1




TEAM WORK IN THE EXPERIMENT STATION


Ladies and Gentlemen of the Agricultural Ponference:--

When I submitted this topic "What the Other Fellow

Should do to Promote Team Work in ivy Department" I had in mind"

entirely a different line of discussion than'the question has

brought out in the minds of the program committee. It-is natur-

ally to be expected when one uses words that the cther fellow will

interpret tiose words in the direction of the thoughts in his own

mind. My express ion at that time has undoubtedly been at fault.

It seems to have created in the minds of the progra.i coramittee the

idea of a'discussion of teau work -j.s a whole in the three divisions

of our Agricultural Conference. Te iaoint I wished to raise in

submitting this question w7as to have a number of speakers state

concisely just wherein the "other fellow" could slightly iodify.

his work so as to mailk the whole prove a cooperative piece of work.

In other words, to promote a general team work in our different

lines of activity.

TEAM WORK

Team work may be broad or narrow according to the people

who are cooperating or nho are gi'Vng their endeavors for accom-

plishing a certain result. In mr, travels through parts of Flo-

rida I have found liverymen who called a horse and buggy a team,

and I suppose they could go before the local courts and prove that

their terminology was correct. The vernacular employed in ny




'4~, ,-'-- ~'' .






2



surroundings contended that to have a 'tteamm one must have at

least two horses and might have as many more as is possible to

harness and handle under the guidance of one man.

Team work in colloquial vernacular has attached to it a

very different meaning. The best illustration of team work is

found in the foot ball team. It is in thi sense that I think

we will discuss the matter of team work today. Of course every

man who discusses the question of team work today has a right to

put his own definition of what he means by team work. My paper

today, however, discusses team work in the sense that it is used

on the foot baJ3 grounds. Of course we can use many other terms

that will in a way express the idea more or less clearly, but none

that h3s t9e forcehfu and clear meaning to it as the terse term

"tea~-r ?ork" as applied on the foot ba)1 grounds.

The antithesis of team work is individualistic work.

Ta,:ing our i3.lustration from the foot ba]3 grounds. we find that

certain in-livdua33s make extremely fine players for one dr another

portion of the field, but are found absolutely useless on the team

for certain qualities in their make-up that the Coach designates

as team work.
DEVELOPMENT CO TEAM WORK

All' of our sports and a31 of our work have h;d to go

through a considerable number of stages of development. Roughly

speaking we may call the first or crystallization stage a pioneer

stage in which there is neither team work or individualistic work,

This is true especially of rhe settlement of our country. The











pioneer moved to the frontier and had to adapt himself to the sur-
roundings indiviGually and alone. He built his hutj4 tapped,

hunted, and possibly tended a small patch. By and by his social

instantt compelled him to find a wife. Then his troubles began.

Naturally he was an individualist and needed to protect on3y him-
self and his small belongings. His behavior toward the Indians

was such as to male himi stand alone on his own responsibility.
His behavior toward Nature was exactly in the saae i3ne. As soon

as he had a wife to protect aad live in harmony with he os't a cer-

tain amount of his individuality and became responsible for some'
one more than himself. Finally he had his family to provide for

and be responsible for. The on icoes are that such a 'caip was so

much of an iidivdua i3st that his f-'i3y remained witih him only

so long as it was absolutely necessary. Tnegyounger generation
probably moved far enough axay to get outside of his influence.

The distance to w7,ich they iioved was probably gauged largely by

the degree of individualist that ne was. As the country gradually

settled up, more or less team work was brought aoout either by
compulsion from the savages or by the advantages of colimunal work.

As the pioneer conditions gave way to rural settlement, more and

more individuality had to be surrendered and more and more the

work taken up in a communal way. that is, team work taken.uT.
Some communities had individuals living in them iwo by their

natural endowment were able to promote the general welfare and











dominate the situation to-such an extent as to leave the leader

a direct individualist. However, sooner or later the team work

and the communal idea prevailed. This gave rise to what might

'be called Jocalized team work. Of course in some communities

a number of individuals arose who were strong individualists.

The community under those conditions failed, to prosper and in

some cases became entirely extinct as a community. From the team

work. of the community has spread the general idea of teoa: work

not only for the State but for the Nation as a whole. it is

called by all sorts of names, Conservatism being one type;

State Control is another; Mobilization is another; Efficiency, also

in a measure. and many other termis'that have coie into general

usage recently.

STATE INSTITUTIONS

T havaegiven this general but very brief outline of the

development of the community. When the community hS b advanced

sufficiently to get out of the.individualistic ideal a3l sorts ,

of public institutions sprang up. The first institution that arose

in answer to the demand for team work was the State University.

These were quickly followed by Agricultural Colleges, Normal

Schools, and various other Colleges supported by taxation. I

am now of course speaking of the grdat interior of the United States

and the West Coast. The Atlantic seaboard had grafted on it so

much of European ideals, whether French, iEglish or German, as to










inhibit that area from from an expression of their development.

These different institutions had to go through their

individualistic periods, and during these pe iods the State Uni-

versity fought the Agricultural College or the Norma3 School

as the case might be, and the Normal School fought other insti-

tutions, and the same with the Agricultural Colleges. This

period is not entirely passed, as was clearly' evidenced by the
/
meeting at Washington in Novemner. Those state institutions

that were separate from the Agricultural Colleges fought to the

finish to keep the Agricu3tural Colleges frorj securing the Fed-

eral appropriation for the Engineering Experiment Stations.

In a good many states, however, the different public

institutions found it decidedly destructive to their best inter-

ests to keep up this individualistic warfare.* So that wee l the

condition in several states whqre the State U1hiversity, the Agricul-

tural College the orma3 college and other colleges joined hands;

each one determined what was lae-ed for its support, and all of

them Joined in an assault on the Legislature. This was the con-

dition that maintained in Flordita in 3905. The various State-

supported institutions (numbering seven) tacitly or practica3ly

combined to make their united assault on the Legislature. It

appears that the Legislature in self defense rather than because

of superhuman vision, combined all of these institutions under one

Board and provided for the establishment of four units.







6



EXPERIMENT STATION

The general history of the Experijmint Stations is not

very different from the history of the collective institutions.

On the establishment of the Experiment Stations some 500 to
3000 men from different walks of life were assembled in little

groups ranging froii 7 to 20. The sudden demand for scientific
workers that could reasonably be expected to give a service com-

mensurate with the money paid for it, was beyond the supply,

NaturaJ)ly hundreds of employees were assembled who had absolutely
no team interest in the institution. Very frequently these men

were assembled because they were individualistic and for that
reason had stood out more or less prominently either in the State

or the Nation. Under the conditions, of the staff as it existed

at the beginning of the Experiment Stations, the fellow who was
the best advertif naturally got the Uiggest share of the funds.

Frequently two, and sometimes even more men on a staff were strong

competitors for recognition for favor and for funds. As might be

expected, war within the ranks arose and at times tPe governing

boards became disgusted with the entire mob and discharged them

wholesale, director and all, and a new start was made.. Sometimes

the evil was recognized and proper steps taken to correct it.

In those primitive daVs a great many things occurred that would at

the present time seem ridiculous in the extreme. I have personal

knowledge of a case that illustrates the se of mind that at one

time existed. A friend of mine accosted a member of the staff






Q 7


with the inquiry as to whether the director knew where the

staff member was going, d he replied that it was none of the
director's business where the staff member was going or what his
business was. Imagine one of the players on a foot ball squad

assuming the attitude that it was no' y's business but his own

what he was going to do with the ball. This of course is an
extreme case of individualism. the farthest possible removal
no t
from team work. It was/a case of egoism on the part' of the
individual.
If our Agricultural Conferences at the lRorida Univer-

sity are to count for anything we must gettfaway froir, glittering

generalities and get down to studying tne good points as well as.
the bad points in our work. Naturally it is acil more pleasant

and may indeed be quite as helpful, to point out a3I tne good

qualities and leave unsaid anything about our failures. Let

us again revert P the simile of the foot bl.1 team. How nuch
would the tears accojop3 isl if the coach confined himself to bragging

about the good points of the individuals. Naturally he does not

go up to the player and tell him he isa fwleaad but does state
the first principles of team work. He tries to nave the player

correct his errors without actually telling him that he is Using

his gray matter in the wrong way. The plays are so well mapped

out that each player must know instinctively what move to make

next. Fortunately for a foot ball team the plays can be re-

hearsed a sufficient number of times to make the movements almost

automatic. In our Experiment Staff it rarely occurs that the same








8



play sl repeated. A new play is on the board eer y day. The
formation co-ttinues from year o year arid vey few changes in per-

sonel occur. Sp andid time for that is afforded. The time

and freedom for work is nowhere equalled in the fikited States.

In spite of all of these opportunities we have from time to time

shining 13lustrations of individuals who in their general behavior

and their attitude toward others show clearly that they have no

sympathy or patience with team work. In fact they are so fully

absorbed in the personal side. of what you might call the individ-

ualistic side of their work that the whole team is merely an annoy-

ance and an interference. Apparently they have no more interest

in the team' as a whole than the average laborer has in the pro-

gress of the particular line of pwer he s1 laying down hilversity

Avenue. They apparently have no new thought of a constructive

nature or if eve; such a thought occurs it is never allowed to

see daylight. Such workers usua3]y do a reasoniabe amount of

individualistic work, but are not much heard of in the institu-

tion itself, and do not work in well 1* the field work.

The extreme individualist ;May be a considerable amount

of an egoist, but this is not a necessary quality. He is as a

rule very much afraid of having to surrender some of his rights,

or is constantly afraid of his problems being invaded by someone,

else.

The work of the Experiment Station in F3orida, more than






9




almost anywhere else with as small an institution as we have:

has tended. to develop the team work idea. The tendency of our

individual problems (Projects we call them) has been toward in-

dividualism. Consequently we have two factors constantly working

against each other. To overcome the tendency toward individual-

Ism and promote as much team work as possible numerous expedients

have been adopted. I thinx for the most part these have sprung

up spontaneously and without this point specially in mind. The
1i-

Entomologpical Club is xa illustration. The difficulty of carry-

ing out any cooperative or coordinated work in i imst be in a

measure charged to individualiarm.

CONCLUSIONS

(3) Team work in the Florida Experiment Station had probably
reached its lowest ebb about the time of the passage

of the S~ckman Bill that is about "3905

(2) The development of Cooperative demonstration world in the State
is an index that the State as a whole is ready for team

work -- cnoent rated action.

(3) That the members of the Experiment Station staff who are so
constituted as to adjust themselves in accordance with

the present general sentiment, are the more likely to

succeed.

(4) Team work, whether known by that name or ty some other is cer-

tain to be more insisted upon in the future than at present.




r-
*