Khandelwal 1

Abhimanyu Khandelwal

11/16/2022

CAS 137H

The Shift of Work Culture: The Road To Collaboration

Today, there is a large emphasis on teamwork and collaboration by companies and

organizations. Zippia states that "Over the last 20 years, workplace collaboration has increased

by at least 50%" (Boskamp, Elsie). This demonstrated that there has been a significant increase

in the importance of teamwork in the workplace. However, this was not always the case. The

history of work culture in America has been one with many shifts. From the late 1700s and early

1800s, many believed that the best way to make a living was to work just enough to provide for

themselves and their families. As the industrial revolution progressed, there was a significant

shift from individuality to a working hierarchy, with a few people managing and the majority

working beneath them. This lasted for a long time but became increasingly obsolete as the work

and tasks got more advanced and intricate. This led to a transition to a work structure with

offices and cubicles where people would independently work on delegated tasks. From here, we

are currently undergoing another shift, which is a shift to collaboration. Through these eras, there

has been a progression from a work culture focusing on individualism to one that focuses on

collaboration. This shift underlines how a change in the type of work and technologies has led to

a more collaborative society that is more universally beneficial and productive.

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One of the values on which America was founded was individualism. Individualism was

and continues to be a pillar of American culture, fueled in large part by the principles of liberty

and the pursuit of happiness. One of the major beliefs is that self-reliance and individualism must

outweigh external authority and blind conformity when it comes to customs and traditions. This

belief became very mainstream after the War of 1812. In the War of 1812, the United States took

on the greatest naval power in the world, Great Britain, because of restrictions on trade, the

impressment of American sailors, and America’s desire to expand its territory. While no one

completely won, it was still a major victory for young America as the United States went toe to

toe against the British. This caused American egos to expand, and many started to diverge from

British culture. Changes in literature started to emerge as the stories, poems, and novels began to

depict a unique American society, landscape, and ideology. Examples of such pieces of literature

include "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," "The Last of the Mohicans," and "To Live

Deliberately." Themes of American romanticism also started to emerge, where individual

freedom was championed. This belief grew stronger as famous authors such as Thoreau and

Emerson emphasized individuality and self-reliance. One example is Emerson’s "Self-Reliance"

essay. Here Emerson writes, "The great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with

perfect sweetness the independence of solitude" (Emerson, Ralph Waldo). This principle also

translated to the work culture. Most of the agriculture of the time period was subsistence

agriculture, where farmers would primarily grow crops to feed themselves and their families.

The National Bureau of Economic Research says that in 1820, 78% of the workforce were

farmers (Lebergott, Stanley). Also, other professions such as blacksmiths, doctors, and cobblers

often ran their own independent, self-sufficient businesses. While individualism in the workplace

was fine for early America, a shift became necessary as the industrial revolution emerged.
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As the industrial revolution took place, there was a major shift from individualism to a

working hierarchy where a few people were managing and ordering everyone else to do

repetitive and monotonous tasks. Technological advances, large-scale production methods, and

new markets all encouraged the rise of industrial capitalism in the United States. This shift is

demonstrated by the rapid urbanization shown by the U.S. Census Bureau. Only 6% of the

American population was living in cities in 1800, which shot up to 40% by 1900, which is a 30%

increase (Hoyt, Jeff). The industrial workforce grew as monopolies emerged and businesses

became consolidated. Such corporations include Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company,

Carnegie’s Steel Company, and the Sugar Trust. Many business owners thought that the factory

assembly line was the ideal structure because it was a low-cost, efficient, and productive system.

One example of increased productivity due to the assembly line in factories is the manufacturing

of Ford cars. NPR says that after Ford shifted to the factory assembly line, it "reduced a car's

assembly time from 12 hours to 93 minutes" (Cwiek, Sarah). While all of these things were true,

the workforce was negatively impacted and often neglected. During this time, the standard of

living gap between the few rich and the many poor increased. Also, many people could no longer

compete with monopolies and had to become workers for large companies, where they lost their

individuality and self-reliance. Ultimately, the work structure prevailed because the factory

system was more efficient and increased productivity and profit for the owners and the nation.

While this structure reigned for a long time, there was a shift to an office-oriented work culture

after the World Wars.

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The factory system started to become less ideal for the United States as we became more

developed, and the world became more globalized. After the World Wars, the United States of

America was established as one of the major world powers. This allowed the US to move on to a

more technical-oriented industry and outsource their factory-like work to other, less developed

countries. This caused a shift from workers working in a factory to people working in offices.

This can be demonstrated by the shift from blue-collar jobs to white-collar jobs. The Los

Angeles Times writes, "The blue-collar workers’ share of total employment dropped from 37%

to 26% from 1960 to 1991; at the same time, the white-collar group increased from 43% to

57%." (Blue-Collar Worker Profile and White-Collar Contrasts.) The offices were mostly made

up of cubicles and C-suites. In these offices, employees were more often encouraged to work

independently and stay focused at all times. The boss or manager would delegate tasks to

employees for them to complete in their cubicles. This work culture is what is known today as a

"desk job." While working solitarily in an office is a step above working in a factory, it is still not

optimal for employees. Initially, cubicles were thought to be great as they humanized the

workplace more than factories and introduced a bit of privacy. However, people soon grew out of

this feeling, and many started to feel cramped and isolated in cubicles. The American

Psychological Association writes, "The high-paneled cubicles... appear to undermine worker

productivity the most, while closed offices have a particularly isolating effect" (Murray, B). This

shows that cubicles are now looked down upon, and many are starting to look for new

alternatives in the workplace. Currently, this structure is still the most prominent work culture,

but we are in the process of undergoing a shift to collaboration in our work culture.
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I believe a collaborative structure is an ideal one because it serves as the line between a

self-reliant work culture and a factory-like work culture. When the seemingly opposing values of

individualism and teamwork are brought together, they produce harmony in the work

environment that has many benefits at both the personal and corporate levels. On a personal

level, each person is able to contribute their own perspectives and ideas to the conversation to

solve tasks. At the corporate level, working collaboratively and collectively leads to better

on-the-job performance rates. A Stanford study states that "Employees who worked

collaboratively were 64% more likely to stick to their assigned task than their solitary peers."

(Gaskell, Adi) When done right, teamwork is the synergy between the individual and the group.

Instead of focusing on "my" goal or the owner’s goal, a focus on our goal and maintaining team

unity while preserving individuality is ideal. As Smith says in his book, Wisdom of Teams,

"Teams strengthen the performance capability of individuals, hierarchies, and management

processes" (Katzenbach, Jon R). When a group of individuals with diverse backgrounds, skills,

and experiences come together to cooperate and accomplish a common goal, it produces an

exceptional outcome. Today, all sectors of the economy are interdependent on one another, and

approaching a problem from different perspectives is not only optimal but necessary.

Overall, by examining the major shifts in American work culture, it is apparent that every

work culture fits its respective time period’s needs. In the first era, there was a self-reliant work

culture to meet the needs of individuals and their families when most of the work was

self-sustaining. From there, we went to a work culture that primarily benefits the companies at a

time of rapid industrial growth. This shifted to a workspace with offices and cubicles as the work

became a little more technical and factory work was outsourced to other countries. Finally, we
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are finding the happy medium in the third era with a collaborative work culture. While the

progression has been a long one, it has been a necessary one. The complex problems and tasks of

today’s world require multiple perspectives, so collaboration between diverse people from

different disciplines is what will drive and ensure constant innovation, accountability, and

productivity in the future.

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Works Cited

“Blue-Collar Worker Profile and White-Collar Contrasts.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles

Times, 6 Sept. 1992,

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-09-06-mn-247-story.html.

Boskamp, Elsie. "35+ Compelling Workplace Collaboration Statistics [2022]: The Importance

Of Teamwork" Zippia.com. Sep. 19, 2022,

https://www.zippia.com/advice/workplace-collaboration-statistics/

Cwiek, Sarah. “The Middle Class Took off 100 Years Ago ... Thanks to Henry Ford?” NPR,

NPR, 27 Jan. 2014,

https://www.npr.org/2014/01/27/267145552/the-middle-class-took-off-100-years-ago-tha

nks-to-henry-ford.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882. Self-Reliance. White Plains, N.Y.:Peter Pauper Press, 1967.

Gaskell, Adi. “New Study Finds That Collaboration Drives Workplace Performance.” Forbes,

Forbes Magazine, 12 Oct. 2022,

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adigaskell/2017/06/22/new-study-finds-that-collaboration-d

rives-workplace-performance/?sh=2eeaf6cd3d02.

Hoyt, Jeff. “1800-1990: Changes in Urban/Rural U.S. Population.” SeniorLiving.org, Centerfield

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Media Company, 20 May 2022,

https://www.seniorliving.org/history/1800-1990-changes-urbanrural-us-population/.

Katzenbach, Jon R., and Douglas K. Smith. The Wisdom of Teams. McGraw-Hill, 1998.

Lebergott, Stanley. “Labor Force and Employment, 1800–1960.” Output, Employment, and

Productivity in the United States after 1800, National Bureau of Economic Research |

NBER, 1996, https://www.nber.org/system/files/chapters/c1567/c1567.pdf.

Murray, B. “There's Nothing Good about Working in a Cubicle, Study Finds.” Monitor on

Psychology, American Psychological Association, 2002,

https://www.apa.org/monitor/may02/cubicle.