The Dream Team Effect

There is no better scripture in God’s word to describe the effectiveness of teamwork than Ecclesiastes 4:9-11. Even though this scripture focuses on the effects of being a part of the team, it is important to understand that the scripture does not imply that an individual will fail without a partner. The context of the scripture is that one will experience a more satisfying outcome when working along side another. Not only does the team experience a satisfying outcome, but also are able to help each other in a time of need. Robbins and Judge (2011) describe the essence of the teamwork found in this scripture as team efficacy.

When you think about effectiveness of teamwork one would immediately think of teams that have won championships. There are several teams in the past that have mastered effective teamwork and therefore they have the reward to show for it by winning championships. When you think of effective teams, you might recall teams such as the LA Lakers, Chicago Bulls, and Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association, or you might think of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball. All of these teams display the effectiveness of teamwork but none have displayed the effectiveness of teamwork like that of the US basketball team that won the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. This US basketball team was so effective that they were given the name the “Dream Team.”

So what made the Dream Team so effective? Were they effective because they were a basketball team made up of all-stars such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird? Why did the Dream Team dominate the 1992 Summer Olympics? The success of the Dream Team could not be attributed to its amount of talent alone. This is evident because the team 2002, with a comparable amount of talent, finished a disappointing sixth place at the 2002 Men’s World Championship.

The example illustrated by the 2002 USA Men’s World Championship team proves