Question

Self-managed work teams can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. Discuss the positive outcomes that can occur with these types of teams.

Answer 1

Self-managed work teams

Self-managed teams are independent teams where team members are interdependent. The team is self-regulating and operating with few external controls and management intervention. Team members decide the schedules, procedures and turn around time for activities involved in their projects. It consists of employees with expertise in different fields of work, they come together and share their knowledge with their colleagues and team members and learn new things in return. Individual team members get opportunities to use their skills and have experiences outside their own job profile.

Examples of some of the organization that attribute their increase in productivity to self-managed team are:

• AT&T increased the quality its operations by 12 percent.
• Johnson & Johnson reduced its standing inventory by $6 million.
• Federal Express cut down its service errors by 13 percent.

Positive outcomes of Self-managed work teams

1. Motivation: When each and every member is accountable for his/her own action and is appreciated for it, he/she is self-motivated and committed.
2. Increased productivity: Each member in a self-managed team is responsible for his own action therefore productivity is efficiently increased by 15-20 percent.
3. Effective decision making: The decision-making process in self-managed teams are quick as there in no authority trail to be followed. Opportunities can be grasped more quickly.
4. Joint responsibility: Self-managed teams divides equal responsibility among its members based on his/her expertise which makes each member feel fully invested in the project.
5. Flexibility: It provides employees with the flexibility to work at their own pace and speed which also results in greater work-life-balance.
6. Lower absenteeism: Organizations working on self-managed work team models have seen a drastic change in turnover rate, it has resulted in lowering absenteeism at workplace.
7. Innovation: Self-managed work teams allow members to review their work practices, improve them and bring in new ideas to work more efficiently.
8. Cost reduction: Studies have shown that implementation of self-managed teams has reduced the operations and management cost for organizations up to $10 million annually.