What drives a Team best -1

Swami Vivekananda was quite impressed with one quality of the West - the power of organization. He saw that much of West's material progress and success is driven by this power. An organization run efficiently can bring in much more progress than that can happen when there are only individual entrepreneurs. He saw that Indian history is full of individual successes, esp. in trade and commerce. Vaniks or Vaishyas have been able to lead trade initiatives individually, but there were no organized, monolithic trade blocks or entities which could employ a large number of people in a sustainable venture. However one person had truly understood the power of organization in ancient times and had developed an organization which was vastly superior - Lord Buddha and his sangha. But after Buddha, the spirit of organization was lost and Swamiji wanted to revitalize that. He jokingly remarked to Ms. Lyon in America that he had one of his greatest "temptations" in America. When being asked who was that fortunate lady, he answered that it was not a lady, but the concept of "organization". He wanted that concept to be evolved in India and we all know how he encouraged Jamshedji Tata to establish manufacturing units in his maiden voyage, and also inspired him to establish an institute for imparting scientific and other higher secular knowledge to Indians, which was later materialized into Indian Institute of Science. The idea of organization led him finally to establish Ramakrishna Mission in India which was a unique and novel concept and we all know the unparalleled efficiency with which this monastic organization and brotherhood is being run for the past hundred years with meager resources and what transformation they have brought in many areas where even Government does not dare to venture. Its a feat worth emulating from corporate side. The basis of this organization set up by him is selfless work, seeing God in every being - practical Vedanta. However selfless work very rarely drives a team in a corporate set up as the very basis of existence of the corporate and the motivation for all work there is selfishness. Goal of a commercial organization is to make money and goal of individuals and teams is to assist the organization in making money and gaining in power, prestige, position and fortune in the process. The whole setup is a far cry from the ideals of a monastic organization based on love and selfless dedication. Therefore what is the solution here? 

What drives an ideal organization, and possibly a team to perform most efficiently? What leads team members to stick together? Social scientists would say common goal or shared interests. But goals can be common only for a limited period of time. Shared goals and common interests are never lasting because conflict of interest is a frequent occurrence in a team and in an organization. The first step towards a teamwork is definitely common goal and shared interest but what lies beyond?

A team which has matured in terms of dealing with a common goal and shared interest need to forge a bond that is lasting, atleast until the task is complete. The team management framework says that the team evolves through different stages - forming, storming, norming, performing etc. What makes a team go through these stages and finally adjust to arrive at the performing stage? Is it fear of failure or the ardent zeal and urge to succeed? It is quite evident from practical experience that certain teams do well of sticking together during performing stage while in others there are still palpable tensions and conflicts. So even "performing" teams are not ideal teams.

In this respect we can draw some parallels from military. What makes army men to forget everything and stay together as a unit in the face of extreme adversity? Is it the love for country, sense of duty, courage and determination or honour of the unit, or a combination of all? Army however has a different code of conduct. Discipline and grooming play important roles there, and so army men stick together owing to an ideal backed by years of grooming.