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The creation and maintenance of a team requires both the visible hand of management and the invisible hand of emergence, the former weaving the elements together and the latter guiding their work.

…attachment to procedure instead of purpose offers a clear example of the dangers of prizing efficiency over adaptability.

…the implementation of teams often leads to leaps in productivity as well as improvements in morale.

Teams can bring a measure of adaptability to previously rigid organizations. But these performance improvements have a ceiling as long as adaptable traits are limited to the team.

Functioning safely in an interdependent environment requires that every team possess a holistic understanding of the interaction between all the moving parts. Everyone has to see the system in its entirety for the plan to work.

purpose affirms trust, trust affirms purpose, and together they forge individuals into a working team.

The emphasis on group success spurs cooperation, and fosters trust and purpose. But people cooperate only if they can see the interdependent reality of their environment.

Firms that value innovation and creativity have spent a lot of time searching for ways to inject interactivity into work environments.

The cultivated chaos of the open office encourages interaction between employees distinct from one another on the org chart.

A new layout with old culture can deliver the worst of both worlds: countless managers… producing a noisier, more distracting environment that is neither efficient nor effective.