How did teamwork and team building evolve in the past century? The infographic highlights key milestones in the evolution of teamwork and team building since 1920. Check it out and unlock a deeper understanding of the forces that have shaped the way we work together in the modern world.

1. In the 1940s, Armand Vallin
Feigenbaum publishes his work on
Total Quality Control. The concept
will gain traction in the 1970s.
1920
In the 1960s and 1970s, industrialists
begin heavily implementing theories
discovered in the previous decades and
Total Quality Control becomes popular.
Leaders start focusing on building an
environment where employees feel safe
sharing opinions and taking risks. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerates the adoption of asynchronous and virtual
teamwork techniques, unlocking new possibilities for collaboration and paving
the way for increased flexibility, efficiency, and connectivity in work
environments. As generic communication tools such as Slack, Zoom and MS
Teams gain popularity, industry-specific collaboration tools emerge,
integrating into daily work and providing teams with high-context capabilities
to support their unique collaboration requirements. Some examples are GitHub
for software development, Trello for project management and Figma for design.
In 2012, Google initiates Project Aristotle, a tribute to the Greek
philosopher's expression "The whole is greater than the sum of its
parts“. The goal is to understand the secret sauce that gets a group
to achieve more than what each member could have achieved on
their own. The researchers find that what really matters is less about
who is on the team, and more about how the team works together.
The most important factor identified is psychological safety.
1970
The concept of team
building first
emerges in the US in
the 1920-1930s with
a series of research
activities examining
what happens to a
group of workers
under various
conditions.
1940 1990 2000 2010 2020
Collaboration is taking over the
workplace. A 2016 Harvard Business
Review research finds that the time
spent by managers and employees in
collaborative activities has ballooned by
50% or more within two decades.
A Brief History of Teamwork
What’s next?
Image: The Harvard Gazette
A brief history of teamwork mayaberlerner.medium.com
Elton Mayo conducts the
Hawthorn Studies in an
aim to increase worker
productivity. He shows
that teamwork could
improve performance.
Boeing's development of the 747 jumbo jet
in the late 1960s stands as a prime
example of successful collaboration, as
engineers, pilots, and designers
collaborate seamlessly to create an iconic
aircraft.
Total Quality Control
states that it is the
responsibility of every
member of the
organization to ensure
the production of
quality products and
services. This idea
hinges upon the
condition that each
employee of the
company feels like a
valued and integral
member of the team.
The advancements in technology
during the 1990s and 2000s
influence the way teams collaborate:
the emergence of computer
networks, email systems, and
collaborative software solutions
Teamwork gets a boost after WW2.
The military emphasis on
cooperation influences the culture
of team building in the coming
decades. Many business strategies
model team building tactics on
military practices.
The software industry plays a pivotal role in shaping modern team building
practices. Agile methodologies, including Scrum and Kanban, promote
iterative and collaborative approaches. The use of cross-functional teams
leads to increased efficiency, faster delivery, and higher-quality products.
A 2011 study by leadership
consultancy Fierce finds that 86%
of employees cite lack of
collaboration or ineffective
communications as the main source
of workplace failures.