Self managed teams

A self-managed team is a group of employees that’s responsible and accountable for all or most aspects of producing a product or delivering a service. Self-managing work team effectiveness Is defined as both high performance and employee quality of work life Traditional organizational structures assign tasks to employees depending on their specialist skills or the functional department within which they work. To get work done, many companies organize employees into self-managing teams that are basically left to run themselves with some guidance from an external leader.

At Digital, Ayr, management had to learn to step back and let the groups reach their own declslons and In so doing time taken to actually management the organization was Increased. Although a lot of consideration was given to the transltlon it contributed to the success of the approach. Self-managed teams have greater ownership of the tasks they perform and the end product or service they deliver. Self-managed teams tend to be less costly and more productive than employees working within a traditional hierarchical structure because the team performs both technical and management tasks.

Team members may also flll In for each other to cover holidays and absences. Decisions made by self-managed teams are more effective because they’re made by the people who know most about the job. A sector in Trinidad and Tobago where self-managed teams can be seen quite often is in the Public Service. Employees in various departments’ namely human resources and finance are generally self-managed teams. Employees generally plan and schedule the workflow and manage annual leave and absence, in addition to minor technical tasks.

Management and technical responslbllltles are typically rotated among the eam members as career advancement In the clerical stream usually allows for this. Although these teams may be seen as a cohesive self-managed team where there is a sense of trust and respect between team members, in the public service you find overly cohesive teams which leads to “groupthink”: You usually find team members most if the times conforming with team norms than raise issues that may upset other team members. This leads to reduced effort or stifled innovation.

Teams may struggle to make the transition from supervisor-led management to self-management, either ue to lack of Interpersonal skills or poor Implementation of the self-managed team concept within the service. The concept of using groups of cross-functional employees in modern business in the form of a team has been around in the United States for quite some time now. Self-directed teams have been used in Great Britain and Sweden since the 1950’s. What both regions have realised or learnt is that particular attention must be placed on development of the teams. Development Is an Important component of self-management.

That Includes tralnlng In decision- aking, problem solving, communication and team-building. Team-building efforts and programs, which take time, energy, and patience, are an essential component of a successful self-managed team. As it relates to how they manage and carry out their tasks self-managed teams are autonomous, although they still require guidance from leaders within the organizational hierarchy. The essential challenge for any team Is to balance empowerment with accountablllty. It must report to that hierarchy Important to note is that using a self-managed team is no solution, nor should it be mbraced as a belief.