Page 98 - DMGT524_TOTAL_QUALITY_MANAGEMENT

Unit 7: Employee Involvement

2. The system needs to change to reinforce and motivate individual and group Notes
accomplishments.
3. The organization must enable its employees by providing information, education and
skill.

7.3.1 Teams

Employee involvement is optimized by the use of teams. However, are not a panacea for
solving all quality and productivity problems, but in most instances, they are effective.

A team is defined as a group of people working together to achieve common objectives or goals.
Teamwork is the cumulative actions of the team during which each member of the team
subordinates his individual interests and opinions to fulfill the objectives or goals of the group,
the objective or goal is a need to accomplish something such as solve a problem, improve a
process, design a refrigerator, plan a conference, audit a process, or please a customer, it needs
to be clearly defined, have milestones set, have resources provided, and use a systematic approach,
members of the team will need to focus on how they relate to each other, listen to the suggestions
of others, build on previous information, and use conflict creatively, they will need to set
standards, maintain discipline, build team spirit, and motivate each other. Each member of the
team has their own history of experience to help achieve the objective. They should have a need
to see the task completed, but also the needs of companionship, fulfillment of personal growth,
and self-respect.

Why Team Work

Teams work because many heads are more knowledgeable than one, each member of the team
has special abilities that can be used to solve problems, and many processes are so complex that
one person cannot be knowledgeable concerning the entire process; second, the whole is greater
than the sum of its members. The interaction within the team produces results that exceed the
contributions of each member. Third, team members develop a rapport with each other that
allows them to do a better job, finally, teams provide the vehicle for improved communication,
thereby increasing the likelihood of a successful solution.

Types of Teams

Quality Circles: The early history suggests that work simplification efforts by management and
labor were most likely the first production-oriented teams. However, the development of quality
control circles by the Japanese in 1961 is considered to be the beginning of the use of teams to
improve quality, quality control circles are groups of people from one work unit who voluntarily
meet together on a regular basis to identify, analyze, and focus on quality-of-work-life and
health/safety issues rather than on improving work processes. Often they remain in existence
over a long period of time, working on project after project. Quality control circles have been
quite successful in Japan and enjoyed some initial success in other countries but not as extensive.
A major drawback was a lack of middle management support, without managers on teams or
directly overseeing the teams as a quality council might, members frequently were not able to
persuade management to implement their recommendations.

Outside Japan, the popularity of quality control circles has declined but for few industries.
However, this type or team is the progenitor of our present teams, the current types of teams can
be divided into four main groups. They may be called by different names and have slightly
different characteristics to accommodate a particular organization.

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