 1879 that give people the artificial light so they can extend the working time, and more important inventions were made like the alternating current (AC) of Nikola Tesla, the telephone invention of Alexander Graham Bell, as well as the invention of the computer and internet. These inventions changed the way people around the world communicate with each other as well as the way people worked together. These new technologies changed the traditional teamwork from homogenous, non- electronic- group to the heterogeneous bond by electronic communications group called global teamwork (Sessa, and London 175-192). The most important change is that technology enabled global virtual teamwork. The global virtual teams have members from culturally diverse backgrounds, and are able to work within diverse global environments (Sessa, and London 175-192). The global virtual team is usually used on a short-term basis, and ad- hoc projects ranging anywhere from 2-6 months to maximum of 1-3 years. Then the team members would join another group to work on other projects. The change has created many problems that need step by step solutions in order to solve them since the team members are now from culturally diverse backgrounds, different geographic locations, and different environments which in turn, cause the differences in the work process. Despite many differences between the traditional teamwork and the global teamwork of modern society, there is still one thing that remains common to both, and that is the importance of leadership. However, instead of the formally assigned leader in the traditional team, each member of the global team will voluntarily take charge when issues pertaining to their field of expertise are brought up. The ability to put together a team of world class subject matter experts working in unison continents away from one another ensures an unsurpassed level of performance when correctly executed. (Sessa, and London 175-192). This type of leadership is called “emergent leader-ship” (Sessa, and London 175-192). The emergent leader- ship style seems to be very effective in the global team since no one person has to be an expert on everything in order to come up with the final decision as the team leader. Instead, each member of team can concentrate on achieving the fully perfected knowledge in one area, then when there are problems that relate to their area of expertise, they could rise up and become the team leader in order to guide the team through the problems. The benefit of emergent leader-ship is that the error is minimized in final decisions since they are made by the experienced professional of a particular field. Thus, the more technology develops in the fields of transportation and communication, the more it will facilitate mankind's need to collaborate. [|Video Conference]


 * __Cite and critique__**
 * Chemers, Martin, Oskamp, Stuart, Costanzo**, Mark, & Office, International. (1988). //Safety in the use of chemicals at work//. Sage Publications, Inc.

The book was divided into three parts with nine chapters. The first part discussed about the treatments that concerned to the reaction of each individual in the group

when facing the diversity. The first part was expanded in first three chapters. The second chapter analyzed about the ability of each member in the group, the group

process, as well as the different in values, beliefs, and expectation within the group. It was written in three middle chapters. The last part talked about the researches

of how diversity affects the organization, the group, as a whole. The last three chapter were included in the third part.


 * Sessa, V. I., and M. London**. //Work Group Learninng Understanding, Improving& AssessingHow Group Learn In Organization//. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum

Associates, 2007. 175-192. Print.v

The book is a collection of studies from many respected professions who have many year of experience in the field of studying about the teamwork in the work place.

Throughout the book they mentioned and discussed ways to have a great team which could achieve the highest performance. The book gave theories about how to

create a group that is able to capture its future learning and adopt new work methods, and way to meet up with the expectations of each of its members.