Introduction
Self-directing teams (SDT) were implemented at RL Wolfe plastic manufacturing company in order to improve productivity (Garvin & Collins, 2009).
Background
The director of production and engineering – John Amasi introduced the SDT to the plant in 2004, but he finds that there is still areas to be improved when he re-visits. (Garvin & Collins, 2009).
Problem
There were no set goals for neither management nor the employees and there were no formal individual performance reviews. Line operators and material handlers felt less valued in the cooperation which lead to miscommunication between line operators and technicians and resulted in high turnover.
Opportunities
The majority of the employees agreed to participate in the SDTs. In SDTs, teams function individually and therefore everyone’s opinion is considered. Every employee gets the attention this way which makes them feel they matter in the organization. Therefore everyone will try their best to achieve the company goals which will improve the production. At the same time, it’s also important to set goals and evaluate the employee performance.
Recommendations
In a team, a demand or need for performance is more important than team building exercises. A team should have a common need to perform (Mark M. Chatfield). Also the teams should be provided with goals and boundaries and they must be assessed with performance reviews (Ray and Bronstein, 1995)
Conclusions
SDT performance and outcome can be improved by making sure every employee’s voice is heard and everyone feels the need to performance well. Also evaluating employee performance is very important.
References
Garvin, D., & Collins, E. (2009). RL Wolfe: Implementing Self-Directed Teams. Harvard Business Publishing.
Mark M. Chatfield. Self-Directed and Self-Managed Teams. Retrieved from http://www.irism.com/selfteam.htm