Organizational Democracy:Collaborative Team Culture

The last 20-25 years have seen the replacement of ‘managers/supervisors’ by ‘team players’. The reason for this transition is simple–Globalization. Gone are the autocratic days of following a team manager’s orders blindly, without thinking or questioning. Today, resources want to know not only what their role is, but also the purpose behind it. Teamwork has grown dramatically in all types of organizations for one simple reason–no one individual has the ability to deliver the kinds of products and services required in today’s highly competitive economy. As the world is getting smaller and smaller, it is seamlessly connecting everyone through the Internet, due to which the business entities are growing in size and operation. As a result of which the workforce is also being ramped up in order to keep pace with the global growth. No more are organizations an operational unit consisting merely of 25-30 people under one team manager or just one department overlooking the overall operations. Their focus now is on bringing about results by co-sharing responsibility and acting as a global team of very committed individuals. The five elements of Mother Nature—Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Sky—bring about a harmonious balance in the human body, which means this same harmony can be transferred from our character to mold every team’s underlying makeup. Every team member is unique because s/he contains a varying ratio of the five elements, but there is one particular element that dominates her/his emotional landscape. It is only a matter of understanding the characteristics of each of these elements for striking a balance and bringing on board the right mix of team members. With the proper collaborative team culture workplace practices and the right number of team member types in place, new members are easily able to plug into the channel of cohesiveness. Their unique knowledge adds to the process maturity too.