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The Great Man Theory Was A Popular 19th Century Idea

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Traditionally teams are built by putting a group of people together without considering many traits or characteristics about those people, then expecting them to work together in a productive manner. Often times this does not work well at all, particularly if the person in charge is unfamiliar with the team concept themselves. Teams have to be cohesive in their ability to make decisions and handle projects within their organization. Sometimes cohesiveness causes team members who are not adept at working with others to push back at the team and this causes friction within the team. Team building models have been developed over the years to make teams work.

The problem of working teams has been something that researcher and theorists have been studying for years. Many of these researchers and theorists have developed a “standard” way to develop teams and team skills. A plethora of team development books have been written and team consulting firms have popped up all over the world. The Great Man Theory was a popular 19th century idea according to which history can be largely explained by the impact of "great men", using their power in a way that had a decisive historical impact. These great men always had impressive results from their teams because of their leadership qualities. The historian Thomas Carlyle enforced this theory with his statement "The history of the world is but the biography of great men." According to Carlyle, effective leaders are those gifted with

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