The purpose of team improvement and teambuilding should include the encouragement of individual team members to cooperate together in the team's work environment, interacting and integrating skills into a united effort so that each individual's goal achievement is connected to the greater overall team goal achievement.

It's not enough to create a feeling of interdependence among team members where each one feels they are all in the same boat together. This can force people to get along with each other as they face no alternative option. When they then take part in competitive activities, the end result is only about winning and all too often there is nothing they can take back to the work place of lasting useful value.

Poorly thought out activities confuse strong competitiveness with overt aggression. This should not be the purpose of team building activities. A cohesive team that can work successfully together doesn't need aggression to achieve its goals. Such activities can be demeaning to individuals who are often forced to compete at a level that is largely meaningless in the work place.

The only purpose of engaging in such activities should be to unite a group of individuals who all need each other in order to achieve their individual goals, as well as the group's common goals. This can be done by increasing or creating an understanding of common commitment to the team goals.

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