For more information
Call 1-800-351-0222
Call 1-800-351-0222
WORK TEAMS.
Term Paper ID:26122
Essay Subject:
Analyzes concept & practice, purpose, communication, responsibility, benefits for members & company, creativity, goals.... More...
11 Pages / 2475 Words
5 sources, 10 Citations,
APA Format
$44.00
More Papers on This Topic
Paper Abstract:
Analyzes concept & practice, purpose, communication, responsibility, benefits for members & company, creativity, goals.
Paper Introduction:
People have always worked in teams from the first moment when one of our ancient forebears wanted to life a rock that was too heavy for him to pick up alone groups began to be formed to accomplish collectively what no one individual could ever do by himself or herself. Like all primates, humans are social animals down the very core of our genetic code so much so that people might be seen to have a biological compulsion to work with each other.
But all working groups are not equal. There is an aphorism: "A camel is a tiger designed by a committee." In contrast, we have all had many personal experiences in which working by oneself would have been far more efficient and efficacious than working with a particular group.
These seemingly conflicting aspects of human behavior mean
Text of the Paper:
The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper.
When work teams fail to work smoothly together, managers (who havebeen taught to take responsibility for meeting company-wide goals) oftenfeel that they have failed personally. Philosophically (and thusin many ways organizationally), work teams are the direct opposite ofassembly lines, where each worker assumes responsibility for only a narrowtechnical function (Orsburn et al., 199 , p. 4. Orsburnet al detail the specific skills that managers new to a work team modelshould be trained in. (1997, Feb. A football team model of work is one of hierarchies and subdivisions(with clear ranks like head coach, assistant coaches and specialistsassigned to sub-teams). D2:2 ). Pretty soon, Juan from production wanders by, joins theconversation -- or gripe session -- and suggests a solution that might workbut has some rough edges. D2:2 ).Work teams have attracted both praise and condemnation; they seem to be oneof those topics about which people have strong feelings one way of theother. There is an aphorism: "A camelis a tiger designed by a committee." In contrast, we have all had manypersonal experiences in which working by oneself would have been far moreefficient and efficacious than working with a particular group. (1994). This form of interdisciplinary work team is a common one in today'sbusiness world and tends to form, dissolve and reshape itself continuallyin today's workplace. One team that has found success with the model is Colgate-Palmolive.To make the work team process as efficient and rewarding as possible attheir company, Palmolive has instigated a number of management policies.These include: ensuring that all employees have received all of thetraining and education that they require to work toward the goals of theirteam; ensuring that employees continually work to acquire new skills whilemanagers continually work to understand and acknowledge the challenges ofworking in an employed workplace; requiring that managers do not push forimmediate results; and ensuring that team members are in control of all ofthe resources that they need to accomplish their goals (Caudron, 1995, pp.28-32). Both of these kinds of managers mustunderstand the need to provide leadership and direction without interferingin the daily process of production. Curtius, M. If managers only praise people for their individual contributions toa project (as managers have been used to doing) then the work team conceptis nearly guaranteed to fail. D2:2 ). What are the symptoms that show there is a problem? They also help workers identitywith whatever the end work-product of their company is rather than just oneelement of that product -- and so to avoid the sort of tribal, destructiverivalries that spring up in so many companies among different departmentsor divisions. One of the most essential elements of the concept ofthe work team is the idea that every member of the work team shares equalresponsibility for the entire segment of work. The effective manager will continue toapply techniques specifically tailored for team work situations after thework teams have been established so that the teams remain both as effectiveand as harmonious as possible. 1 4). Sarahfrom engineering and James from marketing commiserate about a mutualproblem. (199 ) give this slightly less colorful definition: Awork team is a highly trained group of from 6 to 18 employees (on average)that is fully responsible for producing a well-defined segment of finishedwork. Who will do what?Where? 3. (This is essentially the model of work teams found in mostJapanese companies). In order to make the work team concepteffective -- especially over the long term -- it is important for employeesto come to trust that management will value the work they accomplish as ateam. 8). Andcertainly it is impossible to do so without engendering resentment -- and aresentful employee is certainly to no one's advantage. Four other elements of management can help direct work teams, guidingthe manager "who is in charge without being in charge" in the process offacilitating and guiding the following: 1. Butmembers of work teams plan, set priorities, organize, coordinate withoutside groups and take on a number of other activities once designated asthe exclusive province of supervisors and managers (Orsburn et al., 199 ,p. It is important at this stage of the process for the managerto ensure that everyone has a chance to participate. 8). Thus managers who can hand over some of the decision-making power to those with the greatest hands-on experience in any givenprocess will have not only the most successful work teams, but will be themost successful managers overall, in every area from human relations toproductivity. Moreover,because of their inherently democratic nature, work teams foster a sense ofboth responsibility and entitlement amongst employees. Who should lead them?Where do the ideas come from to keep these teams in sync with each otherand productive? D2:2 ) describes the formation ofa typical work team like this: It usually starts in the hallway. Like all primates,humans are social animals down the very core of our genetic code -- so muchso that people might be seen to have a biological compulsion to work witheach other. Are payroll costs too high? Another, more pessimistic way of phrasing these questionsis to ask: When no one is in charge of a project, how does it ever getfinished? This is far more than simply being a good team player. In this kind of a team, the members are integratedto achieve a common goal and they each proceed along a plan laid out inadvance. Skills that Managers of Creatives Must Have.Personnel Journal, 73(12), 1 4-113. 24), There Is No 'I' in 'Team' -- and MaybeNo Point, Either: The trend continues but doesn't always succeed. Along with a flattened hierarchy and the reduction of what can cometo be seen as unnecessary middle managers, one of the primary elements of awork team is that it draws together people from different departments orareas of a business. Even when the gains they offer in terms of productivity are onlymodest, work teams offer other substantial benefits to their companies interms of being able to adjust quickly to changing conditions. Caudron, S. References Beckmann, G. Communication and discussion of these conclusions and methodsof reasoning will help formulate a stronger group understanding of theproblem. This segment could be an entire product, such as a refrigerator oran insurance claim, or it could be a subdivision of an entire product likea refrigerator motor. Having enough of the relevant information to define theproblem. Work teams demand muchgreater responsibility from the individual worker, but in return they offermuch greater chance for empowerment and reward on an individual basis andproductivity on a company-wide basis. Work teams are a part of American corporate culture. In another article, Caudron gives a description for how to managepeople in creative positions that also offers valuable insights formanagers heading work teams. Homewood, IL: Business One Irwin). They have beenused by such large and trend-setting companies as the Walt Disney company,Hewlett-Packard and Starbucks and it is hard to believe that they willsomehow disappear from the American (or European or Japanese) workplace inthe next several decades. However, managers should bear inmind that the record for work teams (examined across the spectrum ofAmerican business, of which more than half have experimented with the workteam concept in some way) is very spotty (Curtius, 1997, p. Personnel Journal, 74(9), 28-36. This paper explores how workteams are formed and how they can best be managed. (1998, June 8). The most importantof these may well be the most difficult, for it goes against most of whatmost American managers have always been taught (and so they too mustunlearn basic cultural attitudes): The managers must hand over real andsubstantial power to their teams. One of the keys to work team management -- perhaps the most importantone -- is the practice of good communication (of course, this is probablyan element of all good management, regardless of organization style).Another essential element is making sure that each person in the team has aclear and valuable role. These seemingly conflicting aspects of human behavior mean that oneof the skills that a good manager must possess is the ability to tap intopeople's natural skills and desires to work together while at the same timefashioning and directing those groups in a way that makes them asproductive as possible. 2. When? Theoverall effect of work teams has been modest and steady but not dramaticimprovements in productivity and quality. This last may be especially important given the fact that mostworkers will be used to being praised for the work that they haveaccomplished as individuals. Among the questions that must be considered in managing work teamsare the following: How does one organize such groups? (1995). Orsburn, J. The manager who can effectively do this will in large measurehave solved the problem of defining and communicating the work team goalsto all members of that team. D2:2 . It is also important for the manager to lead by exampleat this point, taking on some of the work of the project himself or herselfand thus lead by example (Beckmann, 199 , p. One of the ongoing (and ironic) problems for any company with ahierarchical structure is that the people who know the most about how to doany particular job (i.e. One of the newest workplace tools (although some companies have infact been experimenting with the idea for two decades, when the idea forwork teams began slipping out of the academy into the business world) alongthese lines is called the work team concept. Work teams allow companies to respond more quickly to technologicaland market-condition changes -- a response time that is essential undertoday's economic and cultural conditions. You Can Lead a Team to a Goal, but YouCan't Make It Succeed: Work groups have become a vital tool in maintainingcorporate agility. stress that this is not quite the case.Team players are good at getting along with each other, certainly. While many companies(in a wide range of fields and with very different employee demographics)have found at least some success in using work teams, the transition from atraditional hierarchically organized workplace to the more egalitarianworld of the work team-centered workplace can be a bumpy one. The Los Angeles Times. How? The second most problematicaspect of work teams may be much harder to solve, for while managers andexecutives can certainly work on ways of creating tighter definitions of aproblem and then communicating these definitions better, they can havelittle affect on broad-ranging cultural patterns. Beckmann (1998, p. After having researched and defined the plan and brainstormed asolution, the manager with the work team should agree on specific actionsto carry out. et al. Self-Directed Work Teams: The New AmericanChallenge. Some fine-tuning may well occur, with companiesusing work teams only in some rather than all divisions (or vice versa). Not only is thislikely to make them more loyal and perhaps harder working, but it is alsoin many ways an irreversible process. This individualism crops up even in discussions of the concept ofteam itself, and if different members of a particular team are working withvery different models of what a team should be and should do, there willalmost inevitably be problems. Each member of the group may havediffering conclusions based on the same data, because each uses differentreasoning. An "observationchecklist" can help focus a work team's efforts and lessen personal biasesat this first step of a project. 278-28 ). Work team managers should: monitor teamperformances against clear standards; work with teams directly whenexpectations are not being met, manage group dynamics, coordinate effortsamong different teams and between teams and other divisions of theorganization; train teams in group problem-solving techniques, infuse teamswith a sense of their own identity; foster innovation; coach new teammembers on their roles; and help teams understand the rationale behindimportant management decisions (Orsburn, 199 , pp. Caudron also notes that one of the essential attributes of a goodwork team manager is that he or she gives continual positive feedback tothe team and hands out praise whenever it is due. D2:5). (Beckmann, 1998, p. But all working groups are not equal. D2:5). The Los Angeles Times, p. This can often beaccomplished by setting up a brainstorming process in which work teammembers generate options, evaluate them, then decide on a plan. In some ways work teams sound as if they were just groups of good"team players," but Orsburn et al. These include an intimidatingly long list of skills, although itshould be noted that most managers will have some if not most of theseskills in good working order. Finally, in the basketball team model, everyone's role isinterchangeable and fluid as well as (usually) spontaneous and creative.In addition, each player relies heavily on every other player. For example,are deliveries late? This will not necessarily be an easy task for many (and perhaps evenmost) managers, and the necessity of retraining and support for themanagers as well as the team members cannot be stressed too much. One way to look at the different conceptions that different membersof a work team may have about their work paradigm is to compare workstructures to different kinds of sports teams. But while there is a growing consensus that such work teams are goodfor business and good for employees as well, there are questions about themost effective way to manage such groups, since by definition theycircumvent the kinds of traditional office hierarchies that traditionaloffice management strategies were designed to direct. One kind of work team islike a baseball team -- composed of geographically dispersed members whereeveryone has a certain set position to play, there is no time limit on thegame and, during parts of the game, some players do nothing but can cometogether on an as-needed basis, at a time of crisis. This means that these managers must(sometimes in collaboration with team members) assign responsibilities,remove obstacles to success, ensure that teams have members withcomplementary abilities, develop both short-term and long-term plans andgoals and provide feedback and coaching (Caudron, 1994, p. Findingthe proper structure, motivating employees and getting managers out of theway can sometimes help. Using the data gathered in step one to diagnose or define theproblem and establish conclusions. It is therole of the good manager to anticipate the sorts of problems that can occurduring this transitional phase. But without communication, they can end up being justtalk. This is in large measure because workers fromvarious departments within a given organization have to collaborate witheach other to keep their companies competitive. And it is precisely oneof these broad-ranging patterns -- the inherent individualism of bothAmerican business and American philosophy in general -- that tends toproduce friction in what should be smoothly running work teams (Curtius,1997, p. What oftenis the case when work teams are not succeeding is either that managementhas picked the wrong model of these three for the problem at hand or hasconveyed different models to different members of the team (Curtius, 1997,p. HR Checklist: Do You Have an EmpoweredEnvironment? (199 ). the people actually doing it on a daily basis) arethe people who are farthest removed from any decision-making processesabout that job. Suddenly there's a new task force on "SmoothingOut the Rough Edges." Orsburn et al. The second problem faced by work teams -- the fact that even whenworkers want to collaborate they have to struggle with broad-based culturalidealizations of individualized behavior group over work accomplished by acollective -- is more difficult, but the effective manager of a work teamdoes have some powerful tools at his or her disposal. Once you grant employees (orpeasants or any other previously disempowered group) a say in their ownlives, it is very difficult to return to strict hierarchical models. People have always worked in teams -- from the first moment when oneof our ancient forebears wanted to life a rock that was too heavy for himto pick up alone groups began to be formed to accomplish collectively whatno one individual could ever do by himself or herself. Invent creative approaches to the problem. The biggest problem companies have in shaping effective work teams isthe second of the four steps outlined above -- defining exactly what eachteam should be accomplishing for the company. Caudron, S.
If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again:
or
We can write a Custom Essay just for you.
Browse Essays by Subject