Self-Managed Work Teams

SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS Class Human Resource counselling November 29th, 2012 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION___________________________________________________________1 SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS DICIPLINES_________________________________2 LEADING A SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS_________________________________5 THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL TEAMS AND SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS____________________________________________________________6 SUCCESS FACTORS OF SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS______________________8 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS____10CONCLUSION___________________________________________________________13 REFERENCES____________________________________________________________14 INTRODUCTION Self-managed beat back a crap aggroups be stool teams that are given permission to take and control the impart that they do. Self-managed escape teams are independent and interdependent as the self-managed mildew teams itself is independent while the members are interdepende nt. The team is self-regulating, operating with few orthogonal controls. group members determine schedules, procedures and the admit to make adjustments.Self-managed progress to teams delegates specific function and decision-making authority to the team itself, it is expected that the individual testament set their own goals, proctoring device progress, adjust behavior to increase the chances of attaining goals and in some instances even self-reward or punishment comparing to the traditional operate on team, in where it is control completely by the management. By Self-managed produce teams, distributively independent is given freedom and responsibility to accomplish capers in an efficient way as the main idea of self-managed buy the farm teams is positional authority.By adopting self-managed work teams, the individuals can create synergy through the contribution of several team members every(prenominal) engaged on the same task, while psychological well-being arises thr ough increase opportunities for interaction amidst team members and involvement in job-related decision making. In general, self-managed teams have considerable discretion over * The work done and setting team goals * How work is achieved which processes are used and how work is scheduled * Internal capital punishment issues distributing the work and the contribution do by each member of the team * Decision making and problem solving.SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS DICIPLINES In order for an nerve that wanted to establish and achieve the self-managed work teams from the traditional teams, in that respect are disciplines of the self-managed work teams that need to be follow. These disciplines are a set of skills, mountes, insights, and practices that are not typically mastered by more conventional teams. As the disciplines itself, is evolutionary rather than revolutionary, the teams need to move toward self-management along a continuum from other-directed to becoming self-directed.B y mastering the self-managed work teams disciplines, it is the main key to achieve and say the concept of self-managed work teams itself. These disciplines also ensure the long-term success of the teams. A self-managed work teams discipline consists of * Establish & Communicate the Boundaries of Team Authority Aside from specify the boundaries of the team authority, a self-managed work teams mustiness clearly communicate to its members, to the steering committee, to other teams, and to the entire organization the specific boundaries of its ole and authority. When a self-managed work teams cant uphold its communication it can rationality a self-destruction, as it fail to negotiate a clear and agreed-upon charter up-front. Aside, to maintain the communication between members, a consistent measurement or checking is required to ensure its relevancy. * Develop Cross-Functional Skills or Knowledge Another difference of self-managed work teams and conventional team is that all members of the team are intimately familiar with all of the tasks done inside the team.All members on a self-managed work teams must not only understand the variety of jobs and tasks performed within the team, they must also have the capability to perform each of these jobs or tasks. development all team members in each others tasks is an important component of the self-managed work teams skill or practice set. * Develop Critical Thinking Skills A self-managed work teams must critically evaluate its role in the organization, its charter, and its goals, its evolving norms of behavior, its proceeding, its successes and others.A self-managed work teams must evermore examining its processes, its environment and its results. The skills of critical thinking include identifying our mental representatives or assumptions, challenging the context within which the team operates imagining and exploring alternative realities, and becoming reflectively skeptical. * rick Self-Directed Learners Conv entional work teams often depend upon the instruction priorities set by management or the training office self-managed work teams break this habituation and define for themselves what they need to know.Aside from learning their job, the team also learn to handle responsibility for identifying needed skills and knowledge essential for their and the companys long-term success. The team assumes full responsibility for exploring what they must know and master next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. The self-managed work teams works with the training office to discover new methods and approaches for learning what the team needs to become self-directed, long-term learners. * Manage Team PerformanceConventional teams whitethorn be touch on in goal setting and effect evaluation, but management still plays a major role in molding these goals and in evaluating the teams performance. A self-managed work teams assumes full responsibilities for these tasks, the self-man aged work teams, therefore, must be trained in the skills and knowledge of team performance management. This includes the skills of goal setting, establishing benchmark standards, evaluating performance against standards, developing programs for performance improvement. Manage Human Resources In traditional work teams, management usually assumes the primary responsibility for defining needed positions, recruiting the right candidates, establishing criteria for evaluating the candidates, selecting the new worker, and orienting him or her to the job. Further, once the employee is on the job, management then monitors and evaluates the employees performance and takes corrective action if required to improve performance. However, the self-managed work teams assume full responsibility for managing its human resources.Following guidelines established by the HR department, the self-managed work teams usually performs all of the functions that result in a new hire. It also assumes responsib ility for resolving individual performance problems that occur when individual members dont meet team expectations. As a result, team members must learn to master such HR skills as recruiting and selecting new hires, monitoring individual performance, and then taking action to correct performance problems. While it might be true that SMWTs will approach performance problem solving quite disparately than traditional management approaches (e. . , looking for cause not blame), the team must be capable of dealing with the team member who fails to work effectively with the team. This whitethorn even include the difficult task of disciplining or even terminating a team member. Although managing its human resources may be the hardest skill for the team to master, it is probably the virtually critical to the teams long-term success. Self-directed work teams, also known as self-managing teams, represent a revolutionary approach to the way work is organized and performed.Instead of organiz ing work based on the traditional Taylor model reducing a process to individual steps work becomes restructured around whole processes. There must be interdependence and joint responsibility for outputs if there is to be a self-directed work team. Whereas the traditional carcass reduces the required skill at every level of work, producing boredom in the bottom-level jobs, the new system integrates the needs of the people with the work to be done, and those closest to the jobs help design the job. LEADING A SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMSThe leadership role in a self-managed team is very different from that of a team leader in a traditional hierarchical team such as a functional team. In a hierarchical team the team leader allocates work. In contrast, in a self-managed team, the leadership role involves taking on more of a livelihood role, which includes identifying the long-term career and personal development needs of the team within the context of the overall organization. The team le adership role in a hierarchal team Self-managed team The role is vested in one individual. The role may be shared. To manage the team. To support the team by providing (or arranging others to provide) cultivateing and advice. To plan and allocate the work done by the team. To agree, in discussion with the team, the standard of work and the aims, objectives and targets of the team. To monitor and appraise the performance of team members in carrying out the tasks allocated to them. To monitor the achievement of the team as a unit. To appraise individual performance. To motivate the team members. To provide the conditions for high motivation. To act as the main contact drive for communication between the team and the rest of the giving medication. To facilitate the creation of channels of communication with the rest of the organisation. THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL TEAMS AND SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS In an organization, there are many types of work teams that is app ly in the organization itself, each of the work teams have different structure and way of communication with their members. The differences of work teams structure * Managed Team A group of people working together toward a common goal. The what will happen, where it will happen and how it will happen is set by the organisation and/or the manager. Self-Managed Team Is a group of people working together in their own way toward a common goal which is defined away the team. The team decides their work schedule, in what order, when to deliver, how, to what standards, and by whom. * Self-Directed Team A group of people working together in their own way toward a common goal which the team defines. They will perform all of the above but in addition also have input on recruitment to the team, training, compensation, performance management, discipline, and acts as a profit center by defining its own future.The difference of self-managed work teams with conventional teams is self-managed wor k teams complete an entire homo of work, whether its a product, a attend, or part of a large product of service. The team assigns tasks that individual team members perform. In other words, the team plans, organizes, and controls work activates with infinitesimal or no direct involvement of a higher status supervisor. Self-managed work teams control most work inputs, flow, and output. Aside, they are responsible for correction work flow problems as they occur.On other words, the teams maintain their own quality and logistical control. Self-managed work teams receive team-level feedback and rewards. This recognizes and reinforces the fact that the team not individuals is responsible for the work, although team members may also receive individual feedback and rewards. Characteristics of a mature self-managed work teams SUCCESS FACTORS TOWARDS SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS There are some factors that need to be considered by the organization as those factors are the success factors towa rds self-managed work teams.When an organization neglects those factors, there is a high possibility that the organization will not achieve an effective self-managed work teams. * Learn A key success factor for self-managed teams is to be open to, and continuously gather, information about how other self-managed teams are operating, through meetings and other forms of communication. These may be teams within the organization or within other organizations. Even if the self-managed teams learn about work in other organizations whose business is very different to the original organization, there may still be valuable lessons to learn.Aside, the organization should consider involving representatives of productive self-managed teams as mentors to the team, if possible. * Structure Just because a team is self-managed doesnt think it can work with a nebulous structure where nobody is clear about who does what. There is a need to structure the team in the most efficient way. This will dep end on the organizations business, the teams function and the individuals within it. Some self-managed teams work best where one member serves as a leader. Others are successful where all members are of equal status.However, the common success factor is that everyone is very clear about roles and accountabilitys within the team. * Achieve Most likely, a self-managed team will be endeavoring to achieve outcomes agreed with the organizations management team. However, within the team, each employee have different goals, like they wanted to try and achieve more than the agreed outcomes, as an indication that the self-managed team is functioning to a commendable level of efficiency and success. A self-managed teams achievements are particularly important where elements within the organization are indistinct about the wisdom of implementing the teams. Evaluate Evaluation is an important part of a successful self-managed work teams. Just as in any organizational structure, evaluation is t he way of discovering to what extent aims and objectives have been achieved. A critical success factor of all self-managed teams is the ability to respond positively to evaluation, identify where improvements can be made and develop a plan to implement the changes needed to deliver them. ADVANTAGES VERSUS DISADVANTAGES There is nothing perfect in a work teams, there are always limitations of it but aside of limitation, there are benefits of the work teams.The organization can decrease the impact of its limitation by improving in that certain jerry-built area. The advantages of self-managed work teams are * Job Satisfaction With self-managed teams, employees have more job expiation because they are directly involved in the day to day run of a company and are more independent. This direct involvement helps them to identify more closely with a companys objectives. Employees also derive a sense of satisfaction from developing new decision-making and problem-solving skills and working as part of a close-knit team. Improved Productivity According to Business Week, companies that use self-managed work teams are 30 to 50 percent more productive than those with a traditional hierarchy. This is because workers have a greater commitment to company goals when they are more closely involved in helping to achieve these goals. Having a greater share in the results ensures that teams quickly address a products problems and defects and are sensitive to customers needs and requests. Self-directed work teams have a wide range of skills because of the diverse backgrounds of individual members.This helps teams to develop innovative products and services and to take a creative approach to problem-solving. * Increased compatibility between employers and employees Self-managed teams can relieve stress for the leader, who is then able to concentrate on other tasks. The team is mutually supportive and members learn from each other or else of approaching the team leader for advice. * Commitment Team members can become more involved in projects as a direct result of having increased autonomy and responsibility. * Motivation Team members have shared or equal responsibility so members are accountable for their actions.The disadvantages of self-managed work teams are * Extensive Training Companies making the transition from a traditional management structure to self-managed work teams must invest considerable time and resources in training people in management skills. Training goes through several stages and this process can last between two and five years. Employees get additional training in providing customers service and satisfaction and must learn how to work effectively as part of a team. * Managing Managers Managers may actively resist the concept of self-managed work teams because it makes their role effectively redundant.Organizations may have to offer additional professional training to managers before they can reassign them to jobs that offer the same l evel of pay and status. Managers being reassigned need to receive highly specialized technical training. CONCLUSION The introduction of employee empowerment through self-managed teams program can provide the necessary edge required to prevail competitive in todays global market. However, no empowerment program can be successful in the long term if management does not take adequate steps before the program is introduced and utilize an adequate management strategy once the program has been initiated.The pre-program steps and the management strategy must be more than words on paper. Management must be sold on the idea of employee empowerment and develop a management strategy that in full supports the empowerment program or it will eventually fail. If management supports its self-managed teams, they will foster its success. In Asia itself, companies are not familiar with the terms of Self-Managed Work Teams as in Asia having a particular leader are viewed as the best option in a manag ement. There is still a high immenseness of hierarchy in the Asian society. REFERENCES 1.Career Track, Implementing self-directed work teams (Newsletter, SV-No. 16), 1995, pp. 1-8. 2. Ankarlo, L. , The best value in training, Career Track, 1994, pp. 12-16. 3. 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