Organizations are implementing self-managed work teams primarily to improve quality and productivity and to reduce operating costs. Self-managed teams (SMTs) are responsible for producing an entire product, a component, or an ongoing service. In most cases, SMT members are cross-trained on the different tasks assigned to the team.19 Some SMTs have members with a set of complex skills—for example, scientists and engineers with training in different disciplines. Members of the SMT have many managerial duties, including work scheduling, selecting work methods, ordering materials, evaluating performance, and disciplining team members.20

One company that has switched over to SMTs is the San Diego Zoo. The zoo’s employees traditionally had very narrow and well-defined job responsibilities: Keepers did the keeping and gardeners did the gardening. Then the zoo decided to develop bioclimatic zones, in which plants and animals are grouped together in cageless enclosures that resemble their native habitats. Because the zones themselves are interdependent, the employees who manage them must work together. For instance, the humid 3.5-acre Tiger River exhibit is run by a seven-member team of mammal and bird specialists, horticulturists, and maintenance and construction workers.21

HRM practices are likely to change in the following ways when SMTs are established:22

• ▪ Peers, rather than a supervisor, are likely to evaluate individual employee performance.

• ▪ Pay practices are likely to shift from pay based on seniority or individual performance to pay focused on team performance (for example, team bonuses).23

• ▪ Rather than being based solely on input from managers and HR staff, decisions on new hires may include a decisive amount of input from team members.

• ▪ Team leaders are likely to step forward and identify themselves. For example, SEI Investments encourages leaders to emerge on their own initiative in its self-managed teams.24

• ▪ High-performing SMTs often use a shared leadership style where team members take turns acting as the team leader, depending on the team work context. Shared leadership is common among teams of knowledge workers.25

Self-managed teams have made some impressive contributions to the bottom lines of companies that have used them. For instance, after implementing SMTs, Shenandoah Life found it could process 50 percent more applications and customer service requests with 10 percent fewer employees.26 Xerox plants using SMTs are 30 percent more productive than Xerox plants organized without them.27 Boeing used SMTs to reduce the number of engineering problems in the development of the 777 passenger jet by more than half.28 For a look at how self-managed teams work at Google, the Internet search–services company, see Exhibit 2.1.

Because team members often initially lack the skills necessary for the team to function successfully, it may take several years for an SMT to become fully operational.29 A company can hasten this evolution by using its HR department to train employees in the skills required of team members. Three areas are important:30

1. Technical skills Team members must be cross-trained in new technical skills so that they can rotate among jobs as necessary. Team members who are cross-trained give the team greater flexibility and allow it to operate efficiently and with fewer workers.

2. Administrative skills Teams do much of the work done by supervisors in organizations that don’t have teams. Therefore, team members need training in such management/administrative skills as budgeting, scheduling, monitoring and evaluating peers, and interviewing job applicants.

3. Interpersonal skills Team members need good communication skills to form an effective team. They must be able to express themselves effectively in order to share information, deal with conflict, and give feedback to one another.31

In addition to the SMT, businesses use other types of teams: the problem-solving team, the special-purpose team, and the virtual team.32 The problem-solving team consists of volunteers from a unit or department who meet one or two hours per week to discuss quality improvement, cost reduction, or improvement in the work environment. The formation of problem-solving teams does not affect an organization’s structure because these teams exist for only a limited period; they are usually disbanded after they have achieved their objectives.

The special-purpose team , or task force, consists of members who span functional or organizational boundaries and whose purpose is to examine complex issues—for example, introducing a new technology, improving the quality of a work process that spans several functional units, or encouraging cooperation between labor and management in a unionized setting. An example of a special-purpose team is the quality of work life (QWL) program, which consists of team members (including union representatives and managers) who collaborate on making improvements in all aspects of work life, including product quality. The QWL programs at Ford and General Motors have focused on improving product quality, whereas the QWL program between the United Steel Workers of America and the major steel companies has concentrated on developing new ways to improve employee morale and working conditions.33

For more on problem-solving teams, refer to the Manager’s Notebook titled “ Tips on Managing Problem-Solving Teams.”

The virtual team uses interactive computer technologies such as the Internet, groupware (software that permits people at different computer workstations to collaborate on a project simultaneously), and computer-based videoconferencing to work together despite being separated by physical distance.34 Virtual teams are similar to problem-solving teams because they do not require full-time commitment from team members. The difference is that virtual team members interact with each other electronically, rather than face-to-face.35

Because of their part-time nature and flexibility in accommodating distance, virtual teams allow organizations to tap individuals who might not be otherwise available. For example, a management consulting firm working on a project out of its San Francisco office for a local bank includes financial specialists from its New York and Chicago offices on the project team. This type of team also makes it possible for companies to cross organizational boundaries by linking customers, suppliers, and business partners in a collaborative effort that can increase the quality and speed with which the new product or service is brought to market. In writing this textbook , the authors (university professors) formed a virtual team with the publishing company’s editors and also with the design specialists who created the graphics and visual images for the text.

One of the best practices that has emerged from research on virtual teams is the use of a virtual work space, which is essentially a Web site that only team members have access to, where the team is reminded of its decisions, rationales, and commitments.36 The virtual team work space has a home page with links to other “walls,” each of which is devoted to a specific aspect of the team project. One wall, for example, contains information about all the people on the virtual team, including contact information and profiles of their expertise and accomplishments. Another wall displays information about teleconference meetings, such as when they are being held, who is supposed to attend, the agendas, and the meeting minutes, which can be shared with team members. Shell Chemicals, for example, has had success with the use of a virtual work space on a company-wide project to develop a new cash-based approach to financial management.37