The Psychology of Teamwork

During my junior year, I discovered something that I firmly believe in to this day: Collaboration is always beneficial. It was during the most difficult chapter of my trigonometry class. 

The sighs and defeated, blank stares of my classmates spoke volumes and I found solace in the fact that I was not alone in my struggles. So, I stayed after class one day to propose an optional study group during lunch. It started off with just my teacher and I, but soon enough, we had a group of 8 who were committed to improvement in the class.

 After a couple weeks, that commitment reflected in all of our grades. Everyone who joined the study group received an A on the most challenging test of the year. Through this experience I gained a new respect for collaborative efforts. 

But, what is collaboration? Why is it beneficial? As described by Arthur T. Himmelman, collaboration has four different strategies which can be used in different environments and situations These include: networking, coordinating, cooperating, and collaborating.

Networking is described as sharing ideas and exchanging information for mutual benefit 

Coordinating requires a better organized environment. It involves the alteration of activities and exchange of information. This is done to achieve a common goal among a group of people 

Cooperating requires a higher level of trust than coordinating. It still occurs when information is shared and compromise is made, but it requires more communication and a substantial amount of time. 

Collaborating ties all of these things together. This involves the willingness and desire for a group of people to work together to reach a common place where all members receive benefits.