Page 274 - DCOM102_DMGT101_PRINCIPLES_AND_PRACTICES_OF_MANAGEMENT

Principles and Practices of Management

Notes 2. Production and Service: Production/service teams, are charged with the activities related
to producing and selling goods and services. Production/service teams, draw their
membership from a broad base and often are formed as a way to empower first-line
employees.
3. Project and Development: A project/development team is charged with planning,
investigating, analyzing and reporting, often with the objective of creating outputs that
are complex and unique. Project/development teams are highly differentiated because
they require employees with expertise in particular areas.
4. Action and Negotiation: Action/negotiation teams are usually comprised mainly of experts
with specialized skills. Owing to their expertise, the team is highly differentiated; it is also
highly integrated with the organisation.

15.2 Types of Teams

Based on their objectives, teams may be classified as problem-solving teams, self-managed
teams and cross-functional teams.
1. Problem-solving Teams: Problem-solving teams consist of groups of 5-10 employees from
the same department, who meet for a few hours each week to discuss ways of improving
quality, efficiency and the work environment. These members share ideas or offer
suggestions on how work processes and methods can be improved. Problem-solving
teams meet regularly to discuss their quality problems, investigate causes of problems,
recommend solutions and take corrective actions.
2. Self-managed Work Teams: A self-managed team includes collective control over the pace
of work, determination of work assignments, organisation of breaks, and collective choice
of inspection procedures. Fully self-managed work teams even select their own members
and have the members evaluate each other’s performance. As a result, supervisory positions
take on decreased importance and may even be eliminated. These teams do their own
scheduling, rotate jobs on their own, establish production targets, set pay scales that are
linked to skills, fire co-workers and do the hiring. Self Managed work teams are compared
with conventional work groups in Table 15.2.

Table 15.2: Self-directed Work Teams Compared with Conventional Work Groups

3. Cross-functional Teams: Cross-functional teams are made up of employees from about
the same hierarchical level, but from different work areas, who come together to accomplish
a task. Cross-functional teams are an effective way to allow people from diverse areas
within an organisation (or even between organisations) to exchange information, develop
new ideas, solve problems and coordinate complex projects. These teams are not easy to
manage. Their early stages of development are often very time consuming as members
learn to work with diversity and complexity. It takes time to build trust and teamwork,
especially among people from different backgrounds, with different experiences and
perspectives.

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