The paradoxes of teamwork.

"Teamwork" is today's corporate buzzword, but the very efforts that are supposed to foster teamwork and openness may inhibit and alienate employees. "Participation is more and more considered a right of people in the workplace and a way to make organizations more effective and productive," notes Cynthia Stohl, professor of communication, Purdue University. "But participation sometimes disconnects rather than connects workers to their organization. That happens because participation programs can become rigid, stifling rather than creating opportunities for innovation." She maintains that worker participation often is carried out in ways that are paradoxical. "These ironies create conflict and tension in a process intended to promote teamwork and harmony":

The Paradox of Design. Although participation usually is implemented to empower workers to make decisions, its very design may deny workers a say in how they might become more involved. "When upper management imposes participation programs, middle managers often feel threatened with losing control, and workers feel coerced. What's communicated to employees is that they do not count; their ideas are not important." Stohl says employee input should be valued at every point of the participation process, even during the design stage.

The Paradox of Commitment. "Commitment to participation should mean committing to the free expression of conflicting and diverse views. However, for management, commitment is often expected to equal agreement." Dissenters often are perceived as being deviant people who "need fixing," Stohl indicates. "Disagreement will continue to be corrected rather than creatively addressed until companies and management recognize that when employees voice alternative positions they are often demonstrating their commitment--not opposition--to organization goals."

The Paradox of Participation. In this situation, the events of participation are emphasized over the actual communication that's supposed to take place. "I had a worker tell me once that he thought the company was right in thinking that the employees had a lot to tell them about how the job could be done better. The problem was, the worker didn't want to communicate through activities that he thought were a waste of time." In this instance, workers were resistant to team-building training that often precedes...