The Myth Of Teamwork

It is vital to start by defining a myth in the context of our studies for better comprehension. A myth refers to ‘a widely held but false belief or idea’ (English Oxford Dictionaries).
There are six myths and subsume: (1) Teams are harmonious people; (2.) Team conflict is unhealthy; (3) Most people like team work; (4) Teamwork is essential to business success; (5) Teams are easy to influence and manage and (6) Senior Managers encourage teamwork.
All these are commonly held ideas which when checked against reality turns out to be a fallacy.
(1). Teams are harmonious people: This myth supposes that teams are made up of people who work in harmony with each other, while giving up or sacrificing their individual needs in order to achieve the goal of the team. But the reality is that, a team is composed of diversified people. It is constituted of people with a multiplicity of views, ideas; backgrounds, expertise, education, culture etc and these differences can be a major strength for the team to take advantage of in achieving high performance. However, the individual interests must be taken into consideration while working towards the team’s common goal. However, ignoring individual members’ interest can be detrimental. This may adversely affect their motivation levels, job performance and jeopardise attaining desired team goal.

Team conflict is unhealthy. It is generally held that conflict will destroy a team and trigger failure. But conflict can be healthy for teamwork if managed and exploited correctly.
(3). Most people like teamwork. This is a common but false idea. According to Wright D. (2013), this is not the reality. Only one third people like teamwork, meanwhile another one third have no interest in teamwork and one third prefer to work in by themselves without a