Chapter 1
Studying Business Grade 10
PTY LTD
5. Factors affecting relationships in teams Businesses exist for a reason. Most of the time they aim to make a profit, but there are those that do charity work, community services (e.g. schools, churches) or exist in order to provide essential services, such as the SPCA. Very few people are multi-talented enough to run a business entirely on their own – making the products (or providing the services), selling, doing the books and administration, handling the finances. So teamwork becomes essential in order to run a successful business, whatever its aims and objectives may be. Whenever people are working together in a team, the following factors will influence whether or not they attain synergy:
Prejudice
Prejudice: A pre-formed opinion (usually unfavourable) based on inaccurate stereotyping, irrational feelings and insufficient information. Encarta Online Dictionary Individuals that are prejudiced tend to generalise and assume that people with certain characteristics follow a specific mould. For example, they may assume that all blondes are less intelligent, all Americans are outgoing or all Japanese are quiet. This is, of course, not true! People of the same nationality or religion will still have different personalities, views and beliefs. By being prejudiced, you close your mind to accepting others and may in the process lose out on important friendships and contacts. For example, if you refuse to work in a team with your set group of friends, you may lose out on the benefit of something important such as someone with superb computer skills, a good general knowledge or a wide network of contacts.
Beliefs People’s beliefs are grounded in their upbringing, nationality and religious views. For example, some societies believe it is unacceptable to eat the meat of domestic animals – in other societies it is totally acceptable. Other issues based on beliefs such as abortion, cloning, the slave trade and drug trafficking all affect the way people work within a business situation.
Values Values such as honesty and integrity are an important part of formulating a business’s vision and mission. In some cases, businesses will be set up with strong moral values and they will go to great lengths to maintain their integrity by being honest with clients and the public. Although this resulted in lost sales for a period of time, it boosted the public’s confidence in the company’s integrity over the long term. There will also always be those businesses that are based on values that are totally different to society’s norms: illegal trading, smuggling, slave trade and others who trade in black market goods.
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