Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 24, 1993 TAG: 9301250253
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CARL H. TONG
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
COMMON PURPOSES
A CRITICAL factor that helped Bill Clinton win the 1992 presidential election was the state of the economy.Before the election, the American public knew the American economy was not doing well from such signs as an already huge and still rapidly growing federal debt; an undesirably high level of foreign debt; a prolonged and seemingly helpless merchandise trade-deficit situation; the very poor performance of several, once highly respected U.S. firms; and a large number of our fellow citizens being thrown out of work.
While George Bush was either uninterested, unwilling or unable to develop and take concrete steps to help rebuild America's economy, then-candidate Clinton offered voters some hope for a positive change.
Now the election is over, and we have a new president. It is time for us, as a nation, to go to work.
To ensure success in our endeavor to rebuild a healthy and prosperous national economy in today's highly competitive world, we must remember the time-tested truth: unity (meaning teamwork) is strength. Following are a few basic, practical points to keep in mind regarding teamwork.
"Teamwork" refers to a group of people working together in a responsible, enlightened and well-coordinated manner for achieving certain common purposes and performance goals efficiently.
The common purposes of our nation should be to increase American citizens' standard of living, to improve our quality of life, to stimulate national development, to achieve full employment, to enhance national security, etc.
The economic-performance goals for the nation might include creation of 1 million net new jobs (that is, after new job losses are subtracted from new job increases) in the United States for each of the next four years; an annual merchandise trade-surplus starting in 1996; and an increase in the average American household's real income (actual purchasing power) of 6 percent by the year 2002.
To benefit from teamwork, we have to know clearly who the team members are. The four primary groups of people who affect our nation's short-term and long-term economic performance are:
Business people, who are directly involved in producing, distributing, and selling goods and services.
Government officials, who set public policies under which business people operate, and who are responsible for making sure that foreign governments and companies do not engage in unfair trading practices.
Educators, who help prepare tomorrow's leaders and workers.
Consumers, who decide what to buy, from whom to buy, when to buy, where to buy and how to buy.
There is no doubt that America's economic future is closely tied to what these four groups of people do and how they interact with one another.
America is a big melting pot, with about 256 million citizens representing numerous cultural backgrounds. How can such a large and diverse assembly of people work together as a productive, successful team?
It is challenging, but it can be done. We must be determined to make our diversity an asset instead of a burden.
The principal tool for uniting different groups of people is effective communication, which begins with listening carefully and empathetically to those we work with. A breakdown in teamwork is often simply caused by a lack of communication or some kind of miscommunication.
After the various groups communicate clearly and fully with one another, their problems frequently get resolved and the team continues to move forward.
December's national economic conference, organized by Clinton in Little Rock, was a brilliant way to let different groups communicate with one another, build up the national team spirit and brainstorm ideas for revitalizing our economy. We need many more such gatherings in the coming years.
A team cannot reach its full potential without a competent leader.
Competent team leaders are masters of human nature and human relations, know instinctively how things work in the world, have a habit of assessing things from many different perspectives, are forever cool-headed and well-organized, and stress collective performance results instead of individual achievement.
The late Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart and a great team leader, noticed that many large U.S. companies have a glaring weakness. He pointed out, "You can't operate a team spirit when the situation is so one-sided, when management gets so much and workers get so little of the pie. At Wal-Mart, we've always paid our executives less than industry standards, sometimes maybe too much less. But we've always rewarded them with stock bonuses and other incentives related directly to the performance of the company. It's no coincidence that the company has done really well, and so have they."
Who will be the world's No. 1 economic superpower in the 21st century?
Some say Japan; others, the European Community. But it can certainly be America if American citizens learn to work together as a real team. Teamwork is a means for us to turn our economy around.
Without teamwork, we will be vulnerable. With teamwork, we will be strong. Let's make a wise choice.
Carl H. Tong is professor of marketing and international business at Radford University.