True Team Spirit in crucial activities.

Couple analogies may be helpful in getting the message across to the reader.

• A gigantic ship may resemble a small city floating on water and cruising towards its destination with several thousand people on board, high volume/high value cargo that is worth a lot to many people on board the ship and outside as well !  What makes such a ship achieve its mission and reach its destination as scheduled is much more than just wishful thinking, giving orders, shouting, yelling and/or drum beating.  

•  These ships usually have a very large crew; each with a specific role/function that s/he can and will do in the right way to get the whole ship moving in the right direction.

• People who have overall responsibility for the ship, its passengers, crew and cargo. From origin of the journey till its final destination, these people are in charge of the safety, well being and progress (real vs planned) throughout the entire journey.
• People in charge of setting the course and direction of the ship per plan and within foreseen/predictable conditions within the ship and in the sea.
• People in charge of steering the ship according to preset directions specified within the overall journey course (master plan).   Responsibilities include navigation, maneuvering,
• People who are responsible for sailing the ship on due course on day-by-day, hour-by-hour, minute-by minute to ensure the ship is really going according to the plan. Depending on the type of ship, these people may include a variety of positions, roles and responsibilities working in full harmony to execute the preset plan.
• People who are responsible for the services provided to the passengers (and other crew members) throughout the whole journey. These may include catering, cleaning, ...
• People who are in charge of the engines, machines and equipment on board the ship and make sure they are working and performing as expected.

Well! this is not necessarily a complete/comprehensive list, and it may be not using the right titles for these jobs, but I trust that I have laid the picture correctly of how the ship crew play teamwork relying on each other and trusting each other to achieve the ultimate goal. This could be true because of the long history, heritage and maturity of man's experience with the oceans.  It could also be because of the realization of everyone that they are boarding the same ship. Hence they cannot afford not to do their job right, and if this happens for one reason or the other, failure would have another taste and it could mean total disaster !

Another example could come from aviation. Civil aircrafts may be smaller, carry less passengers and cargo and fly shorter times (as compares to ships), but still this is a splendid example of team effort in a very critical thing that cannot tolerate failures of people not doing their job right.   

• In the cockpit, you have the captain, first officer, flight engineer (!) ... etc who are in charge of setting course and direction, flying the aircraft according to the course, navigate/maneuver, and do whatever it takes to proceed according to course and schedule.
• In the passenger cabin, you will have the flight attendants who take care of the passengers, serve the food, ensure the on-board entertainment facilities are working, make the necessary announcements to the passengers, and do execute the required procedures during take-off and landing, .. etc.

Once again, you have people who have their roles and responsibilities very well defined.  They work in harmony as a team, they trust each other and they complement each other in a very well-thought plan from A to Z till the aircraft reaches its predetermined destination safely, on time and with considerable level of comfort and entertainment to the passengers.

Comparing all of this to organizations, operations and management,  we will easily find a drastically different picture specially in the larger and more bureaucratic organizations. These organizations lack the binding harmony/synergy you expect in effective teamwork as in the case of ships and planes.  People in these organizations act in a very relaxed/lazy way, with no sense of urgency and no appreciation for time wasted in doing nothing.  More importantly, these people lack the shared common view, goal and objective behind being part of this team, and lack of appreciation that all efforts are needed for survival and prosperity