- What do you see as some of the
major benefits and drawbacks of self-managed teams?
- Would you like to work within
such a team?
- What competencies would you need
to develop to be an effective external manager of a self-managed work
team?
If someone in the business-world told me that they feel like
they are caged in when it comes to getting their ideas across because their
boss never listens to them, I would recommend this person look into a
self-managed team. Far too often I hear of people with great ideas not being
able to say what is on their minds because they are afraid of what might happen
to their promotion. Even though I have seen this most of my life I feel that
nothing has ever been done about it; as a leader in the past I have always
wanted to bring out others creativity but it is easier said than done. This is
where the concept of self-managed teams would come into play, A self-managed
team is an “autonomous group whose members decide how to handle their task” (Brown
2011).
Many times a SM team will be brought
together for short projects or they could stay together for long term team work
which can span out as long as the external mangers allow it to. This is a
concept which breaks the barrier of the business world, when I think about an
SM team I think about a sandlot baseball team. It seems that everyone makes decisions
and at some point everyone can be the boss, this is why I think that there are
so many benefits to a SM team. In a SM team there are benefits which could
spark immense creativity, responsibility, and accountability. A SM team has
many responsibilities which include setting work schedules, budgeting, making
job assignments, developing performance goals, and hiring and selecting team
members; this list of task can be modified to basically whatever the team feels
that they need to do. To truly understand all of the benefits I believe that
one would have to see this type of group looking from the outside in, the
freedoms which a group like this has will spark ideas which might have never
been mentioned before as we remove certain barriers which the typical employee
might encounter.
Now although I do see plenty of
benefits I can also see where the drawbacks of a SM team would stick out like a
sore thumb. The important piece to self-managed teams is that everyone in your
team needs to know that it is a privilege and they need to understand that they
will have more responsibilities. If there are certain members who do not want
to comply with this platform things can get ugly very fast. Many times if
someone is not motivated because the company is not providing them with an “incentive
or advancement opportunities, companies might find trouble within these types
of groups” (Brown 2011). We have to remember that working in teams does take a
lot more work and employees can quickly be discouraged if it only helps the
organization but does little for their career.
As I am learning about SM teams I
actually feel a bit jealous that I have not participated in one of these
myself. As an ex-military member I am very accustomed to having a rank
structure, this rank structure never seemed to fit my ideal job setting which
is why I chose to leave the military. I do believe that I would like to be in a
SM team because more than anything I sense that there would be high moral and
employees would experience greater satisfaction from their job. If I were in a
SM team I would be able to surround my team with people that are a good fit, I
would be able to speak my mind, and I would be able to have a say when I have
to work. It is as if I would be running my own business and I would be doing
something which I have a real passion for. I believe that these are qualities
which any employer would like to see out of their employees, a strong team
translates into a strong organization.
Organizations which have strong
performances not only turn in high profits but they also attract prestigious
awards which can be a great recruiting tool also. Companies with exemplary
performance in the past have been known to receive awards like the “Malcom
Baldrige National Quality Award”. The “Baldrige award is given to companies by Baldrige
examiners which observe achievements and improvements in all seven Baldrige
core values and concepts” (nist.gov). These seven concepts consist of leadership,
strategic planning, customer and market focus, measurement analysis, human
resource focus, and business results. An organization which receives this type
of award should feel very proud of all of the work which was dedicated to
making their organization one of the best amongst their competitors.
So since I believe so much in SM
teams the goal would one day be to put together my own team so that my organization
can also flourish. SM teams are generally put together by “external leaders”,
these leaders are the ones responsible for selecting these teams and giving
them task. I believe that to be a good external leader you have to be good at
just stepping back and let your work speak for itself. As an external leader
your work is putting the team together and knowing that they will succeed,
knowing who to add to your team is an important part of your job. As an
external leader you will have to be someone who can spot talent, take advantage
of your resources, and believe in the power of diversity. What an external
leader wants is to create an all-star team of people which you know can handle
the job. Aside from all of this you need to know that micro management is not
good for a SM team, once you set your team free you need to let them work
unless there is an emergency and you have to step in.
If I ever do have my own
organization I know that this is the type of team that I would like to have in
place and taking my business to the next level. I do believe that there is
something special that happens when you take good employees and unleash their
full potential. If people are able to implement their own ideas and have some
sort of control over the situation I believe that natural leaders will be born
and the results will definitely help any organization.
References:
- Brown, Donald R. (2011). An Experiential Approach to
Organization Development (8th ed.).
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
- Baldrige
Performance Excellence Program. (2014, May 14). Retrieved April 19, 2015, from
http://www.nist.gov/baldrige/award_recipients/index.cfm
No comments:
Post a Comment