Chapter 9. The Effective Work Team

After you have finished reading this chapter, you should be able to (1) communicate the essential differences between a traditional department and a contemporary team arrangement, and (2) operate successfully with employees from diverse cultural backgrounds.

A major restructuring of organizations is taking place in the United States. Downsizing, thinning out of middle-management positions, and greater international involvements are in progress. These and other unsettling changes are necessary to enable firms to reach higher quality and productivity levels in their efforts to remain competitive. It is the challenge of the decade!

In the three previous chapters, you studied the fundamentals involved in creating good relationships as a traditional supervisor. You may not have been aware that everything you learned is even more applicable in becoming a team leader. In fact, if you think back, you will realize that everything you have absorbed, once put into practice, would make you a successful coach. This capability can be highly significant to your future because of the following trends:

• A steady movement away from the traditional pyramid departmental structure to the circle or team arrangement.

  
  

  

  
  

• Increased empowerment, which means that team and departmental personnel are given more autonomy to make decisions, take action, and enhance their own roles.

• The changing ethnic composition of units, which is becoming more representative of all domestic and international cultures.