Reading the article "Getting the Rich to Share the
Marbles" which deals with the concept of teamwork and shared rewards, I
could't help but think of my experience on the crew team. As a rower I have
experienced both sides of the spectrum, being involved in both team and
individual production. Its essentially the line that divides our outdoor
seasons from our indoor one. Of course there are many other situations where
the concepts discussed in this article also come up, I may even discuss some at
the end, but teamwork and athletic competition have always seemed to go hand in
hand for me.
I'll begin with team production. In crew
(the sport of rowing) the primary type of competition is a race, much like
running track, but on the water. The difference is, rather than one athlete
competing alone, crew regattas (rowing competitions) put boats of 8 people, 4
people, 2 people, or single person sculls up against each other. The two that I
have experience competing in during outdoor season are 8+ and 4+ boats, sweeper
style rather than sculling style ( I won't go too far into the logistics).
Crossing the finish line in any kind of decent time requires that all athletes
in the boat pull their weight. Keeping a straight course also requires that
there be relatively equal pressure from both sides. Of all the sports I have
played (soccer, softball, track, tennis), rowing on the crew team has been the
closest I have come to true "team production" as described by the
article. Like the two children pulling the string to get the marbles, crew is
literally eight or four people pulling through the water to have a chance of
getting on the podium and earning a medal. And in the types of boats I row in,
winning or setting records can't be accomplished alone by one rower. On my
team, we have each other's backs, everyone wants the best for everyone, and we
go out in a race knowing that we have to give it our all because our teammates
are out there doing the same. Pulling across the finish line, knowing that we
left it all on the table, is one of the best feelings I have experienced. Like
we talked about in class, it is the sort of teamwork that can push you to do
than you ever thought possible just because you know that its about more than
yourself. It's about the team, its about your boat, and for us, its about representing
the university as well. There is a sense of ownership in what we do, which also
makes us work harder and perform at a higher level. Just one more teamwork
production example before I move to individual production: on the crew team in
order to practice on the water at all, we need our entire boat to be ready on
our assigned days at 4:50am at the UGL. In regular life, waking up at 4:30am
through most of the week is definitely not something that I could find the
motivation to do on my own. But in order to practice, and work with my boat, I
have to be up and be there on time. We all have to pull the strings to make
sure we get there. And our reward is having quality practice sessions on the
lake with our boats. But like the marbles, that reward is always equally
shared.
Individual production is what predominates
our indoor "winter" season. It consists of individual training on the
indoor rowing machines, called ergs. Competition during winter is entirely
individual and therefore any rewards gained are kept by that athlete. For me
personally, my motivation to work my tail off is greatly diminished when there
isn't a boat full of girls expecting me to pull harder. I'm not as hard on
myself because I no longer have to be, and I am the only one accountable. Those
that succeed in indoor competition keep the medals they earn, and have their
name alone listed in the team records. It's much more akin to the situations
where the marbles aren't shared because the children got them through their own
personal effort. Some people prefer this kind of production, usually the
highest achievers because it grants them individual recognition and reward. In
terms of practice attendance, it is much easier to oversleep and miss because
during winter season no one is depending on you to be there in order to do
their practice piece. I can speak to this from personal experience, and also
from observation of my teammates. In my opinion, output and production when
strictly individual is less than it can be per person when working as a team,
and the reward is so much sweeter as well.
I attached some pictures for reference.
Indoor Competition at CIRCs
(on ergs)
You wrote an interesting an impassioned post, though truthfully what you wrote about seems more a response to my discussion in class of the Akerlof Gift Exchange model (and the bit about The Three Musketeers). In that sense it sounds like a well functioning boat has each member of the team giving a gift (the amount of effort above what they'd do individually).
ReplyDeleteThe article I had you read was more about perceiving whether others make a contribution when there are individual rewards possible, but where the joint effort can impact the total reward.
The pictures were great. It doesn't look like there is somebody in the boat whose job it is to count out the beat. Do the rowers do that themselves?
Your experiences are awesome! And I am interested in your experience that individual's passion in training will decrease because only yourself is accountable. Partners in team work sometimes contribute to your efforts as a role to monitor your performance and we always afraid of others' disappointment. This might explain sometimes I will have high efficiency in doing group projects with group members in UGL, but I always suffer from procrastination when doing work at home.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think that for team work that achieve a same goal, team members may pay more efforts if they knew that they cannot achieve it without maximum efforts. But the cases in the article might be a little bit different because rewards are still in individual level.
Professor to answer your question, there is a person sitting either in the front or the back of the boat (depends on the model) called the coxswain who is in charge of maintaining rating and keeping up the moral of the boat as well as steering is the race course involves bends. In the pictures I shared her head is either ridiculously tiny, or shes cut off, but you are correct, there is someone there.
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