Research shows that teamwork increases productivity and profit, yet many work environments are sabotaged by conflict with poor teamwork often identified as a recurring problem. This is because "many companies form teams without understanding the psychological principles that make them work," says Harvard University psychologist Richard Hackman, Ph.D., in "Team building isn't enough: Workers need training, too," by Beth Azar (American Psychological Association Monitor, July 1997, p. 14). Let's explore the psychology of teamwork so that businesses can maximize their potential.

Teamwork occurs when groups of two or more individuals put forth cooperative effort to achieve a common purpose, be that performing surgery or running a small business such as a hair salon, restaurant, or a 3-person accounting firm. Regardless of the type of business, leadership (boss, manager, supervisor) and staff must interact cooperatively if goals are to be achieved. This is teamwork.

A common psychological inhibitor of teamwork is workers and/or leaders with poor self-confidence. When confidence is lacking, cooperation, the cornerstone of productivity, is replaced by unhealthy competition. Consider Ted, an experienced technician and Bill, an apprentice, who are working on a project together. Although Bill's input is helpful, he is threatened by Ted's expertise and resorts to finding fault with his work and badmouthing him to co-workers. Friction between Ted and Bill escalates to a point where they are forced to abandon the project. This negativity can erode workplace morale, cause diminished productivity, and prompt competent workers to seek employment elsewhere.

Teamwork is also jeopardized by subordinate-leader conflict. Consider Pat, a salesperson, who disagrees with her manager about how a sale should be handled. Poor self-confidence drives Pat to need to be right, so she refuses to cooperate.

Another teamwork inhibitor manifests when leaders unfairly favor workers. Consider the president of a publishing company who favors one editor over another, even though both are equally productive. This partiality promotes unhealthy rivalry and resentment between the editors, as both compete for the president's approval.

Fortunately, workplace negativity can be overcome and enthusiasm rekindled by increasing the confidence of employees and/or leaders. Effective tools for strengthening self-confidence exist and businesses should utilize them to remedy impaired teamwork. One technique encourages people to recognize their strengths and accept their limitations, which promotes increased confidence. Self-acceptance eliminates fear of criticism and supports a sense of equality with others; each employee, regardless of skill or salary, considers his or her input to be valuable to the company's effectiveness. This supports a commitment to cooperation and compromise, essential aspects of teamwork.

Teamwork is fostered by competent leadership, which maximizes employee skills by praising performance and eliminating favoritism. When employees are validated they feel that they are part of a team that is contributing to an important goal: the success of the business. Effective leaders assign realistic workloads, communicate clearly, and motivate employees to troubleshoot and strategize in an atmosphere of trust and teamwork.

Question: I'm being encouraged to "get my business on the web." But frankly, I don't know what we'd do with a web site. It's my understanding that only 20% of the public is on the Internet. Should I wait until more people are on the web?

Answer: It may be true that only 20% of Americans are on the web, but a recent survey by my class at HPU showed that 65% of those downtown now have e-mail.

Are your customers on the web? A simple idea is to ask them. Do a survey of your customers for a week. Keep track of those that are and are not on the web.

There is a good reason to get on the web now. It will take you a year or two to learn about doing business on the Internet. If you wait for everyone to sign up, you won't be ready when they are, and will be two years behind your competitors who are getting on the web now.

E-mail is turning out to be one of the least expensive ways to communicate with customers. E-mail can helps decrease your printing and mailing costs. Compare the cost of an electronic catalog versus a printed one. You may be able to communicate more with your customers and save money by using e-mail.

For some, being on the web gives them international exposure. Many tourists surf the web for ideas before visiting Hawaii. If they're sitting in Duluth with your product, they might want to re-order. Make sure you put your web site and e-mail address on all your promotional materials from now on.

What else can the web do for you? You can use it to sell products, provide solutions, provide customer service information, educate your customers about your products and services, or introduce your company to newcomers. Being on the web positions you as a leader.

Pete Martinez of Hawaii Internet Emporium, one of Hawaii's top web site developers suggests that a company approach what content to include on a Web Site as they do other communication mediums, for example print or broadcast. "Start by examining your sales, marketing, customer support and communications objectives. Can they be furthered on the web?"

Should you use a professional or your friend's Punahou son to design your web site? My rule of thumb is that a professional should be used if you plan to use the site to for marketing purposes.

ALERT: There's a rush to register Domain Names this year. A Domain Name is your unique address on the Internet. www.yahoo.com, is Yahoo's Domain Name, for example. The Star Bulletin's is www.starbulletin.com. Every web site has one.

What many don't know is that Domain Names are being reserved at a rapid pace. Most of the good or common ones are gone. SBH.com is gone. All the variations on my business name, Creative-1.com, Creative1.com or even Creativeone.com are taken. Servco recently paid several thousand dollars to buy servco.com from a mainland company.

A Wired News investigation found that the .com versions of nearly all popular words have been taken. Of 25,500 standard dictionary words we checked, only 1,760 were free.

You can check to see if your favorite choices are available by visiting www.networksolutions.com. If you can, reserve your actual business name, with no spaces between words, followed by.com. You can also use .net or .org but they are less memorable.

It costs $70 to reserve a name for 2 years. When we look back, 1999 will be the year that the best domain names were taken. Even if you're not ready to get on the web, reserve your Domain Name now.

Bob Sigall is a director of Small Business Hawaii, teaches marketing at Hawaii Pacific University, and through Creative-1, offers management and marketing ideas to Hawaii's small businesses. Send your marketing questions to him at sigall@yahoo.com, or c/o SBH, 6600 Kalanianaole Hwy, Suite 212, Honolulu, HI 96825.

Recently I appeared on a university panel with a leading Democrat. He opened his remarks by describing the period prior to Franklin Roosevelt as one of near total free enterprise. He then blamed the great depression on the free market system. Mr. Roosevelt, in his view, saved us with the social welfare state we have today. This description is a twisting of the historical record. I will address the government's role in creating the great depression here.

The period leading up to the inauguration of President Roosevelt in 1933 was not one of unfettered market capitalism. The Federal income tax began in 1913. The Federal Reserve banking system was created in 1914. We also had a history of protectionist trade policy. In the late teens inflation caused by Fed policy was used to finance the allied efforts in WWI. Following the end of the war an inflation driven boom in this country coupled with economic weakness in Europe led to the depression of 1920-21. This downturn was the result of our government created central bank and its European counter parts' actions following the war. In response to this depression President Harding's only action was to cut spending to fit the declining tax revenues. He took the view that the government was not responsible for the economy, despite constant pestering from his interventionist Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover to "do something." The economy righted itself by the end of 1921.

The 1920-21 depression is overlooked in most history books. Yet in terms of the economic contraction it was as severe as the crises that President Hoover was to face in 1929. Hoover intervened where Harding had stood aside. Hence the different outcomes.

During the 1920's the Fed embarked on a program of inflation. By inflation I mean an increase in the money supply including money substitutes. There was no significant increase in the amount of currency in circulation or in the cost of living, things people unfamiliar with economics have come to equate with inflation. The new money went into bank deposits, life insurance accounts and other financial instruments. Over eight years the money supply increased from 45 billion to 73 billion. A vast increase in worker productivity brought about by new technologies had the effect of reducing prices in a way that offset the Fed's inflation program. The increase in money drove the stock market up beyond its fundamental values. This was cheered by pro inflation Presidents Coolidge and Hoover in turn. Fed policy caused the misdirection of large amounts of capital into unsound investment. The crash of October 1929 actually followed the downturn in industrial activity by several months.

Following the crash Hoover actively involved the government in programs aimed at recovery. This was a fatal mistake. He used his office to leverage industry into holding up hourly wages. Workers were to be protected. Hoover blamed financiers and speculators for the crash, conveniently ignoring his own role. He believed the full weight of the contraction certain to follow the crash could be borne by the capital markets with no consequences in wage rates. The stated goal of holding up hourly rates was achieved. In the period from June of 1929 to March of 1933 real hourly rates when adjusted for the fall in the cost of living had increased 8%. However, economic science demonstrates that artificially holding up wages leads to unemployment. Unemployment rose from under 1% in 1929 to 25% in 1933. The average work week fell from 48 hours to 32 hours in the same period. Clearly the great plan to help the workers had the exact opposite effect.

To reduce unemployment Hoover embarked on a public works program. This unbalanced the Federal budget. Early in 1932 Hoover moved to balance the budget with the largest tax increase in history up to that time. He also continued to hound the Fed for more inflation. The Fed's attempts to reinflate were countered by the public's loss in confidence in the nation's banks. That caused money to be withdrawn from the banking system which in turn drained it of reserves leading to deflation rather than inflation. Again the Hoover policy had achieved results precisely opposite to its intent.

Trade policy, the actions of foreign governments, and of their central banks were also causal to the great depression. All of these causes are related to government interference in the market place, the kind of interference often advocated by Hawaii's leaders today. Since Hoover was a Republican you'd think my Democratic co panelist at the university would have been quick to blame him for his role in the 1929 to 1933 economic decline. The fact that he didn't shows a lack of understanding of history to complement a lack of understanding of economics. The answers to our economic problems are obvious, but the people running our State seem as unlikely to find them as poor Mr. Hoover.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a federal law that requires that non-employees be paid at least the minimum wage and overtime for hours worked over 40 hours a week at the rate of 1 times their regular rate of compensation.

Non-exempt employees are employed in "an enterprise engaged in commerce or the production of goods for commerce". The "production" of goods includes not only the actual production operations, but also any closely related process or occupation directly essential to the production.

The most common exemption is for white collar employees which generally must meet the Department of Labor definition of an executive, administrative, professional, highly skilled computer related occupation, or work in outside sales. In addition, the white-collar employee must be paid on a salary basis.

Keep in mind, Non-exempt employees can also be paid on "salary". However, they must be paid overtime for any hours worked over 40 hours a week. The Act forbids covered private employers from granting compensatory time to their employees in lieu of overtime compensation. However, the Act provides an element of flexibility to public employers and an element of choice to their employees or the representatives of their employees regarding compensation for statutory overtime hours. Compensatory time received by an employee in lieu of cash must be at the rate of not less than 1 times the regular rate.

The Department of Labor has a short and long test for executives, administrative and professional employees. Some of these exemptions typically specify:

* His or her primary duty, managing an enterprise, department or subsidiary.

* Regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment.

* Regularly directs or supervises the work of at least 2 full-time employees.

* Requires advanced scientific knowledge or learning. * Design of computer systems.

* Modification or creation of computer programs.

Failure to comply with the obligations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) can result in extensive administrative investigations and awards of double damages to aggrieved employees.

If you have any questions about whether your company is in compliance with FLSA, please call HR2 Consulting at 808-373-4444 or 526-0000.

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