Organisational Behaviour

The organisational organ known as the team is becoming more and more apparent in today's dynamic business world. Increasingly managers are searching for a means to improve production and keep their organisation competitive in the global market. A lot of these managers have turned to the team as a means for achieving this improvement. Quality circles were looked at to fulfil this role. However, this form of team is being phased out and may have posed as incubator for the current trend; self - managed work teams (Klein, 1995). These teams are increasingly being looked at today to solve many an organisation's production problems and inefficiencies, and in the process are both badly failing and greatly succeeding. Therefore, the discussion of teams is a very important contemporary management issue to address. Managers should be aware of such a concept and learn about it so as a means to further their organisation and for when the time comes to implement a team they are armed with enough knowledge to implement the team properly. As with many management trends or processes, they are often labeled, producing a huge list of buzzwords, like total quality management, just in time management, management by objectives, downsizing, rightsizing, etc. The organisational team also pulls a long chain of buzzwords; workgroup, work team, project team, project group, task force, committees and so on and so on. What these terms basically refer to is a collection of two or more individuals who interact with each other, share common beliefs, and perceive themselves as being in a group. (Vecchio, Hearn, Southey, 1996:846). This is a very basic interpretation of a team and which can be expanded upon. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company defines a team more specifically as a group of people with specific roles and responsibilities, organised to work together toward common goals or objectives, in which each member depends on others to carry out responsibilities to reach those goals and objectives. (1986, cited in Denton, 1992:87). The implementation and operation of a team can either be a great success or a costly failure, both money wise and time wise. Many companies have benefited from teams, as Dumaine (1994) points out, when teams work, there's nothing like them for turbocharging productivity. There are many examples of successful implementation of teams. To name a few, Federal Express and IDS boosted productivity by 40% and Boeing cut its engineering hang-ups on its new 777 passenger jet by more than half. (Dumaine, 1994). The Ford Motor Company in the United States also had great success with teams when producing the new Mustang prototype. Ford produced the Mustang from design concept to the finished product under budget and in record time. (Klein, 1995). However, many companies and managers are put off by the very mention of the word team. As McGarvey (1996) suggests, are teams just another management fad or are they for real? He also points out that ... many businesses have had bad experiences with teams that flopped. (McGarvey, 1996:80). As is also pointed out by Magee (1997:26) ... ill - functioning teams can cause disastrous effects on the individuals involved, the organisation's service delivery and customer service reputation, and the mood of the entire organisation. So, there is little wonder why many organisations and mangers are disillusioned by teams and apprehensive to implement them. Evidence of this apprehension could be interpreted from a study conducted by the Centre for Effective Organisations at the University of Southern California. The Centre conducted a survey of Fortune 1000 companies and found that 68% of those companies used self - managed work teams. However, on the flip - side, only 10% of total workers are in such teams. (Dumaine, 1994). Not a large percentage of the total workers. These results may suggest that most companies are still learning and piloting work teams and are not ready to throw themselves into committing large chunks of their workforce to work teams. As organisations and managers hear the success stories of Federal Express, IDS and the Ford Motor Company, they also want in on the action and want the benefits of successful team implementation as well. However, they obviously want to steer clear of the possible problems and costs that unsuccessful team implementation can produce. As Dumaine (1994:86) points out, teams are the Ferraris of work design. They're high performance but high maintenance and expensive. What organisations want is a Ferrari with the costs of a Ford or Holden. Although all teams require maintenance and costs, there are factors that can be fine-tuned to keep these costs to a minimum, which will also maximise a team's success. The first factor that should be addressed before the actual team is implemented is, what are the reasons for implementation? As Magee (1997:27) points out, the decision to form teams involves taking risk. It means that the agency believes that the product of the team will be significantly greater than what can be produced by any one individual. Therefore, management is risking resources when appointing them to teams. So, the decision to create a team should only be made if there will be an expected improvement in production. To help with this decision, a comprehensive planning and study period should be carried out. This should be done so your knowledge of teams and teamwork is high. This will help facilitate team building and from this the building process can flow smoothly as a result of preplanning. The study process should not be limited to reviewing literature. As Dewar (1999:W3) suggests, the best type of research ...is a visit to other companies and organisations who are involved in team activities. Here you can get first hand experience of team functioning, which can facilitate your team building process. Failure to adequately plan and study for the team building process can get your very expensive team into strife. This could lead to an unfavourable beginning for the team, which may sabotage the team in the long run and end up costing you big bucks. In the planning process, team composition and the type of team to be used should be examined. Team composition is very important to team success. As is pointed out in McGarvey's article (1996:80) management undermines many teams by failing to clear up personnel problems beforehand. This is about knowing your employees and choosing the right people for the right job. The type of team should also be thoroughly thought about. As Dumaine (1994:86) points out, the most common trouble with teams is the most common trouble with teams is that, many companies rush out and form the wrong kind for the job. He also points out that too often a CEO will get excited about the idea of teams and order them up as if only one type existed. This type of thinking can be destructive. You don't use a hammer to cut a piece of wood in