The Transformers Autobots Vs Decepticons

The Transformers was an old cartoon TV series targeted to kids portraying many aspects of teamwork. It consisted of two forces, the Autobots and Decepticons. They were a alien race from planet Cybertron that crash landed on Earth. They have been rivals for millions of years and have been pursuing victory over eachother ever since. They are two different types of teams with two different types of approaches.

The Decepticons

Known as ruthless powerful robots who seek vengeance and victory over the Autobots. There main goal is to destroy the Autobots using their strength and powerful weapons. They seem to lack strategy because they attack the Autobots randomly and sometimes without any plan. Their lack of organization is what hurts them the most. They are beings with poor morale and poor teamwork which is why when the time comes they lack a good tactical improvisation.Their Leader Megatron is a powerful influence on the Decepticons because he makes all the decisions. He is a decisive Leader and only believes what he thinks is right. Due to this undemocratic team structure some Decepticons think otherwise about his decisions. Loyalty is a big problem with the Decepticons. For example, a Decepticon named Starscream pretends to be loyal but really is a traiter and wants to lead the Decepticons himself. In the cartoon movie "The Transformers" Megatron was laying on the floor after battle and Starscream kicked him and said, how do you feel mighty Megatron?" He was eager to become the new leader of the Decepticons. Overall there was much betrayal within this team and no one really respected one another; their ego gets the best of them.

The Autobots
 

As soon as they crashed landed on earth, they teamed up with the humans. They are welcoming beings and care for one another as well as their surroundings. They protected the humans from Decepticon attacks and in return the Autobots gained their trust. They are a team who show respect and loyalty to one another. They are close in the sense that they get along and understand each other. They listen and acknowledge each others ideas. The Autobots know how to organize their plans and how to implement them properly. They are intelligent, they think ahead and act with their heads, not with their weapons. For the most part every battle between the Autobots and Decepticons end the same way. The Decepticons attack, the Autobots respond, the Decepticons retreat. This is because the Autobots use the four key indicators of team success. Courage, if it wasn't for courage no one would step up and take on the big challenges. In the movie "The Transformers" Optimus prime realized the only way the war would end was by finding Megatron and destroying him himself. He quoted, "Megatron must be stopped, no matter the cost". Growth, the Decepticons were getting stronger with new transformers implemented into their team, so a solution was found. New Autobots were designed called the Dinobots. They became the strongest Autobots and took the Decepticons by surprise. Commitment, the Autobots are committed to protecting each other and making sure that everyone has the same goals, which is to protect planet earth from the Decepticons. Discipline, Optimus prime the leader of the Autobots provides passive discipline within his team. He helps and allows his team to think on their own, he does not tell them how to think. The Autobots are highly disciplined and this keeps the team focused at any task at hand.You can refer to http://www.peakperformance2.com/solution-and-services/team-performance.html#2 for the four key indicators of team success.


The Transformers show the differences between good teams and bad teams. Growing up watching these cartoons I took a lesson from all this. I took note of what to do in a team with the Autobots and what not to do with the Decepticons. Let me know if the Transformers helped you think differently about team work as you were growing up. Comment below, and as Optimus prime would say "Transform and roll out!"


-Gianni