Teamwork and Leadership in the Thai Soccer Team Rescue Mission

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of the teamwork exhibited during the rescue of the Thai soccer team trapped in the Tham Luang Cave. It explores the collaborative efforts of various teams, including divers, government agencies, and volunteers, highlighting the importance of shared responsibilities, specialization, and effective communication. The essay discusses the application of motivational theories, such as McGregor's X and Y theory, and emphasizes the significance of accountability, continuous effort, and learning opportunities. It identifies key factors that contributed to the mission's success, such as listening skills, diversified abilities, strong leadership, commitment, and encouragement. Furthermore, the essay examines the specific roles played by different groups involved in the rescue, including divers, the Thai Navy Seal team, government agencies, farmers, and citizens. Finally, the essay reflects on the lessons learned from this teamwork experience, focusing on the acquisition of skills, the importance of critical thinking, and the qualities necessary for effective teamwork, such as commitment, cooperation, and time management, and how these will be applied in the author's future career.

Teamwork on Thai Soccer Team Rescue Mission 1
Teamwork on Thai Soccer Team Rescue Mission
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Teamwork on Thai Soccer Team Rescue Mission 2
Introduction
Teamwork is defined as collaborated efforts that a group of people sacrifices in order to
adequately and efficiently achieve a common goal or task (Driskell, Salas and Phull, 2018 p.
334). Teamwork is mostly determined by the willingness of individuals to achieve a certain goal.
In the rescue incidence, various teams including cave divers, soldiers, government agencies and
even farmers demonstrated their teamwork by contributing their efforts tirelessly to see the lives
of the soccer team restored (McDaniel, and Salas, 2018 p. 305). This essay will discuss the
importance of teamwork in rescue of soccer team that was trapped in Tham Luang Cave, the
effectiveness of the parameters that made the rescue of soccer team successful and the major
roles of teamwork in the rescue mission in Thailand. In addition to that, the essay will also
elaborate some of the lessons that I learnt from teamwork experience from the rescue team and
how these lessons will help me in my future career.
The rescue of the 12 boys who were trapped in underground caves clearly demonstrated
the importance of teamwork. In the context of the rescue mission, the tasks that were meant to
save the lives of the soccer team were accomplished within nine days. Every team including
divers, government agencies, Thai Navy Seal team among others shared the required
responsibilities leading to faster retrieval of the affected victims. The shared responsibilities
mostly depended on area of specialization. According to Aveling et al., 2028, p.115-120,
pecialization enabled the rescue team to respond to the fate on time and save the soccer team.
The hard work of Thailand team to rescue the victims was supported by X and Y theory
that was developed by Dauglas McGorates. The theory outlines the ways in which teams are
motivated during an occurrence. It states that people are mobilized to start an activity that has an
outcome (Lawter, Kopelman, Prottas 2015, p. 84-101). In our scenario, People were motivated
by their current situation making them to contribute their efforts to achieve their target of saving
the soccer team in Thailand.
Teamwork also increased accountability of each member of the team in the rescue
mission. Every person in the team struggled with all their means to avoid letting down the
families of the soccer team. Teamwork ensured that each person in the team performed their role
accordingly to ensure that they achieve their mission of saving lives. On this notion, the strength
theory is applied and it highlights that successful teamwork must never give up instead teams

Teamwork on Thai Soccer Team Rescue Mission 3
should work continually and remain strong in given situations until the indented success is
achieved (Hu, and Liden, 2015 p. 1102-1127)
The other importance of teamwork in the rescue mission was to establish a learning
opportunity to team members. The cooperation that made the rescue mission to succeed provided
a learning forum that enabled team members to acquire skills that they did not have before the
occurrence of the accident (Rodriquez, 2017 p. 117-140). Team members come up with different
strategies that were meant to save the dear lives of the soccer team. The theory of Isabel Briggs
indicates that teamwork is so essential such that team members are able to contributes their
views concerning an occurrence and these ideas enables the team to understand the problem and
device possible practices to solve it.
For the rescue mission to be effective, various factors were applied. These factors
included listening skills, diversified abilities, effective communication, good leadership,
commitment and encouragement (Gorman, D’Mello, Stevens, Burke 2018, p.161). Listening
enabled the teams to achieve a positive feedback since all the finer details are followed. They
listened keenly to the procedures that were effectively communicated by their leaders concerning
their mission which made them to save the twelve lives. Possible directions were given to trace
where the children were and the directions were followed keenly leading to the success of the
rescue mission.
Diversified abilities enabled team members to specialize in the responsibilities that they
were well versed for the success of the rescue. There were those that dived, those that
contributed fund, those that provided first aid, those that encouraged the affected families.
According to Flores-Fillol et al., 2017 p. 1-29, every team has team leaders that foresee the role
of leading the team in a better way. The success of rescue mission demonstrated good leadership
among the saving teams. Good leaders should have the ability of delegating duties and solving
any problems that may act as obstacles to the set goal (Bajwa, Haldar, and Phull 2017, p.33-35)
The team leaders maintained a conducive and coherent environment for each person thus
enabling the rescue mission to be achieved. The commitment of team members also made the
rescue mission effective. According to Puente-Palacios, and Santos, (2018 p.465-490). Team
members were committed to the roles that they were playing towards the rescue mission. Finally,

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continuous encouragements also made the rescue mission successful. Rescue teams were
encouraged to put more efforts so that they can save the boys thus making the mission effective.
The rescue team comprised of different people who played different roles (Oxelmark,
Amorøe, Carlzon, and Rystedt, 2017 p. 8). Their roles were summed up and the mission was
positively accomplished. These roles were played by the divers, Thai Navy Seal team,
government agencies, farmers and the citizens of Thailand. Both the divers and the Thai Navy
Seal team dived into the waters to search for the trapped soccer team. Although it was tough,
they managed to save the lives (Sanyal, and Hisam, 2018 p.15-22). Government agencies played
a major role of providing financial support for the purpose of hiring required equipment to draw
water from the caves and save the lives of the dear ones. Farmers allowed their land to be
flooded with water to ensure that the soccer team was alive despite the fact that their crops were
being destroyed. Citizen of Thailand played a major role of comforting and praying for the
affected families.
Conclusion
The trapped soccer team in Tham Luang Cave news in Thailand terrified both the family
and other people in the county. The incident brought together many people from all over the
country who formed a team for the purpose of saving the lives of the young boys. The formed
group comprised of the divers, Thai Navy Seal team, government agencies extra who played
significant roles in the rescue mission. The team was to make sound decision to solve the
existing problem. The rescue mission succeeded due to various factors like effective
communication, listening skills, diversified abilities, good leadership and commitment.

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References
Aveling, E.L., Stone, J., Sundt, T., Wright, C., Gino, F. and Singer, S., 2018. Factors influencing
team behaviors in surgery: a qualitative study to inform teamwork interventions. The Annals of
thoracic surgery, 106(1), pp.115-120.
Bajwa, S.J.S., Haldar, R. and Phull, P., 2017. Neuroanaesthesia and neurocritical care: A
coordinated teamwork for advancements and better outcomes. Northern Journal of ISA, 2(2),
pp.33-35.
Driskell, J.E., Salas, E. and Driskell, T., 2018. Foundations of teamwork and
collaboration. American Psychologist, 73(4), p.334.
Flores-Fillol, R., Iranzo, S. and Mane, F., 2017. Teamwork and delegation of decisions within
the firm. International Journal of Industrial Organization, 52, pp.1-29.
Gorman, J.C., D’Mello, S.K., Stevens, R.H. and Burke, C.S., 2018. characteristics chapter 15–
and mechanisms of team effectiveness in dynamic environments. Design Recommendations for
Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Volume 6-Team Tutoring, 6, p.161.
Hu, J. and Liden, R.C., 2015. Making a difference in the teamwork: Linking team prosocial
motivation to team processes and effectiveness. Academy of Management Journal, 58(4),
pp.1102-1127.
Lawter, L., Kopelman, R.E. and Prottas, D.J., 2015. McGregor's theory X/Y and job
performance: A multilevel, multi-source analysis. Journal of Managerial Issues, pp.84-101.
McDaniel, S.H. and Salas, E., 2018. The science of teamwork: Introduction to the special
issue. American Psychologist, 73(4), p.305.
Puente-Palacios, K. and Santos de Souza, M.G., 2018. Professional self-concept: Prediction of
teamwork commitment. Revista de Psicología (PUCP), 36(2), pp.465-490.

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Sanyal, S. and Hisam, M.W., 2018. The impact of teamwork on work performance of
employees: A study of faculty members in Dhofar University. IOSR Journal of Business and
Management, 20(3), pp.15-22.
Oxelmark, L., Amorøe, T.N., Carlzon, L. and Rystedt, H., 2017. Students’ understanding of
teamwork and professional roles after interprofessional simulation—a qualitative
analysis. Advances in Simulation, 2(1), p.8.
Rodriquez, J., 2017. Doing More with Less: Intensive Care and the Logic of Flexible Teamwork.
In Emerging Conceptions of Work, Management and the Labor Market (pp. 117-140). Emerald
Publishing Limited.

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Part 11: Lessons learnt from team work experience and how the lessons will assist me in my
future career.
Teamwork plays a major role in solving technical problems that may arise in different
environments including classwork. Throughout this course, I have been able to acquire relevant
knowledge and skills that are key to my future career. My teamwork experience has significantly
enabled me to appreciate the importance of teamwork in schoolwork and in the outside
environment. Teamwork enabled me to understand some of the technical concepts that were so
hard to understand on individual basis. I have gained relevant skills of researching in academic
journals and also increased the skills of analyzing and understanding questions before answering
them. Through discussions of different ideas from group members has greatly enabled me to
have courage and insight for tackling issues in different situations and coming up with informed
decision through critical and creative thinking.
While in the tutorials, I have also learnt different approaches that are used in solving of any
argument that may arise in the working team such that the realized output is acceptable to all
team members. Teamwork has enabled me to learn much about myself such that I have realized
my potential of achieving a higher grade if only I put an extra effort to what I do daily. The
teamwork experience has eliminated the fear of speaking in among people. In future, this will
enable me to stand firm and speak out my concerns in areas that I will be employed. Teamwork
has really provided an added merit of enhancing my skills in writing in a most effective and
efficient way. Writing skills will enable me to deliver quality writing related tasks that will be
allocated to me during my career time.
In my experience, I have also learned on the qualities that team members should have so achieve
the intendent outcome. Commitment, cooperation, time saving and responsibility are among the
factors that members of a team must have. After understanding the above aspects, I am certain
that I must commit myself to delegated duties in my career so as to achieve the organizational
goal. Cooperative and responsible teams yields the best solutions for an idea. It’s the cooperation

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and responsibility of the team that enabled the tutorials to run well. Time factor is another factor
that I was able to learn from the rest.
The efforts to attend and finish the tutorials was as a result of keeping time. I was able to learn
the essence of making a plan in my remaining studies such that all my assignments and reading
fit in my plan so that I will not be caught up with time when am not prepared. Time management
will enable me to work under stipulated timeframe in my career without running into deadlines.
My experience in teamwork has taught me on how to deal with different behaviors of people in
the groups. A Team is comprised of individuals with different ideas, feeling, opinions and
interest and it will be better if we appreciate each member according to how they behave in
groups.
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