Teamwork continues to be important in corporate settings, but it is also employed in a wide variety of non-business organizations. View the web sites of the Navy Sealsand the Tokyo String Quartet, and then answer the following questions:

1. What evidence of the use of teams can be found at each organization’s web site?
2. What evidence of conflict can be found at each organization’s web site? What methods do you think are employed by these organizations as they manage conflict?

Internet Exercise

The "Working with Diversity" themed insert in Chapter 19 (see p. 599 of the text) discusses corporate America’s use of casual dress to increase morale, break down obstacles to communication, and improve teamwork. One company that does not seem to have embraced the change is the consulting firm McKinsey & Company. View the firm’s web site, and then answer the following questions:

1. Based on the information you found on their web site, what is the firm’s policy toward casual dress? (Hint: Use "casual dress" as a search term once you are on the firm’s web site.)
2. In your opinion, what is the employees’ response to their employer’s policy? What would be your response, if you were considering employment at McKinsey?
3. Is McKinsey’s policy likely to make the firm more or less effective? Why?

Explore Further

Examine the web sites of other consulting firms. Do these firms encourage their employees to wear casual dress? (Hint: View the Careers pages and observe what the profiled employees are wearing.) Compare their casual dress policies to McKinsey’s. What are the differences and similarities? Good comparison firms would be

Accenture, Booz-Allen, or the Boston Consulting Group.