Team Production

Team Production

I think a good example of team production relating to this article would be that of the activities of a custom automobile shop. Let's take a hypothetical example where the auto shop receives a complex order from a wealthy customer. The customer wants a special engine and transmission which requires the work of the specialized mechanic in the shop. The order also required a state-of-the-art sound system which is handled by the audio specialist. The customer desired low-profile tires and chrome rims which requires the work of the tire specialist. Lastly the customer wanted a designer interior and a custom paint job, both of which require the interior specialist and the exterior designer.

We have established 5 unique roles. The mechanic, the audio technician, the tire specialist, the interior designer, and the exterior designer. These 5 roles are unique and held by experts in their field. The customer came to them because they are the only ones who could fulfill his order. In this situation there would be no ability to outsource any work to a third party. Also, without one of these 5 men putting in their work, the product will be unfinished and the customer will unsatisfied and not purchase it. Each individual job in this case turns out to be balanced so that no worker is putting in a substantially greater amount of time or effort than any other and all of the workers have the same amount of experience in their respective field so that none of their work is more valued than another.

When it comes time to deliver the auto to the customer, he is satisfied and pays them a large check for their work. After all material expenses are subtracted each worker receives a percentage cut of the commission of the sale. All workers are satisfied with their cut and take the money happily. This is an example of what seems to be near-perfect cooperation in team production. All inputs equally value their own labor with their partners labor and the customer values their labor equally as well. In this situation it was completely necessary for all workers to cooperate to receive their cut, nobody would receive any money if not all aspects of the project were completed.

While this example seems to show that team production is fair, balanced, and maximizes total utility, there were several assumptions that were made to reach that conclusion that may not always hold. In reality, these workers may not all be perfectly equally experienced or work the same amount of time on the project and these would be major causes for a different distribution of payment that may result in inequalities.

The conclusions made in the article are somewhat similar to this because I believe this example demonstrates that income distribution will be fair in perfectly balanced circumstances but these are so rare that inequalities are bound to develop.