The Pros and Cons of Collaboration
Teams can work well, but co-leaders often don’t
Collaboration at work is generally seen as a good thing. Production of The Economist is a co-operative process. A crack team of editors removes most of the bad jokes before this column makes it into print. All writers sign a “gag” clause. (How did this get through? Ed.)
Businesses value collaboration. The latest survey by the Financial Timesof what employers want from MBA graduates found that the ability to work in a team, to work with a wide variety of people and to build, sustain and expand a network of people were three of the top five skills that managers wanted. Practical qualifications like accounting, programming and applied microeconomics were among the least-desired attributes.
But managers always have to balance the merits of teamwork, which help ensure that everyone is working towards the same goal, with the dangers of “groupthink”, when critics are reluctant to point out a plan’s defects for fear of being ostracised by the group. The disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961 was a classic case of groupthink. Sceptics were reluctant to challenge John F. Kennedy, the newly elected American president.
A related phenomenon is the “wisdom of crowds”. Large groups are remarkably good, on average, at estimating such…
