With 80% of American corporations supporting work groups as a way to foster innovation, BusinessWeek (April 28, 2008) shared some interesting statistics on the practice.  Among the findings from the Knoll Inc.; Steelcase opinion research:

• Only 51% of women and 40% of men like working together with others as a way to learn,
• Only 25% of women and 36% of men like working together to complete tasks,
• When forced to work together, as a preference for group size:
• Working in groups of 2:                      9%
• Working in groups of 3:                    54%
• Working in groups of 4 or more:        27%
• working alone:                                 10%

If this is the prevailing attitude in your organization, employees may not prefer team efforts because they fear losing recognition for their efforts.  They may also fear being perceived as less skillful because they couldn't handle the task themselves. 

When team efforts make organizational sense, it is important that managers stress the value to the organization from the collaborative effort and to ensure all members of the team receive their due recognition for their efforts.