Adapting to a work team concept

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), August, 1995

Work teams are a growing business trend that may signal the end of age-old management methods. Joan M. Chesterton, associate professor of organizational leadership and supervision, Purdue University, argues that the traditional organization - where managers think, supervisors push, and workers work - is counterproductive in today's business environment. "Because of teams and empowerment, employees are learning to manage themselves. Traditional management skills from 1969 aren't going to cut it. Managers must develop new skills for supporting teams or they'll get left behind. Those skills include coaching, facilitating, and conflict resolution."

More and more companies are putting employees into teams. The theory is that they are more productive and will produce a higher quality product functioning as a team. Traditional managers may find the concept a challenge, though. "Managers who will have the most difficult time in today's team environment come from supervisory backgrounds. The skills they have been taught apply to managing or supervising individuals. Those are exactly the type of skills that can kill a team project."

Advances in technology, training. and education make today's workers more knowledgeable than their counterparts of the past. "Employees know more about the job they are doing and how it relates to a company's success. They are much more aware of the bottom line and the inner workings of the organization. Today's managers have to be more willing to listen to what employees are saying, and work with employees rather than over them."

Those whose management style includes any of the following tactics might want to update their skills - if not their resumes. Managers are in trouble if they:

* Treat all design, coordination, and process re-engineering as management functions and plan to deal with employees later. * Make idle promises of solutions and success. * Underestimate the intelligence and disbelief of workers. * Believe that employees can be motivated by speeches built on sports analogies. * Reject and silence all doubts, questions, and resistance, stating that such thinking is disloyal to the organization. * Delegate the team effort to a middle manager who may lose his or her job if teams succeed. * Select "coaches," "coordinators," or "facilitators" from the ranks of supervisors with high seniority - those whose promotions stemmed from success in traditional close direction, supervisory problem-solving, and effective discipline of employees. * Restrict information by limiting computer access and keeping real data and crucial information private to management.

The road to success can be smoother, Chesterton points out, when managers understand that a willingness to change their approach from directive to facilitative will result in an explosion of productivity for their teams.