Page 358 - Business Principles and Management

Chapter 13 • Planning and Organizing

leaders replace the traditional position of supervisor
and act as facilitators more than as traditional man-
agers. Team leaders help their teams identify problems
and work with them to solve the problems as a group.
Team members report to the team leader, and the team
leader makes some management decisions for the team.
A full-time manager is responsible for several teams and
meets with team leaders for planning, progress reports,
and problem solving.
Sometimes teams are organized without a perma-
nently designated team leader. These are self-directed
work teams, in which team members together are respon- PHOTO: © DIGITAL VISION.
sible for the work assigned to the team. Self-directed
work teams have a manager to whom they can turn with
unusual or very difficult problems, but most of the time
they work together to establish goals and to plan and or-
ganize their work. Often members take turns as team
leader or facilitator. A self-directed team has full authority over planning, per- What are some advantages of
forming, and evaluating its work. For ideas and assistance, the team may talk to team organization to employ-
other teams or draw on the support of specialists available to work with all ees and to management?
teams in the organization. In addition, the team is expected to talk to suppliers
and customers from inside or outside the business to get their input and
feedback.
In self-directed work teams, the team decides who will do which types of
work and how they will do it. Each worker must be able to perform the tasks
of most other team members to cover for absent members or additional workloads.
Team members hire, train, and even fire new team members, evaluate individual
and team performance, and handle most of the traditional management tasks.
The role of the manager is to serve as the team’s
consultant and to concentrate on higher-level man-
agement tasks. Some differences between self-directed
work teams and traditional work teams are shown
in Figure 13-11 (see p. 346).
Effective work teams, whether self-directed
or not, have been shown to increase productivity Employee satisfaction must be an important con-
and improve quality. Individual team members cern of every manager. Dissatisfied employees
work hard to support their team and make sure are likely to leave if another job becomes
the team meets its goals. Companies that have available. They will also be less productive than
developed effective team structures have a better those who like their work. The Conference Board
record of keeping customers happy, reducing recently reported the results of a nationwide
absenteeism, reducing turnover, and keeping moti- employee satisfaction survey. Point your browser
vation high. to www.thomsonedu.com/school/bpmxtra. Read
Teams require certain ingredients for success. the article that summarizes the findings from
Managers must support the idea and assist the their survey. What information surprises you the
teams as needed. Team members must become most and what results match your expectations?
competent in three areas: If you were the top executive of a company, how
would you use this information to improve em-
1. Technical job skills ployee satisfaction in your company? Develop
2. Interpersonal skills, such as writing, speak- three recommendations that you would make
ing, discussing, and negotiating to the managers who report to you.
3. Administrative skills, such as leading meet-
ings, thinking analytically, and maintaining www.thomsonedu.com/school/bpmxtra
records

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