|
| |
The Role of Senior Management
Senior managers, who in reality have a limited role in driving the change down to the
employee level, can have a more powerful impact by working to create a climate
where self-directed work teams can flourish. Rayner (1993), identifies
that Senior managers can accomplish powerful impact by:
-
Defining the company's
direction while not insisting on specific solutions,
-
Spreading the lessons learned
from both successes and failures,
-
Giving ongoing support and
encouragement to those organizations or departments making the transition to
self-directed work teams, and
-
Reorienting corporate staff
functions to help support the efforts (p. 82-83).
Welling, Byham, & Wilson, (1991) add some additional points regarding senior
management's role in creating a culture conducive to team implementation.
These two additional points include:
-
Determine
if the organization’s vision and values are sufficiently clear and
compatible to enable empowered teams to operate.
-
Define
the membership and responsibilities of the steering committee (p.82-83).
Welling,
et al. (1991), also shares that senior management also must agree on the results
or goals expected in each of these areas:
-
Direct business reasons for teams. What bottom-line
business indexes (scrap rate, quality, customer service, etc.) will be
affected by adopting teams?
-
Indirect business reasons for teams. What changes
can be expected in indirect business indexes (morale, employee turnover, union
grievances)?
|
