"We want managers and employees to work together to paint a clear vision and articulate a compelling mission supplemented with clearly understood goals and shared values upon which anyone in the organization from top to bottom can base an intelligent decision. This approach results in the empowerment of all employees -- managers as well as workers -- to innovate and ensure a high level of performance. It insures that everyone 'buys into' the vision and is part of the process for creating it, so that
goals can be developed together."--Vice President Al Gore, The New Job of the Federal Executive, 1994 -
"The practice of creating “empowered teams” in the work place is rapidly gaining momentum in this country, and is creating a management revolution." - L. Conrad -
Managing styles vary across and within companies today. Some managers demand that employees refrain from casual interactions, and non-work related conversations believing that the employees will then waste less time and be more productive. Other managers encourage informal interactions of all kinds believing that with the interaction, beneficial ideas and collaborations will occur, benefiting the company. Either beliefs, when taken to the extreme, we believe become unproductive. Most likely, the most beneficial management style lies somewhere in between.The manager's new roleFrom the course readings and through some out of class research we discovered that the methods of managing a workplace that encourages teamwork largely depends on the physical environment of the workplace. A traditional office layout differs vastly from a team orientated workspace. We can easily assume that managers must use different management techniques in these different workspaces. The traditional workspace team manager must focus more on creating more interaction with the physical space limitations. On the other hand, the team orientated workspace manager must effectively facilitate and organize the new problems such as increased clutter around the office and maintenance issues involving team areas.
Much has also been written about the teams approach, most of it focusing on potential gains in effectiveness, the quality improvements that are possible, the reduced overhead and competitive advantages that can result, and the quality-of-life gains for the work force. But what about the impact of empowered teams on managers?
The literature generally focuses on managers as expendable, no longer needed in the new empowered-team work force. In fact, management is routinely identified as the largest single obstacle to achieving the benefits promised by a teams environment. We suspect there are two reasons for this. First, an effective teams environment does reduce the need for managers in the classic sense. Second, there has been too little focus on the role the manager should play in the new environment. The tendency to resist change coupled with the failure to articulate effectively the new managerial role make it understandable that managers might resist the teams movement.
The typical description of a teams environment is one in which the manager stops making decisions, stops giving orders, and becomes more of a coach. Unfortunately, this coaching concept may not be very well defined in practical terms. In addition, there is no clear reason given for why a manager might see this change as beneficial to his or her career. What will managers actually be doing in the new environment, and how can that job prove to be a desirable, enriching experience?
Is there anything positive the environment has to offer managers from the old hierarchical structure? We believe the answer is yes, but the role and environment are significantly different from the ones they have been used to. A good way to underscore this is to abandon the title of “manager” and adopt something different, such as “team advisor,” as suggested by Sims.Many of the traditional managerial roles are not needed in the new teams environment. Those managers who define their role in the organization solely on the basis of control may not make the transition to the new order. However, managers who define themselves on the basis of leadership, advocacy, facilitation, coordination, the removal of barriers, and the development of staff should make the transition to teams smoothly since they already possess the appropriate mindset for a teams environment.
Leadership means providing direction for the organization and establishing a vision. People don't want to be managed; they want to be led. Teams have shown they can manage themselves on a day-to-day basis, thus freeing management's time to concentrate on moving the organization to where it needs to go. Whether we like it or not, change is a given in today's organizations. Nothing will kill an enterprise faster than stagnation. Most of us can relate to the metaphor that life in the 90s is permanent “white water.” Forget the idea of shooting the rapids and coming to an area of calm where we can collect our senses before attempting the next stretch of rough water; we're in an environment of constant change. Leadership has never been more important than it is today, and teams can release managers from the imperatives of daily crises to focus on determining where the winds of change will take the organization and how it can profit from those changes.Advocacy and removal of barriers means battling the bureaucracy, forming partnerships, and overcoming negativism to advance team goals. A leader in an organization needs to “clear the way” for progressive ideas to be implemented. As Hammer and Champy point out, many barriers are erected against new ideas in any organization. A worker comes up with a new idea that he feels has merit and takes it to his boss. If she likes it, she takes it to her boss, and so on. Anyone along the chain of command has veto power; any single “no” can kill it. Conversely, look at all the “yeses” that must be garnered in order for the idea to go forward. Is it any wonder our organizations stifle creativity? There is a role for advocacy and removal of barriers that the team advisor can play. This role requires someone who is articulate, who is skilled in consensus-building, who can help explain and sell an idea, who can line up the necessary resources, and who can keep the idea from getting stalled in the bureaucracy.
Facilitation and coordination means helping the team find solutions to problems and coordinating activities between teams. There is a role for facilitation and coordination that is crucial to the group process. The team advisor can be tapped to assist the team as necessary, not by giving them the answers but by helping them find the answers on their own, and to coordinate activities with others in the organization to ensure a smoothly operating enterprise. Development of staff means helping staff members continue to progress in their careers. There are many development opportunities in the teams environment. Team members may be called on to perform functions and roles they have had little or no experience with or expertise in: budgeting, conflict resolution, providing feedback, and dealing with different communication styles and differing levels of interpersonal skills. Ongoing training is needed to help develop members of the team. They also need access to someone who can serve a mentor role and help them develop needed expertise. Team members can usually provide technical skills, but they will need help from outside the team to develop these additional non-technical skills.
The above characteristics of the new “team advisor” position were also key in the traditional managerial role, but were often compromised to deal with the crisis du jour. In the teams environment, the team advisor can focus on these aspects and thereby improve the overall effectiveness of leadership in the operation of the organization. Management focus is on the “what,” while the team focus is on the “how.” Thus occurs the following seeming paradox: by giving up control (of individuals), management gains control (of the organization).
Moving Toward Teams
Request for Team-based Workplaces
Managing Team Environment
Technology Impact on Teamwork, Communication & Collaboration
Corporate Stories
References & Links
