Self-Directed Work Teams Essays - Teams, Social Psychology

Self-Directed Work Teams Self directed work teams are defined as a small number of people with complementary skills, who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals and approach, for which they hold themselves mutually accountable (Katzenbach & Smith, 1993). Collaborative self directed work teams can get complex projects done at faster rates than the traditional boss-worker arrangement, because the decision making process is made faster and more effective in a team. Empowering teams to make decisions about their work also enhances satisfaction and reduces turnover (Berger, 1998). Self directed work teams involve employees in a specific area, or those who are working on a specific product or process. Self directed work teams can be any size, but are generally not more than 12 to 15 employees. The work team makes the decisions that would normally be made by a supervisor or manager, and might interact with the company's suppliers and customers, whether they are inside or outside the company. In some companies, self-directed work teams will also take over many of the human resource functions as well (Cotton, 1993). Self directed work teams have also become one of the more changing approaches to employee involvement, and has been increasing in popularity within the last several years. Companies such as Proctor & Gamble, Digital Equipment, General Mills, Federal Express and other well known companies, are reorganizing their employees into self directed work teams. In a recent survey, 476 Fortune 500 companies found that although only 7% of the work force is organized into self directed work teams, management at half of these companies said that they will be relying on them more in years ahead. (Cotton, 1993). Establishing Self-Directed Work Teams. There are nine basic steps in establishing self-directed work teams. 1. Developing a shared vision, 2. Empowerment, 3. Training, 4. Presence of a supportive culture, 5. Developing performance expectations and feedback, 6. Establishing boundaries, 7. Developing an appropriate pay system, 8. Constructing the appropriate physical layout of facilities (where applicable), and 9. Developing friendly union interaction. (Berger, 1998),(Cotton, 1993). 1.Developing a shared vision. A well-developed mission statement for the team is needed to provide for the direction of the team's work. A common vision of leadership must be in place and has to be supportive by everyone in management, with a complete understanding of the concept of teams. Along with this vision, the entire organization has to thoroughly prepare itself to change its culture to support the teams. The change has to be done in a series of incremental steps so that everyone will understand the vision and the philosophy of the process. The reason for this is because employee attitudes are sometimes difficult to change, and it is important that they have an idea of what they will be going through and how it will affect the way they perform their jobs. 2.Empowerment. The team has to have enough authority and decision-making power to accomplish its vision or mission. Management has become more visionary and supportive and less fixed on micro managing the team so that the team will be able function with less directing. 3.Training. An ongoing process of training is a necessity in order for the team to accomplish its goals, while enabling the team to work together efficiently. Team members also have to be trained in skills that allow them to function together as well. These skills include: A. Conflict management, B. Assertiveness, C. Communication (listening to others in particular), D. Problem solving and E. Decision-making. While team members are going through the training process, it is also important that facilitators and supervisors work with the teams, and develop skills such as coaching and counseling that will help make the teams successful. 4. Presence of a supportive culture. Top management must be supportive and patient with themselves and with the members of the teams after the training process is complete. It will take time for the teams and the Supervisors to get use to each other during the development of the skills they have just learned. This can sometimes take a lot of time, and management has to have patience and use other facilitators to enhance and stabilize and ongoing process of development. 5. Performance expectations and feedback. Performance