Excelling together
The Boston Red Sox, who finished last in their division last year, in the offseason deftly combined a motley crew of free agents, rookies, castoffs from other teams, and veterans to win a World Series title Wednesday night. Most analysts say that the team, which played well for its whole six-month season and in the playoffs, somehow grew to become more than the sum of its parts. To gain some understanding of why these bearded Red Sox succeeded so well, the Gazette spoke with Jeffrey T. Polzer, Harvard Business School’s UPS Foundation Professor of Human Resource Management, about the aspects of team chemistry that separate champions from cellar dwellers in sports, business, and elsewhere. GAZETTE: What defines group or team chemistry, and what are the key elements to that? POLZER: How to build team chemistry is a longstanding question, and we’re still searching for answers. There are some elements that help. Let’s...