SYNERGY... This basically means the interaction of elements, that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements contribution and more. It's the creation of a whole(Unit) that is greater than the sum parts. Finally the interaction of two or more agents for effective optimal performance.
iATN: International Automotive Technician Network
ASE: Automotive Service Excellence
SAE: Society of Automotive Engineers just to mention a few, all these associations were formed to bring about efficiency, growth, stability and unity within the industry in other parts of the world. This can be emulated, before now we had the city and guilds, trade test just to mention a few.

I have characterized the social struggle as centrifugal and social solidarity as centripetal. Either alone is productive of evil consequences. Struggle is essentially destructive of the social order, while communism removes individual initiative. One leads to disorder, the other to degeneracy. What is not seen, the truth that has no expounders is that the wholesome, constructive movement consists in the properly ordered combination and interaction of both these principles. This is social synergy, which is a form of cosmic synergy, the universal constructive principle of nature.

A dynamic state in which combined action is favored over the difference of individual component actions. Behavior of whole systems unpredicted by the behavior of their parts taken separately, known as emergent behavior. The cooperative action of two or more stimuli (or drugs), resulting in a different or greater response than that of the individual stimuli.

In the natural world, synergistic phenomena are ubiquitous, ranging from physics (for example, the different combinations of quarks that produce protons and neutrons) to chemistry (a popular example is water, a compound of hydrogen and oxygen), to the cooperative interactions among the genes in genomes, the division of labor in bacterial colonies, the synergies of scale in multi-cellular organisms, as well as the many different kinds of synergies produced by socially organized groups, from honeybee colonies to wolf packs and human societies.

In the context of organizational behavior, following the view that a cohesive group is more than the sum of its parts, synergy is the ability of a group to outperform even its best individual member. We know that effective groups actively looked for the points in which they disagreed and in consequence encouraged conflicts amongst the participants in the early stages of the discussion. In contrast, the ineffective groups felt a need to establish a common view quickly, used simple decision making methods such as averaging, and focused on completing the task rather than on finding solutions they could agree on.

In a technical context, its meaning is a construction or collection of different elements working together to produce results not obtainable by any of the elements alone. The elements, or parts, can include people, hardware, software, facilities, policies, documents: all things required to produce system-level results. The value added by the system as a whole, beyond that contributed independently by the parts, is created primarily by the relationship among the parts, that is, how they are interconnected. In essence, a system constitutes a set of interrelated components working together with a common objective, fulfilling some designated need.

If used in a business application, synergy means that teamwork will produce an overall better result than if each person within the group were working toward the same goal individually. However, the concept of group cohesion needs to be considered. Group cohesion is that property that is inferred from the number and strength of mutual positive attitudes among members of the group. As the group becomes more cohesive, its functioning is affected in a number of ways. First, the interactions and communication between members increase. Common goals, interests and small size all contribute to this. In addition, group member satisfaction increases as the group provides friendship and support against outside threats.

Have you ever taking time to think into how Google Map works, I know right now I sound abstract and weird, some might even be wondering "what has google map got to do with automobile repair". Well is quiet simple, Google map applies the synergy concepts, using our cumulative cell phone data service to form a map around the world. How is this done, when we install Google map on our phones, we are always asked to allow Google map use our location, by allowing it means you have agreed to the terms and conditions once you click "Yes", at this point your phone will be included in the map, this provides information to Google map severs at the back end, by applying the location of all the cell phones in the world, this enables Google map to inform you about where there is traffic, direction to wherever you wish to go to in the would as long as there is a cell phone using internet data and more, that's the Power of Synergy...

After all these have being said, Synergy has its disadvantages, I have taken time to understudy all the scenarios and narrowed down to the two cases below

1. The negative aspects of group cohesion that have an effect on group decision-making and hence on group effectiveness. The risky shift phenomenon is the tendency of a group to make decisions that are riskier than those that the group would have recommended individually. Group Polarisation is when individuals in a group begin by taking a moderate stance on an issue regarding a common value and, after having discussed it, end up taking a more extreme stance.

2. Potential negative consequence of group cohesion is group think. Group think is a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in cohesive group, when the members' striving for unanimity overrides their motivation to appraise realistically the alternative courses of action.

Conclusion:
In all, Synergy in the automobile repair industry will bring about standards with respect to automobile repairs patterns, which favors the vehicle owner and ensures better enumeration for the technicians.

My Thoughts....
The Automobile industry in Nigeria remains one the most untapped industries with great potentials, this is evidenced by the continuous use of outdated diagnostic and repair patterns both in human resources and equipment respectively, due to poor synergy within the Technicians.