GMAT Essays (AWA)

"All groups and organizations should function as teams in which everyone makes decisions and shares responsibilities and duties. Giving one person central authority and responsibility for a project or task is not an effective way to get work done."
The author of this topic suggests that business organizations emphasize teamwork, and the individual central authority and responsibility is not effective to get the job done. While I agree that teamwork is the fundamental building blocks of a successful company, I would contend that no business can succeed without a person keeping track of the team's daily operation.

To begin with, teamwork helps team members understand the requirement, schedule and potential risk of the task through communication. Because of the wide diversity of backgrounds and expertise in a company, exchanging ideas and utilizing the creativity of different team members assists the workflow of projects. Like many business organizations which operate with the division of labor, Cathay Pacific Airlines has demonstrated this concept by allocating its work to various departments such as food catering, flight maintenance and customer service.

However, a leader is always pivotal to steer the whole group to a right direction. Modern managerial theories states that the hierarchical structure, which has a person taking charge of the whole job, can actually clear doubts and conflicts in the working environment. For example, amid the fears and unstable condition of Finance Tsunami, US treasury secretary Ben Bernake addresses his views of tackling the crisis. Although we still don't know whether he is doing the right thing, social groups at least reach a consensus on how to work things out.

Last but not least, a person in charge may not be an expert, but he is the one to choose the right person to do the right thing. Leaders are supposed to be good at identifying one's strengths and weaknesses, and this is why they can handle the morale of the whole group. For instance, the president of Sony Entertainment may not know the gimmick to manage a game project, but he must know who is capable of doing so.

To conclude, if having a team leader to handle projects is really ineffective, many seniors would have been layoff. Only by having a team leader can a team work together to accomplish complicated tasks.