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MicroManage OR Self-defined |
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Here we apply the concept of true governance - set policy and navigate by building consensus - to the worksite. At this level, the emerging paradigm is manifested through self organizing systems and self-directed work teams.
In hierarchical, bureaucratic organizations, units are directed by "managers" or "supervisors" whose status is elevated above the team itself. These managers exercise powers related to planning, priority setting, coordination with other units, measuring, evaluating, corrective action, scheduling and assigning work, etc. As a result of information being channeled to the manager first, organizational resources are tapped at the manager’s discretion. The manager is forced to give incremental, specific directions for actions taken by employees - micro-manages. A self-directed worksite, in contrast, shares information horizontally as well as vertically, so that individuals become responsible for managing their own part in bringing to life an organizational vision. Individual employees should be able to see the relationship between their own efforts and the finished product - lack of connection can lead to detachment, alienation and apathy. Self-directed worksites operate with broader job categories, control daily activities through group decisions, and work under rewards systems that are tied to performance and individual breadth of skills. Paradoxically, giving individual employees more responsibility requires them to improve their ability to work as a team.
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micro-managed > self-defined |
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GOTEAMS Fess B. Green, Measuring progress on your self-management journey, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (Oct./Nov. 1994) at 22. How to encourage truthful answer to employee surveys through design - GOTEAMS model. BASELINING Leon P. Dodd, Aeronca’s flight toward continuous process improvement, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (Oct./Nov. 1995) at 56. How adding baselining to the improvement model contributes to the team’s success. |
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Marvin R. Weisbord, PRODUCTIVE WORKPLACES: ORGANIZING AND MANAGING FOR DIGNITY, MEANING, AND COMMUNITY, Jossey-Bass, Inc. (1987). Weisbord traces the origins and evolution of team work theory and discusses how we can approach the process of designing meaningful work See Index:Teams, Teamwork, and Work teams. Richard N. Knowles, Expanding the Growth of Self-Organizing Systems, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (June 1995) at 56. A case study of how the Belle, West Virginia plant of E.I. duPont de Nemours & Company recovered from declining earnings and other failings by adhering to the principles of self-organizing systems. Charles Ehin, The ultimate advantage of self-organizing systems, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (Sept. 1995) at 30. Can’t find this anymore... Gifford and Elizabeth Pinchot, THE END OF BUREAUCRACY & THE RISE OF THE INTELLIGENT ORGANIZATION, Berrett-Koehler Publishers (1993). The Pinchots’ ideas about workplace democracy are essential to effective teams. Peter Senge, THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE: THE ART AND PRACTICE OF THE LEARNING ORGANIZATION, Doubleday/Currency/Bantam (1990). Team learning, Senge tells us, is one of the five core disciplines we must master in order to enable true organizational learning. Darcy Hitchcock and Marsha Willard, WHY TEAMS CAN FAIL (AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT) (co-published by the Association for Quality and Participation) (avail. from AQP 800-733-3310). "Hitchcock and Willard concentrate on the dynamics of team work and what can make it go awry. They offer practical and easy-to- understand solutions to implementing teams." (AQP review). Jack D. Orsburn, Linda Moran, Ed Musselwhite and John H. Zenger, SELF-DIRECTED WORK TEAMS: THE NEW AMERICAN CHALLENGE, Irwin Professional Publishing, 1990. Drew Lathin, Overcoming fear of self-directed teams, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION, (July/Aug. 1994) at 16. How to eliminate roadblocks to self-directed teams through organizational simulations Jeffrey Davis and Lee Rengers, One road from stormy weather to blue skys, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (June 1995) at 34. Teams implement successful healthcare in the public sector: the transformation of Marion County. Robert Crow, Institutionalized competition and it’s effects on teamwork, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (June 1995) at 46. Crow discusses the advantages of building a cooperative, as opposed to competitive, work environment - the notion of enlightened self-interest. Ann & Bob Harper, TEAM BARRIERS: ACTIONS FOR OVERCOMING THE BLOCKS TO EMPOWERMENT, INVOLVEMENT, & HIGH-PERFORMANCE, MW Corporation (1994). Authors provide assessments, checklists & exercises for group learning; a roadmap for ransition and building work groups into teams. Henry P. Sims, Jr., Challenges to implementing self-managing teams, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (March 1995) at 24. Sims addresses problems related to implementing teams, including: expecting too much too soon, decreasing effectiveness, what to do about managers, supervisors, and resentfull high status employees, and the fallacy of sink or swim. Henry P. Sims, Jr. and Charles C. Manz, Tyrannosaurus Rex: the boss as corporate dinosaur, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (Sept. 1994) at 58. Getting teams started at IDS Mutual Funds Operations (a case study); also, the emergence of teams in America. David Geisler, Getting to Team Land isn’t that easy if you’re from I Land, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (Oct./Nov. 1995) at 46. Exploring the self-absorption phenomenon and how to coax people away. John Dew, Creating team leaders, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (Oct./Nov. 1995) at 50. Specific recommendations for moving from autocratic to democratic leadership. Amy Katz, Darlene Russ, Linda Moran and Lilanthi Ravishankar, Team members speak out JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (Sept. 1995) at 76. Results of a survey conducted by the American Institutes for Research to 2,000 team members in the U.S. and Canada. Michael Schrage, NO MORE TEAMS! MASTERING THE DYNAMICS OF CREATIVE COLLABORATION, Doubleday (1995). (published as SHARED MINDS, Random House (1990)). |
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PROCTER & GAMBLE Henry P. Sims, Jr. and Charles C. Manz, Tyrannosaurus Rex: the boss as corporate dinosaur, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (Sept. 1994) at 58. Sims and Manz explain that Procter and Gamble were among the first companies to create teams in the early 1960s. They also discuss General Motors’ experiments with teams and list 14 other companies who have adopted team approaches. BOEING Dori Jones Yang, When the Going Gets Tough, Boeing Gets Touchy-Feely, BUSINESS WEEK (Jan. 17, 1994) at 65. A look at Boeing’s efforts to adopt teams and consensus decision-making. CHRYSLER Paul Ingrassia and Joseph R. White, Shifting Gears: In a Desperate Attempt to Build a Profitable Small Car, Chrysler Turns to Teamwork, AMERICAN WEST AIRLINES MAGAZINE (Nov. 1994) at 52. An inside look at Chrysler’s metamorphosis. MULTILIN Sally Ritchie, Life in the fast lane, THE GLOBE AND MAIL (June 8, 1993) at B24. In order to keep deliveries in line with sales, this electronic parts company adopted a team approach. UNIDYNE Morning Edition, National Public Radio (Executive producer Robert Ferrante), May 3, 1994. Available from NPR, 635 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington D.C. 20001-3753. (202) 414-3232. Host Bob Edwards chats with NPR’s reporter John Ydstie about his visit to a UNIDYNE plant; participants include a UNIDYNE welder, Chester ‘Mac’ McCamon, and UNIDYNE manager Don Rainvil about UNIDYNE’s re-organization from hierarchy to high performance teams. |