The big thing about cooperative learning is the concept of interdependence. Each student has a role to fill and individual strengths to help the group succeed. Cooperative learning encourages active learning, team building and confidence.
This practice can not just be used in the classroom. A New York Times article titled "Team-Spirited Classrooms" shows some of the parallels between cooperative learning in the classroom and business. The article also discusses one of the difficulties that a classroom can have. For cooperative learning to be effective the tasks given to students must be both challenging and meaningful. The team must then be able to evaluate themselves and their roles in the group after the task is finalized.