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Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

Chapter 7
THE NATURE OF TEAMS

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. What are teams and how are they used in organizations?


2. When is a team effective?
3. What are the stages of team development?
4. How can we understand teams at work?

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

This chapter focuses on the nature of teams in organizations. The chapter begins by defining the term
“team,” as a group of people working together to achieve a common purpose for which they hold
themselves collectively accountable. It discusses how teams in organizations serve different purposes—
some teams run things, some teams recommend things, and some teams make or do things. Organizations
can be viewed as interlocking networks of permanent teams such as project teams and cross-functional
teams, as well as temporary teams such as committees and task forces. The chapter then discusses when a
team is effective by achieving high levels of task accomplishment, member satisfaction, and viability to
perform successfully over the long term. Teams help organizations through synergy in task performance,
the creation of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Teams help satisfy important needs for
their members by providing them with things like job support and social interactions. The stages of team
development – forming, storming, forming, performing, adjourning – and their somewhat distinct
management problems are covered followed by a description of how teams work.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

TEAMS IN ORGANIZATIONS
Teams and Teamwork
What Teams Do
Organizations as Networks of Teams
Cross-Functional and Problem-Solving Teams
Self-Managing Teams
Virtual Teams

TEAM EFFECTIVENESS
Criteria of an Effective Team
Synergy and Team Benefits

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Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

Social Facilitation
Social Loafing and Team Problems

STAGES OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT


Forming Stage
Storming Stage
Norming Stage
Performing Stage
Adjourning Stage

UNDERSTANDING TEAMS AND WORK


Team Resources and Setting
Team Task
Team Size
Team Composition
Team Diversity

CHAPTER LECTURE NOTES

LO 1: TEAMS IN ORGANIZATIONS

Teams and Teamwork

• A team is a group of people brought together to use their complementary skills to achieve a common
purpose for which they are collectively accountable.
• Teamwork occurs when team members accept and live up to their collective accountability by
actively working together so that all their respective skills are best used to achieve important goals.

What Teams Do

• In general, teams can be described three ways:


1. Teams that recommend things. Established to study specific problems and recommend solutions
for them, these teams typically work with a target completion date and often disband once the
purpose has been fulfilled.
2. Teams that run things. Such management teams consist of people with the formal responsibility
for leading other groups. These teams may exist at all levels of responsibility, from the individual
work unit composed of a team leader and team members to the top-management team composed
of a CEO and other senior executives.
3. Teams that make or do things. These are teams and work units that perform ongoing tasks such as
marketing, sales, systems analysis, or manufacturing. Members of these teams must have
effective long-term working relationships with one another, solid operating systems, and the
external support needed to achieve effectiveness over a sustained period of time.

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Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

Organizations as Networks of Teams

• A formal team is created and officially designated to serve specific organizational purposes.
• Permanent and ongoing teams include departments (e.g., market research department), divisions (e.g.,
consumer products division), or teams (e.g., product-assembly team) and can vary in size from very
small departments or teams of just a few people to large divisions employing a hundred or more
people.
• Temporary and short-lived teams include those created to solve specific problems or perform defined
tasks and include the many temporary committees and task forces that are important components of
any organization.

LECTURE ENHANCEMENT

Discuss with students the various formal teams to which they belong, or have belonged.

• Informal groups are unofficial and emerge to serve special interests. Two types of informal groups
include:
1. Friendship groups which consist of persons with natural affinities for one another. They tend to
work together, sit together, take breaks together, and even do things together outside of the
workplace.
2. Interest groups which consist of persons who share common interests. These may be job-related
interests, such as an intense desire to learn more about computers, or nonwork interests, such as
community service, sports, or religion.

• Social network analysis identifies the informal structures and their embedded social relationships that
are active in an organization.

Cross-Functional and Problem-Solving Teams

• A cross-functional team consists of members assigned from different functional departments or work
units. It plays an important role in efforts to achieve more horizontal integration and better lateral
relations.
• Cross-functional teams are a way of trying to beat the functional silos problem, also called the
functional chimneys problem. This problem occurs when members of functional units stay focused on
matters internal to their function and minimize their interactions with members dealing with other
functions.
• Problem-solving teams are created temporarily to serve a specific purpose by dealing with a specific
problem or opportunity. They exist as the many committees, task forces, and special project teams
that are common facts of working life.
• Employee involvement teams are a wide variety of teams whose members meet regularly to
collectively examine important workplace issues such as ways to enhance quality, better satisfy

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Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

customers, raise productivity, and improve the quality of work life. A quality circle is an example of
such a team that works on problems relating to quality and productivity.

Self-Managing Teams

• Self-managing teams (sometimes called self-directed work teams) are high-involvement work-groups
empowered to make the decisions needed to manage themselves on a day-to-day basis. It is important
that members are good at multiskilling, meaning they are able to perform many different jobs—even
all of the team’s jobs—as needed.
• Figure 7.1 in the textbook shows that members of true self-managing teams make their own decisions
about scheduling work, allocating tasks, training for job skills, evaluating performance, selecting new
team members, and controlling the quality of work.
• Expected benefits of self-managing teams:
o Better work quality
o Production flexibility and faster response to technological change
o Reduced absenteeism and turnover
o Improved work attitudes and quality of work life
• Potential difficulties of self-managing teams:
o It may be hard for some team members to adjust to the “self-managing” responsibilities
o Higher level managers may have problems dealing with the loss of the first-line supervisor
positions

Virtual Teams

The virtual team is one whose members work through computer mediation

Potential advantages of virtual teams:


• Bringing together people who may be located at great distances from one another for cost and time
efficiencies
• The electronic environment can help focus interaction and decision making on objective information
• Discussions and information can be electronically stored for continuous access and historical record
keeping

Potential downsides of virtual teams:


• Members of virtual teams can have difficulties establishing good working relationships.
• Lack of face-to-face interaction limits the role of emotions and nonverbal cues in the communication
process, perhaps depersonalizing relations among team members.

LO 2: TEAM EFFECTIVENESS

Criteria of an Effective Team

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Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

An effective team is one that achieves high levels of task performance, member satisfaction, and team
viability.
• Task performance ⎯ an effective group achieves its performance goals in the standard sense of
quantity, quality, and timeliness of work results.
• Member satisfaction ⎯ an effective group is one whose members believe that their participation and
experiences are positive and meet important personal needs.
• Team viability ⎯ an effective group has members who are sufficiently satisfied to continue working
well together on an ongoing basis and/or look forward to working together again at some future point
in time.

LECTURE ENHANCEMENT

A good way to expose students to the nature of effective groups is to ask them how they feel about
participating in groups. You will usually receive both highly positive and highly negative opinions.
Students who have been members of successful athletic, social, extracurricular, class-based, and/or work
groups will likely have quite positive attitudes. Those with less favorable experiences, such as students
who have encountered nonproductive groups in their classes, will likely be more skeptical of the utility of
groups and teams. For these students, the quip “A camel is a horse designed by a committee!” may ring
true. Point out that despite their potential drawbacks, groups and teams are an essential organizational
resource that all organizational members ⎯ but especially managers and leaders ⎯ must understand in
order to tap their full potential.

Synergy and Team Benefits

Effective groups offer the potential for synergy ⎯ the creation of a whole that is greater than the sum of
the parts.

Teams often have performance advantages over individuals acting alone in following situations:
1. When there is no clear expert in a particular task or problem.
2. When problems are complex, requiring a division of labor and the sharing of information.
3. Teams can be more creative and innovative because of their tendencies to make riskier decisions.

Potential benefits for team members include the following:


• People learn from each other and share job skills and knowledge.
• Groups are important sources of need satisfaction for their members.
• Members can provide emotional support for each other in times of crisis or pressure.
• Members’ contributions can help them experience self-esteem and personal involvement.

Social Facilitation

Social facilitation is the tendency for one’s behavior to be influenced by the presence of others in a group
or social setting.

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Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

Social facilitation theory indicates that working in the presence of others creates an emotional arousal or
excitement that stimulates behavior and therefore affects performance.
• Arousal tends to work positively when a person is proficient with the task.
• Arousal tends to work negatively when the task is not well learned.

Social Loafing and Team Problems

Social loafing, also known as the Ringelmann effect, is the tendency of people to work less hard in a
group than they would individually.

People may not work hard in groups for the following reasons:
• Their individual contributions are less noticeable in the group context.
• They prefer to see others carry the workload.

Social loafing may be diminished or prevented by doing the following:


• Define roles and tasks to maximize individual interests.
• Raise accountability by making individual performance expectations clear and identifiable.
• Tie individual rewards to their performance contribution to the group.

Other common problems of teams include:


• Personality conflicts and differences in work styles
• Team members who withdraw from active participation due to uncertainty over tasks or battles about
goals or competing visions
• Ambiguous agendas or ill-defined problems that cause fatigue and loss of motivation
• Not everyone is always ready to do group work.

LO 3: STAGES OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT

Figure 7.2 in the textbook describes the five stages of team development as forming, storming, norming,
performing, and adjourning.

Forming Stage

• In the forming stage of group development, a primary concern is the initial entry of members to a
group.
• Members are interested in getting to know each other and discovering what is considered acceptable
behavior, in determining the real task of the group, and in defining group rules.

Storming Stage

• The storming stage of group development is a period of high emotionality and tension among the
group members.

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Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

• Hostility and infighting may occur, the group typically experiences many changes, and coalitions or
cliques may form
• Members’ expectations tend to be clarified, and attention shifts toward obstacles standing in the way
of group goals.
• Individuals begin to understand one another’s interpersonal styles.
• Efforts are made to find ways to accomplish group goals while satisfying individual needs.

Norming Stage

• The norming stage of group development, sometimes called initial integration, is the point at which
the group begins to come together as a coordinated unit.
• The turmoil of the storming stage gives way to a precarious balancing of forces.
• Group members strive to maintain a positive balance and the desire for group harmony may obscure
group problems.
• Some members may mistake norming as the stage of ultimate maturity.

Performing Stage

• The performing stage, sometimes called total integration, marks the emergence of a mature,
organized, and well-functioning group.
• Complex tasks and internal disagreements are handled in creative ways.
• Members are motivated by group goals and are generally satisfied.
• The primary challenges are continued efforts to improve relationships and performance.
• Group members are able to adapt successfully to changing opportunities and demands.
• A group that has achieved total integration will reflect the maturity end of the ten continua that are
shown in Figure 7.3 from the textbook.

Adjourning Stage

• In the adjourning stage, a well-integrated group is able to disband, if required, with its work is
accomplished.
• The adjourning stage is especially important for temporary groups.
• The willingness to disband when the job is done and to work well together in future responsibilities,
group or otherwise, is an important long-run test of group success.

LECTURE ENHANCEMENT

Ask students to describe their experiences with different teams within the context of stages of group
development. What happened for them at each stage? How do the students’ experiences compare to the
ideas presented above? Did anyone have an experience wherein the group seemed to get stuck at one
particular stage ⎯ say, the storming stage? What happened, and what insights does it provide?

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Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

LO 4: UNDERSTANDING TEAMS AT WORK

Figure 7.4 in the textbook shows team effectiveness being influenced by both inputs—“right players in
the right seats,” and by processes—“on the same bus, headed in the same direction.”

LECTURE ENHANCEMENT

If you have assigned group projects to your students, be sure to relate the open systems model in Figure
7.4 to their group experiences. Throughout your discussion, ask students to indicate how the various
group inputs (i.e., tasks; goals, rewards, and resources; technology; membership diversity; and group size)
and group processes (i.e., group and intergroup dynamics) affected their group performance, satisfaction,
and future viability.

Team Resources and Setting

• Appropriate goals, well-designed reward systems, adequate resources, and appropriate technology are
all essential to support the work of teams.
• Team performance can suffer when resources—information, budgets, work space, deadlines, rules
and procedures, technologies, and the like—are insufficient to accomplish the task. By contrast,
having a supportive organizational setting within which to work can be a strong launching pad for
team success.

Nature of the Team Task

Tasks place different demands on groups, with varying implications for group effectiveness.
• The technical demands of a group’s task include its routineness, difficulty, and information
requirements.
• The social demands of a task involve relationships, ego involvement, controversies over ends and
means, and the like.
• Tasks that are complex in technical demands require unique solutions and more information
processing.
• Tasks that are complex in social demands involve difficulties reaching agreement on goals or
methods for accomplishing them.

Team Size

The size of a team, as measured by the number of its members, can make a difference in a team’s
effectiveness.
• As a team becomes larger, more people are available to divide up the work and accomplish needed
tasks, which can increase performance and member satisfaction, but only up to a point.

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Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

• As a team size continues to grow, communication and coordination problems often set in, and in turn
satisfaction may decline while turnover, absenteeism, social loafing, and team logistical problems
may increase.
• A good size for problem-solving teams is between five and seven members.

Team Composition

Team composition is the mix of abilities, skills, backgrounds, and experiences that the members bring to
the team.
• FIRO-B theory (with “FIRO” standing for fundamental interpersonal orientation) identifies
differences in how people relate to one another in teams based on their needs to express and receive
feelings of inclusion, control, and affection.
• In homogeneous teams, members may find it very easy to work together but they may also suffer
performance limitations if their collective skills, experiences and perspectives are not a good match
for complex skills.
• In heterogeneous teams, a wide pool of talent and viewpoints is available for problem solving but this
diversity may also create difficulties as members try to define problems, share information, and
handle interpersonal conflicts.
• Status congruence occurs when a person’s position within the group is equivalent in status to
positions held outside of the group. Status is a person’s relative rank, prestige, or standing in a group.

Team Diversity

• Team diversity in the form of different values, personalities, experiences, demographics, and cultures
among the members, is an important team input.
• In homogeneous teams where members are very similar to one another, teamwork usually isn’t much
of a problem. The members typically find it quite easy to work together and enjoy the team
experience.
• In heterogeneous teams where members are very dissimilar, teamwork problems are more likely. The
mix of diverse personalities, experiences, backgrounds, ages, and other personal characteristics may
create difficulties as members try to define problems, share information, mobilize talents, and deal
with obstacles or opportunities.
• Diverse teams have more resources and viewpoints available to engage in problem solving, especially
when tasks are complex and demanding. Yet these advantages are not automatic; the diversity must
be tapped if the team is to realize the performance benefits.
• Diversity–consensus dilemma is the tendency for diversity in groups to create process difficulties
even as it offers improved potential for problem solving.
• This diversity and performance relationship is apparent in interesting research newly reported
in the area of collective intelligence – the ability of a group or team to perform well across a
range of tasks.
• Figure 7.5 in the textbook illustrates member diversity, stages of team development, and team
performance.

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Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

• Group dynamics refer to the forces operating in groups that affect the way members relate to and
work with one another.

LECTURE ENHANCEMENT

If you have assigned group projects to your students, have them describe their required and emergent
behaviors.

CHAPTER STUDY GUIDE

What are teams and how are they used in organizations?


• A team is a group of people working together to achieve a common purpose for which they hold
themselves collectively accountable.
• Teams help organizations by improving task performance; teams help members experience
satisfaction from their work.
• Teams in organizations serve different purposes—some teams run things, some teams recommend
things, and some teams make or do things.
• Organizations consist of formal teams that are designated by the organization to serve an official
purpose and informal groups that emerge from special interests and relationships but are not part of
an organization’s formal structure.
• Organizations can be viewed as interlocking networks of permanent teams such as project teams and
cross-functional teams, as well as temporary teams such as committees and task forces.
• Members of self-managing teams typically plan, complete, and evaluate their own work, train and
evaluate one another in job tasks, and share tasks and responsibilities.
• Virtual teams, whose members meet and work together through computer mediation, are increasingly
common and pose special management challenges.

When is a team effective?


• An effective team achieves high levels of task accomplishment, member satisfaction, and viability to
perform successfully over the long term.
• Teams help organizations through synergy in task performance, the creation of a whole that is greater
than the sum of its parts.
• Teams help satisfy important needs for their members by providing them with things like job support
and social interactions.
• Team performance can suffer from social loafing when a member slacks off and lets others do the
work.
• Social facilitation occurs when the behavior of individuals is influenced positively or negatively by
the presence of others in a team.

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Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

What are the stages of team development?


• In the forming stage, team members first come together and form initial impressions; it is a time of
task orientation and interpersonal testing.
• In the storming stage, team members struggle to deal with expectations and status; it is a time when
conflicts over tasks and how the team works are likely.
• In the norming or initial integration stage, team members start to come together around rules of
behavior and what needs to be accomplished; it is a time of growing cooperation.
• In the performing or total integration stage, team members are well-organized and well-functioning; it
is a time of team maturity when performance of even complex tasks becomes possible.
• In the adjourning stage, team members achieve closure on task performance and their personal
relationships; it is a time of managing task completion and the process of disbanding.

How can we understand teams at work?


• Teams are open systems that interact with their environments to obtain resources that are transformed
into outputs.
• The equation summarizing the implications of the open systems model for team performance is:
Team Effectiveness = Quality of Inputs x (Process Gains - Process Losses).
• Input factors such as the nature of the task, membership composition, team size, and organizational
setting and support establish the core performance foundations of a team.
• Team processes include basic group dynamics, the way members work together to use inputs and
complete tasks.

KEY TERMS

Adjourning stage: is where teams disband when their work is finished.


Collective intelligence: is the ability of team to perform well across a range of tasks.
Cross-functional team: members from different functions or work units.
Diversity-consensus dilemma: is the tendency for diversity in groups to create process difficulties even as it offers
improved potential for problem solving.
Effective team: a team that achieves high levels of task performance, member satisfaction, and team viability.
Employee involvement team: a wide variety of teams whose members meet regularly to collectively examine
important workplace issues such as ways to enhance quality, better satisfy customers, raise productivity, and
improve the quality of work life.
FIRO-B theory: examines differences in how people relate to one another based on their needs to express and
receive feelings of inclusion, control, and affection.
Formal teams: teams created and officially designated to serve specific organizational purposes.
Forming stage: focuses around the initial entry of members to a team.
Functional silos problem: occurs when members of one functional team fail to interact with others from other
functional teams.
Group or team dynamics: are the forces operating in groups that affect the ways members work together.
Heterogeneous teams: members differ in many characteristics.
Homogeneous teams: teams in which members may find it very easy to work together but they may also suffer
performance limitations if their collective skills, experiences and perspectives are not a good match for complex
skills.

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Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

Informal groups: are unofficial and emerge to serve special interests.


Multiskilling: the ability to perform many different jobs—even all of the team’s jobs—as needed
Norming stage: is where members start to work together as a coordinated team.
Performing stage: marks the emergence of a mature and well-functioning team.
Problem-solving team: a team created temporarily to serve a specific purpose by dealing with a specific problem or
opportunity.
Quality circle: team that meets regularly to address quality issues.
Self-managing team: empowered to make the decisions to manage themselves in day-to-day work.
Social facilitation: is the tendency of one’s behavior to be influenced by the presence of others in a group.
Social loafing: occurs when people work less hard in groups than they would individually.
Social Network Analysis: used to identify the informal groups and networks of relationships that are active in an
organization.
Status congruence: involves consistency between a person’s status within and outside a group.
Storming stage: is one of high emotionality and tension among team members.
Synergy: is the creation of a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Team: a group of people brought together to use their complementary skills to achieve a common purpose for which
they are collectively accountable.
Team composition: is the mix of abilities, skills, personalities and experiences that the members bring to the team.
Teamwork: occurs when team members accept and live up to their collective accountability by actively working
together so that all their respective skills are best used to achieve important goals.
Virtual team: a team whose members convene and work together electronically via computers.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Finding the Leader in You


What distinguishes a group of people from a high-performance team? For one, it’s the way members
work with one another to achieve common goals. A vivid example is a NASCAR pit crew. When a
driver pulls in for a pit stop, the team must jump in to perform multiple tasks flawlessly and in perfect
order and unison. A second gained or lost can be crucial to a NASCAR driver’s performance. Team
members must be well trained and rehearsed to efficiently perform on race day. The NASCAR pit crews
don’t just get together and “wing” it on race days. The members are carefully selected for their skills and
attitudes, the teams practice-practice-practice, and the pit crew leader doesn’t hesitate to make changes
when things aren’t going well.
Have students identify the specific elements of a NASCAR team that make it effective. Let
students explain how the leader aids in the effectiveness of such teams. Have students further apply the
effective tools used by the NASCAR team to that which takes place/should take place at the organization
where they work.

Worth Considering….or Best Avoided?


The question is: Why aren’t more people in more organizations abandoning the sit-down meeting and
going online? One advantage of moving meetings online is that the tendency of manager-dominated
discussions is lessened. Ask students how might the “no sit down” approach work in other organizational
settings? Make a list of two or three factors that you believe are most critical to the success of virtual
teamwork.

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Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

OB in Popular Culture
In the ever popular reality show Survivor, individual players must balance cunning and competitiveness
against the need for teamwork and collaboration. In Season 10, Willard Smith finds himself a member of
the successful Koror tribe. Willard’s contributions are limited, so his tribe assigns him to tend the fire at
night. Instead of fulfilling his obligation, Willard sleeps in the only hammock available. When morning
comes, eventual winner Tom Westman complains about losing sleep because he has to “cover” for
Willard. Westman’s assessment of Willard’s motives was “why should I do it if somebody else is going
to do it for me?” shows that social loafing can be a difficult problem to address even when others know it
is happening.
Have students recall if they have ever been part of a team where one member did not contribute at
all/as much as the other team members and instead engaged in social loafing. What if anything did the
other team members do in that situation? What are some ways to prevent social loafing in teams?

Research Insight- Membership, Interactions, and Evaluation Influence Social Loafing in Groups
Research on social loafing suggests a link between decision making, organizational justice, and social
loafing in groups. Findings of the study indicate that social loafing was not significantly related to the use
of evaluation structures that identified individual contributions, was negatively related to perceived
fairness of group processes, and was positively related to perceived dispensability of one’s contributions.
In addition, the relationship between social loafing and perceived dispensability strengthened when
individual contributions were more identifiable.

Ethics in OB- Cheat Now…Cheat Later


In a recent survey of MBA students, 56 percent admitted to cheating by plagiarizing, downloading essays
from the Web, and more. Some students justify their cheating by saying, “everyone does it.” Have
students discuss how to respond in a work situation in which they are told an unethical action is the norm
for the industry or business.

Bringing OB to Life
When you put the headphones at work on and tune in some nice sounds, are you tuning out team spirit?
That’s a question that is finding its way into more and more work settings. Maybe it’s a generation y
thing. Maybe it’s just the influence of new technology on everyday living. Headphones are as common in
some offices as they are on the streets. But, when someone puts the headphones on the signal being
broadcast – intended or not--may be: Don’t disturb! Ask students how they see and should react to such
situation at work.

Group Project

Assign students randomly to groups of four. Hopefully, the students will end up with classmates with
whom they do not usually do group work. Next, have the students meet as a group and come up with a
name that reflects something they all have in common. For example: “The snowboarders” or “The middle
children” or “The pasta lovers.” Students should have to exchange a great deal of information to find this

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Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

common ground. (Tell them they cannot choose and easy name like “The university students” or “The
residents of your city.”

Next, reassign the students to new random groups and have them do the same thing on-line before the
next class period. In the following class, discuss the differences in their communication network (Figure
8.5) and their effectiveness in each medium.

OB IN ACTION

Cases for Critical Thinking The Forgotten Team Member


Team and Experiential Exercises Teamwork and Motivation
Serving on the Boundary
Eggsperiential Exercise
Self-Assessment Portfolio Team Effectiveness
Decision-Making Biases

CASE(S) FOR CRITICAL THINKING

THE FORGOTTEN TEAM MEMBER

CROSS-REFERENCE AND INTEGRATION


teamwork; motivation; diversity and individual differences; perception and attributions; performance
management and rewards; communication; conflict; leadership

CASE SUMMARY
This case presents issues of teamwork, group process, group norms, leadership, motivation, conflict, and
conflict resolution.
Christine Spencer is concerned about her organizational behavior group work project. The
allotted mark will be given to the team as a whole, and her group is experiencing difficulties with one of
its members, Mike. During the initial group meeting, Mike appeared to get along with everyone, and
seemed jovial and content. However, once the time came to begin meetings about the OB assignment,
Mike frequently could not make meetings, saying he had to work and only sending brief rough notes
along for his contribution. He avoided the group at times, but became angry and defensive when he
thought that they were meeting without him. A week later, Mike had phoned Christine and explained that
he had been having problems with his girlfriend, on top of the pressure of his course load and his job.
Although Christine empathized with him, she was concerned about the group, the project and her mark,
and wondered how to deal with the situation.
Christine should consider discussing this with the rest of the group, and then discuss the problem
with Mike. This is part of the group process that does not appear to have happened yet. They cannot go to
the instructor before attempting to address the situation themselves first. They need to figure out how to
motivate Mike, despite his obvious pressures.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 7-14


Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

RELATED WEB SITES


Description of Site Web Address
Center for the Study of Collaborative Organizations http://www.workteams.unt.edu

REVIEW QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTED ANSWERS

1. How could an understanding of the stages of group development assist Christine in leadership
situations such as this one?
Groups pass through various stages of development and the nature of the problems faced by group
members and leadership varies from stage to stage. In the first place, Christine should have used her
leadership role to better prepare the group to work together. This means that more attention should have
been given to the forming stage. Here and during the next stage of storming, the members could have
been engaged in a process of sharing needs, goals, and talents. Then issues such as differing grade
expectations and differing workload constraints could have been addressed more directly. As it is, these
problems simply emerged during the course of the group’s life, and they did so with negative
consequences. It is unlikely that total integration could be achieved in a temporary workgroup like this.
But with proper “front-end” management, the group could be enabled to operate in the norming and
performing stages for reasonable success. The key lesson in this case is that it is much better to have
everyone share their expectations and limitations in the beginning than to confront them after they start
causing problems.

2. What should Christine understand about individual membership in groups in order to build
group processes that are supportive of her workgroup’s performance?
This answer relates to the prior one. The key point is that people have different needs and expectations
when they join groups. In a course workgroup, for example, some people will want to get an “A” and will
put in a lot of work; others may take any grade that they get and won’t want to do much of anything. It is
probably best to recognize these differences and make them public since it is unlikely that major changes
in a person’s commitments will be made during the short life of temporary workgroup. Rather than have
capable group members spend valuable time complaining about and trying to influence a “loafer” or an
uncooperative member, it may be better to accept their restricted involvement and get on with the
important things. Of course, it is also legitimate for the group to assign final grades differentially based on
the amount and quality of contributions from the various members. In this way, the different needs of
members may be well served and without any feeling of inequity.

3. Is Christine an effective group leader in this case? Why or why not?


Christine is not really effective as the leader of the group in this case. She could increase her effectiveness
in this group by holding a “confrontation” meeting to get the issues on out in the open and accomplish
some of the sharing discussed in the prior two answers. However, in all likelihood her best opportunities
lie in the future when she again chairs or leads other group activities. In these cases, she can put her
learning to work and do a better job of preparing her groups for high performance by spending more time
managing the forming and storming stages of group development.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 7-15


Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

TEAM AND EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISES

TEAMWORK AND MOTIVATION

CROSS-REFERENCE AND INTEGRATION


performance management and rewards; groups and teamwork

INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES
This exercise can provide your students with an opportunity to enter into a very substantive discussion on
employee motivation and job satisfaction. Encourage your students to bring their textbooks with them the
day you administer the exercise. Then ask your students to turn to the chapter on motivation during the
administration of the exercise. Ask your students to discuss the various theories of motivation, and select
the ones that have the best chances of succeeding in this situation. In a debriefing session after the
exercise is completed, ask your students if they were “surprised” at how difficult it is to build a
motivational plan.
Answers will vary in terms of how the “worksheet” is completed. Most completed worksheets,
however, will resemble the following:
Worksheet
Individual Worker Team Member
Talks Discusses
Me oriented Team (or group) oriented
Department focus Company focus
Competitive Collaborative
Logical Holistic
Written message Spoken message
Image View
Secrecy Openness
Short-term sighted Long-term sighted
Immediate results Longer-term results
Critical Supportive
Tenure Sharing

SERVING ON THE BOUNDARY

CROSS-REFERENCE AND INTEGRATION


intergroup dynamics; group dynamics; roles; communication; conflict; stress

INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES
This is a structured exercise in which several groups are formed to solve a problem regarding
international geography. Each group determines which one of its members is the “most competent” or
knowledgeable with respect to international geography. These “experts” are formed into another group
but still retain their membership in their respective home groups. This procedure enables the experts to be
boundary persons between the expert group and their home groups. The expert group and the other groups

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 7-16


Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

are given the problem to solve, and a relatively structured interaction approach between the experts and
the home teams is followed. After solving the problem, there is a class discussion of the nature and
implications of the boundary person role.

EGGSPERIENTAL EXERCISE

CROSS-REFERENCE AND INTEGRATION


group dynamics and teamwork; diversity and individual differences; communication

INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES
This is a teamwork exercise, testing and strengthening the group process, and members’ ability to work
together under time constraints, and with limited resources. The goal is to get participants to utilize their
creative abilities, increase their creativity and motivation by feeding off of the energy of other members,
and learn to “think outside the box.” The exercise also demonstrates the importance of group
cohesiveness.

SELF-ASSESSMENT PORTFOLIO

TEAM EFFECTIVENESS

CROSS-REFERENCE AND INTEGRATION


organizational designs and cultures; leadership

INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES
This is an excellent self-assessment for the members of an ongoing team or group. It is appropriate to use
in an actual work setting or in the classroom if students are assigned to groups to complete exercises or
other projects. Stress to your students that “group work” or “teamwork” is a growing trend in business
organizations and one of the major management challenges of the future will be how to help employees
function effectively in groups (or teams). Recommend to your students that they keep a copy of this
assessment instrument, and use it throughout their careers to assess the effectiveness of the various groups
in which they participate.

DECISION-MAKING BIASES

CROSS-REFERENCE AND INTEGRATION


teams and teamwork, communication, perception

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 7-17


Organizational Behavior, 13e Instructor’s Resource Guide

INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES
There is no better way to teach students about judgmental heuristics than through experiential activities
such as those provided in this assessment. Students can readily understand these biases when they witness
themselves exhibiting them.

Question 1 deals with bias that derives from the availability heuristic. Many students will choose
“b,” believing that airplane travel is riskier. In fact, driving has the poorer safety record. The choice of
flying is often tied to the way airplane crashes are sensationally reported in the media. Events, like
airplane crashes, that are more vivid and easily remembered, make them more “available” in our memory.
They tend to influence decision making through the availability bias.

Question 2 also deals with the availability heuristic. Most people will choose “a – words that begin with
an ‘r’.” It is incorrect. The bias results as people try to solve the problem by remembering words ⎯ those
that start with “r” ⎯ such as “rich,” and those whose third letters are “r”⎯ such as “first.” Because it is
easier to remember or list words that begin with “r” (with our minds sorting much as we do when reading
a dictionary) this becomes the choice. Wrongly, we assume that because these words are more “available”
in our memory they must be the most frequent in the language.

Question 3 deals with the representativeness heuristic. The tendency is to consider how “representative”
the impression of Mark is vis-à-vis people who would typically be associated with careers in each field.
Because there is information offered that Mark is a musician this tends to dominate the impression.
Factually, MBAs tend toward management consulting work as job choices. The likelihood is that Mark,
as an MBA graduate, would do the same. Unless these data are considered and adequate consideration
given to the “MBA” degree choice Mark had made, the apparent representativeness of his musical
interests and an arts job will dominate the choice.

Question 4 also deals with the representativeness heuristic. In this example the issue is misconception of
chance, with the first four events being misconstrued as “representative” of the fifth. The correct logic in
the situation is “b” ⎯ “incorrect.” The records of the first four sales directors have no impact on the
performance record of the fifth. This is true even though our intuition would suggest otherwise. Many
people will think that because there were “four bad ones in a row” that the chances of getting a “fifth bad
one” are very low. This intuitive judgment is wrong, since the performance of the fifth is independent of
the preceding records.

Question 5 deals with the anchoring and adjustment heuristic. Most people’s answers to the question will
be influenced by the chemist’s estimate. This provides an “anchor” from which their individual judgments
will be developed. The tendency is to adjust up or down from information already provided, even though
that information may have little or no credibility. Decision bias tends to link estimates in such situations
to the original “anchor,” with moves from the anchor point often marginal rather than substantial

Reference: See Max H. Bazerman, Judgment in Managerial Decision Making, Second Edition (New York: John
Wiley & Sons, 1990); see also, Eighth Edition (2012) for other examples and an expanded discussion of these
judgmental heuristics.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 7-18


Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Les mains
propres
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Les mains propres


Essai d'éducation sans dogme

Author: Michel Corday

Release date: August 25, 2023 [eBook #71487]

Language: French

Original publication: Paris: Ernest Flammarion, 1919

Credits: Laurent Vogel and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team


at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from
images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LES MAINS


PROPRES ***
MICHEL CORDAY

Les mains propres


ESSAI D’ÉDUCATION SANS DOGME

PARIS
ERNEST FLAMMARION, ÉDITEUR
26, RUE RACINE, 26

Tous droits de traduction, d’adaptation et de reproduction réservés pour tous les


pays.
Il a été tiré, de cet ouvrage, quinze exemplaires sur papier de
Hollande, tous numérotés.

OUVRAGES DU MÊME AUTEUR

LIBRAIRIE E. FLAMMARION

Dans la même collection :

Vénus ou les Deux Risques.


Les Embrasés.
Sésame ou la Maternité consentie.
Les Frères Jolidan.
Les Demi-Fous.
La Mémoire du cœur.
Mariage de demain.
Les Révélées.
Les Convenus.
Monsieur, Madame et l’Auto.
Plaisirs d’auto.
Les Casseurs de bois.

EN PRÉPARATION :

Les Feux du Couchant.


Les Hauts Fourneaux.

E. GREVIN — IMPRIMERIE DE LAGNY


Droits de traduction et de reproduction réservés pour tous les pays.
Copyright 1919 by Ernest Flammarion.
A
LA MÉMOIRE
DE
JEAN JAURÈS
LES MAINS PROPRES

PRÉAMBULE
LE BUT ET LE PLAN

Cet essai s’adresse à ceux qui élèvent leurs enfants en dehors


des dogmes, dans un esprit de libre examen.
Quiconque a entrepris cette tâche en sait les difficultés. Dès
qu’on réfléchit avant d’agir, dès qu’on se demande pourquoi on agit,
dès qu’on ne fait plus une chose uniquement « parce qu’elle se fait »,
tout devient problème.
On a quitté la bonne vieille grande route, si commode, si facile, si
plane, et que le troupeau des générations a suivie. On a devant soi
l’espace en friche, où serpentent quelques pistes indécises, toutes
fraîches. Où est la bonne direction ? Ici, faut-il prendre à droite, à
gauche ? Parfois, on sent l’angoisse du doute. Mais il faut avancer.
Alors, on jette des vues, on s’oriente, on se décide. Et l’on marche,
en entraînant ses petits par la main.
Il faut que l’effort de chaque pionnier serve à ceux qui lui
succéderont. Il faut qu’ils puissent profiter de ses recherches, qu’ils
retrouvent les déterminations qu’il a prises, les directions qu’il a
suivies, l’empreinte de ses pas.
Cet ouvrage n’a pas d’autre but, ni d’autre plan. C’est un
ensemble de modestes solutions aux innombrables problèmes qui
se posent au long de la route. Ce n’est qu’une suite d’opinions. Et on
ne s’en étonnera pas. En effet, qu’est-ce qu’éduquer ? C’est
compléter, fortifier et redresser, par l’influence du milieu, les notions
confuses déposées dans le petit être par l’atavisme et l’hérédité. Or,
nous ne pouvons agir sur l’enfant que par notre exemple, nos
causeries, nos enseignements ; et nous ne faisons alors, en toutes
ces circonstances, qu’imprimer dans la jeune cervelle nos propres
opinions sur toutes choses…
La première partie de cet essai est précisément un exposé des
opinions générales dont nous souhaitons que les enfants soient
pénétrés, plus encore par les entretiens de leurs parents et
l’atmosphère du foyer que par la lecture des livres et les leçons des
maîtres.
La seconde partie est toute d’adaptation.
Quant au titre de cet ouvrage, il est emprunté à l’une de ces vues
morales qui se sont affranchies des anciens dogmes.
PREMIÈRE PARTIE
OPINIONS

CHAPITRE PREMIER
LE BONHEUR

Quand on se lance, hors de la grande route, hors des chemins


battus, possède-t-on une indication générale sur la direction à
suivre ? La vie humaine a-t-elle une tendance ? Car cette tendance
devrait nous guider. Nous devrions marcher dans son sens.
Oh ! Il ne s’agit pas de rechercher le destin final de l’homme. A
ce sujet, disons-nous simplement que cette planète mourra comme
les autres. Il s’agit de savoir s’il existe une aspiration commune à
tous les êtres depuis qu’ils respirent sur la terre, un signe indicateur
de la vie. Hélas ! La plupart des humains ne se posent même pas la
question. Ils naissent, subsistent, meurent, sans avoir pris
conscience de ce qu’ils ont tenté de réaliser pendant leur vie.
Et pourtant, cette tendance existe. Voyez une rue fréquentée,
vers le soir. Tous les passants courent, se hâtent, se pressent. Or, si
les buts sont différents, le mobile est unique. Obéissant tout droit à
leur instinct débridé ou tenus en lisière par le devoir, cherchant l’utile
ou l’agréable, la hautaine volupté du sacrifice ou le bas plaisir,
regardant le ciel ou la terre, tous aspirent à réaliser leur désir, tous
vont vers leur satisfaction. Oui, tous, malgré des apparences
contraires, malgré de déconcertants détours, tous veulent leur
bonheur.
C’est l’instinct primordial de toute existence. On le surprend chez
le plus infime animalcule dans le champ du microscope. Il fuit la
peine et cherche la joie, c’est-à-dire qu’il fuit le milieu où il souffre et
cherche le milieu où il se plaît. En quoi il obéit bien à la loi de la vie :
car la joie est de la vie accrue, plus intense et plus ardente ; et la
douleur est de la vie diminuée, l’acheminement vers la mort.
Mais qu’est-ce donc que le bonheur ? Ce serait folie d’en donner
une définition applicable à tous les humains, puisque ce milliard et
demi d’êtres sont différents les uns des autres, puisqu’il n’y a pas
deux visages — ni sans doute deux cerveaux — identiquement
semblables. Il y a autant de bonheurs que d’individus.
Mais peu importe qu’on demande ces joies au pouvoir, aux
honneurs, à l’art, aux voyages, aux plaisirs de la table ou de l’amour,
à la conscience de la tâche accomplie, aux sereines recherches du
laboratoire, aux élans de l’altruisme, aux félicités du propriétaire, du
collectionneur, à de modestes travaux manuels, même aux émotions
de la chasse ou de la pêche. Tous ces bonheurs ont des traits
communs. Ils donnent à l’être sa satisfaction, le sens de la plénitude.
Ils portent la vie à sa plus haute tension.
Il existe dans la nature un exemple de cette tendance continuelle
à s’accroître. C’est le végétal. Une plante, une vie humaine
s’efforcent toutes deux d’atteindre leur exubérance totale. Elles
s’élèvent, l’une vers la lumière, l’autre vers le bonheur.
Au surplus, la croissance de l’esprit est toute pareille à celle de la
plante, qui d’abord cherche sa subsistance de toutes parts,
aveuglément, par ses mille racines, dans l’obscurité de la terre, puis,
s’élançant au jour, se nourrit d’éléments plus subtils, obéit à ses
affinités et enfin s’exprime et s’épanouit dans les contours précis de
ses verdures fleuries.
Si toutes les manifestations d’une existence, actes et pensées,
pouvaient prendre une forme sensible, s’inscrire dans l’espace
comme autant de feuilles et de fleurs, l’ensemble d’une vie complète
apparaîtrait comme un bel arbre, harmonieux, touffu, luxuriant,
étendant ses branches en tous sens, dans un frémissant désir de
s’accroître encore.
Un beau rosier est l’image du bonheur.
Et, de même qu’il y a des végétaux de toutes tailles, du chêne au
brin d’herbe, mais qui tous ont ce caractère commun de remplir leur
ligne, de tendre vers leur complet développement, de même il y a
des vies de toutes envergures, les unes très modestes, les autres
magnifiques, mais qui toutes peuvent être également heureuses,
atteindre leur plein épanouissement. Ce n’est pas une question de
dimension, c’est une question de densité, de plénitude. Une destinée
heureuse, c’est une destinée remplie.
Enfin, de ce point de vue, le but de l’éducation apparaît. Éduquer,
c’est cultiver. C’est favoriser l’expansion de la plante humaine. C’est
la redresser, l’abreuver, l’émonder, la bien exposer, de façon qu’elle
soit forte, saine, qu’elle donne toutes les qualités de l’espèce, qu’elle
atteigne sa plus haute puissance.

Devant la morale du bonheur, une objection se dresse aussitôt.


Mais, dira-t-on, si chacun poursuit son bonheur, uniquement son
bonheur, chacun blessera son voisin, dans cette poursuite. Aussi
faut-il en tracer immédiatement les bornes. Oh ! elles sont indiquées
dans toutes les morales, par la simple loi : « Tu ne nuiras pas. » Il
faut s’arrêter au moment de nuire. Notre bonheur a pour limites le
bonheur du voisin.
Pour reprendre l’analogie avec le monde végétal, un groupe
humain ne doit plus être l’inculte forêt où les arbres s’étouffent
mutuellement. Une société civilisée doit être un jardin, cultivé avec
intelligence, où chaque plante, pour donner toutes ses fleurs et tous
ses fruits, arrête ses frondaisons aux frondaisons voisines.
Ainsi la plante reste d’un exemple total : monter bien droit, dans
la clarté, s’accroître, s’épanouir, s’orner de fleurs, se répandre en
parfums, donner des fruits, et ne borner son expansion qu’à
l’expansion des autres.
D’ailleurs — et ceci est capital — cette limitation elle-même
apparaît de notre intérêt. Les preuves en abondent.
Il est bien certain que si chacun s’efforçait d’observer cette loi
restrictive, tant de heurts, de drames, de souffrances seraient évités,
que l’état général de l’humanité serait meilleur. Le monde serait plus
agréable à habiter. La vie d’un village est symbolique à cet égard.
Là, par une lente sagesse, tous les habitants sont parvenus à
respecter la terre du voisin. Leur bien se borne au bien d’autrui. Ne
sont-ils pas plus heureux que s’ils dépassaient les limites de leur
propre domaine et débordaient sans cesse sur les domaines
adjacents ? Que de querelles, de luttes, de haines abolies ! Ce serait
la guerre. C’est la paix.
Il y a aussi un fait d’expérience qui, dans l’intérêt de notre propre
bonheur, doit nous détourner de nuire. C’est que, le plus souvent,
tout acte nuisible retombe sur son auteur. La loi d’équilibre, ou de
compensation, joue. Cet acte nuisible fait boomerang. On croit le
projeter contre autrui. Il revient à son point de départ. Le bonheur
conquis sur le voisin n’est plus du bonheur. On l’a payé trop cher. On
lui garde rigueur des remords qu’il éveille. Au fond, nous souffrons
plus du mal que nous faisons que du mal qu’on nous fait.
Enfin, la notion relativement récente, pour ainsi dire scientifique,
de la solidarité, vient encore confirmer qu’il est de notre intérêt de ne
pas nuire. En lésant autrui, nous ne sommes jamais sûrs de ne pas
nous léser nous-mêmes, précisément parce que toutes les cellules
sociales sont dépendantes, solidaires. Quand un point de
l’organisme s’enflamme, tout l’organisme a la fièvre. Tout ce qui nuit
à la collectivité nuit à l’individu. Celui qui, au mépris de la prudence
ou de l’hygiène, jette quelque virus dans la circulation, est-il jamais
sûr que le mal, cheminant à travers le monde, ne viendra pas
frapper l’un des siens ?
Ainsi, le souci bien compris de notre bonheur même, nous
amène à le borner. Et ceux-là se trompent qui accusent la morale du
bonheur de n’avoir ni sanctions ni freins. Elle les trouve en elle-
même.

Au surplus, la compréhension, le soin de notre propre bonheur,


ne nous détournent pas seulement de nuire, de faire le mal. Ils nous
incitent aussi à faire le bien, car ces lois d’équilibre et de réciprocité
jouent pour le bien comme pour le mal. Faire du bien à autrui, c’est
en faire à soi-même. On fait des heureux pour être heureux. On
reçoit en reflet le bonheur que l’on donne.

Oui, entre la morale religieuse, froide, tranchante, nue, austère,


et la sauvage morale de la force, la morale du browning, il y a place
pour une morale souriante, épanouie, rayonnante, la morale de la
fleur.

Il ne faut point cependant opposer la morale du bonheur aux


morales religieuses. Leur antagonisme est plus apparent que réel. Il
est dans les mots. Qui n’applique en fait la morale du bonheur ?
Il faut, au contraire, considérer cette morale humaine comme le
prolongement des morales divines. Celles-ci tenaient l’homme en
lisière. Elles guidaient ses pas. Elles le jugeaient incapable encore
de marcher seul. Ainsi, la morale chrétienne le maintenait dans le
droit chemin par la crainte de l’enfer et l’espoir du paradis.
La morale du bonheur marque un progrès. Elle correspond à un
état nouveau de civilisation. Elle estime que la créature peut enfin
s’affranchir de tutelle, qu’elle est adulte, qu’elle peut avancer sans
aide, que sa conscience avertie peut éclairer sa conduite.

Les connaissances humaines se présentent comme un tronc


dont trois rameaux ont jailli : art, science, morale. Le premier, l’art, a
donné son élan et ne progresse plus guère ; le deuxième, celui de la
science, vient de se développer prodigieusement ; le troisième, celui
de la morale, végète. Faut-il désespérer qu’il rattrape les deux
autres ?

Il faudrait embellir la vie, la fleurir. N’est-ce pas la tendance


générale des progrès humains ? En effet, quels étaient les instincts
primitifs de l’homme ? Se nourrir, se reposer, se reproduire. Voyez
comme nous avons peu à peu paré, enjolivé ces trois instincts
grossiers ! Du besoin de se nourrir, nous avons fait le délicat plaisir
de la table. Du besoin de se reposer, la volupté du lit. Et le besoin de
se reproduire est devenu l’amour…
Il y a tant à faire, pour embellir la vie, pour l’égayer. Qu’y a-t-il de
plus triste qu’une fête foraine ? Ces musées d’horreur, ces jeux de
massacre, ces manèges bruyants et laids. Ne pourrait-on pas, peu à
peu, couler à des divertissements plus jolis, sans s’écarter du goût
de la foule ? On ne dira jamais assez la tristesse des monuments
publics. Et les magasins ? Pourquoi ne sont-ils pas généralement
plus plaisants aux yeux ? Pourquoi la rôtisserie, la poissonnerie, la
boucherie, ne sont-elles pas toujours décorées de céramiques, de
marbres ? Pourquoi ne pas rechercher un décor qui soit plus joyeux
sans être plus coûteux ? Les tentatives qu’on a faites en ce sens ont
presque choqué. Il semble qu’il y ait quelque chose de sacrilège à
mettre de la grâce, de la beauté, dans le détail de la vie.

Une humanité travaillant pour le bonheur tendrait à encourager


par les plus belles récompenses tous ceux qui collaborent à ce
bonheur, l’artiste, l’inventeur… Et ce ne sont pas les grands héros.

Mettons dans notre vie de la grâce, de l’élégance, de la bonté, de


la poésie, des enthousiasmes, du plaisir. En un mot, cherchons à
l’accroître, à la fleurir, à la faire la plus opulente, la plus luxuriante.
Ayons aussi des raisons, des buts de vivre. Sans quoi, nous
descendons à la conception la plus misérable, la plus primitive de la
vie, un état inconscient où l’être ne cherche qu’à subsister au jour le
jour.

Candide disait : « Cultivons notre jardin ».


Oui. Représentons-nous chaque existence comme un jardin. Et
voyez, à surface égale, combien les jardins sont différents. L’un est
la brousse, l’autre le paradis. Tout dépend des soins qu’on y donne.

Nous ne pouvons pas prétendre au bonheur absolu, mais nous


devons chercher à l’atteindre par le plus grand nombre de points
possible.
Notre bonheur est enclos dans notre vie, comme la statue dans
le bloc de marbre. C’est à nous de le dégager. Les sculpteurs
praticiens procèdent comme si la statue existait déjà dans sa
gangue de pierre. Ils l’atteignent par des sondages nombreux, qui
s’arrêtent juste à la surface de la future image. Ils la touchent par
points. Nous devons être les praticiens de notre bonheur.

Il faut saisir les beaux instants, c’est-à-dire ceux où l’on est


heureux sans nuire. Et il faut aussi les proclamer, en soi, autour de
soi. On dit plus volontiers : « Quel sale temps ! » que : « Le beau
temps… » Il faut que nos propos soient à l’image de la vie, qui roule
le bon et le mauvais. Ne serait-ce que pour régler notre pensée sur
nos paroles et nous pénétrer de ce sens de l’équilibre.
Il y a d’ailleurs un bonheur dont nous ne prenons pas assez
conscience : l’absence de malheur. Par exemple, que de justes
petites voluptés on se procure à se rendre compte qu’on ne souffre
plus de maux familiers dont on a pâti. Nous n’en jouissons pas.
Nous ne nous disons pas assez : « Quelle chance de ne pas avoir
mal à la tête, mal aux dents ! »
Au fond, tous nos actes tendent vers l’utile ou l’agréable. Cette
formule en deux mots enferme notre vie. C’est un vase qui la
contient. A nous d’en faire une belle amphore, de l’élargir vers le
haut, d’y mettre toutes les belles fleurs de l’élégance, de l’art, de
l’altruisme.

L’aspect d’une roseraie publique, comme celle de Bagatelle, un


dimanche, où la foule lente, recueillie, discrète, se promène sous les
arceaux de fleurs, apparaît une anticipation, une vision de demain.
CHAPITRE II
LE TEMPS

La foi dans l’avenir. — La connaissance de l’avenir. — Le présent vaut le passé.


— L’héritage du passé.

Foi dans l’avenir.

Nous aussi, nous croyons à une vie meilleure, à une vie future.
Mais nous ne la garantissons pas dans cet au-delà de la mort que
nul encore n’a sondé d’un regard certain. Notre vie meilleure, c’est
celle de nos descendants. Notre vie meilleure, c’est l’Avenir. Elle
n’est pas dans le ciel. Elle est sur la terre. C’est la vie que nous
forgeons pour ceux qui nous succéderont. Nous y croyons parce que
nous y travaillons, parce qu’elle est le prolongement de notre vie.
Voilà l’acte de foi qui doit nous soutenir au cours de notre existence.
Cette vie meilleure, nous ne l’attendons pas dans la résignation,
sous le joug des dogmes. Nous la préparons, nous apportons notre
humble pierre à l’édifice, dans le courage et l’allégresse.

Devant les vagues monstrueuses, stupides et magnifiques qui se


jettent et se brisent contre la jetée, je pense que les hommes ont
dompté les forces extérieures de la nature et qu’ils n’ont pas encore
dompté les forces intérieures, c’est-à-dire celles qui sont en eux : la
colère, la haine, la méchanceté, celles qui les poussent à nuire, à
tuer… Ils ont asservi les flots, les vents, la foudre ; ils n’ont point
encore refréné leurs instincts barbares.
Mais qui donc aurait osé prédire aux premiers hommes ces
victoires sur la nature déchaînée ? Et qui peut assurer que les
hommes futurs ne couronneront pas cette victoire, en l’achevant sur
eux-mêmes ?

Dans les grandes maladies qui frôlent la mort, les êtres se


montrent souvent si beaux, si grands, si délicats, si exquis, si
touchants, qu’ils dévoilent une humanité supérieure.
Ils montrent ce qu’ils auraient pu être, ce qu’ils auraient été s’ils
avaient pu se libérer de toutes les entraves qui les retenaient de
montrer le meilleur d’eux-mêmes.
On dirait qu’au seuil de la mort ils voient l’avenir des hommes et
déjà le réalisent.

J’entends des gens dire que nous avons la même mentalité que
l’homme des cavernes, que la morale n’a pas fait de progrès,
parallèlement à la science et sous son influence.
Est-ce bien sûr ? Et surtout s’est-il écoulé assez de temps pour
que ces progrès nous soient sensibles ? Les phénomènes
d’évolution, ceux qui ont sculpté la surface de la terre, ceux qui ont
peu à peu réalisé l’être humain, sont tellement lents, exigent tant de
milliers d’années !
Les notions acquises depuis quelques siècles seulement
modifient peut-être l’esprit de l’homme. Mais l’empreinte n’est pas
encore assez profonde pour que nous discernions ce relief nouveau.
Prenez en exemple la conception de l’infini, la conception qu’il y
a des astres derrière les astres, qu’il n’y a pas de limites à l’espace.
Elle est récente, puisque les anciens voyaient un univers borné,
voûté. Elle est fille de l’astronomie moderne. Or, cette notion de
l’infini, de notre terre perdue comme un grain de boue, comme une
cellule isolée d’un organisme immense, cette notion n’est-elle pas
pour nous montrer la petitesse, la vanité de nos querelles, de nos
luttes, et par conséquent pour améliorer peu à peu la morale ? Ne

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