Self Managed Team

ENSURING SUCCESS: A MODEL FOR SELF-MANAGED TEAMS
LORI L. SILVERMAN Partners for Progress 19202 N. 31st Drive Phoenix, AZ 85027 USA [e-mail] www.partnersforprogress.com www.wakeupmycompany.com [phone] office ANNABETH L. PROPST Fuller & Propst Associates 41W202 Whitney Road St. Charles, IL 60175, USA [e-mail]

INTRODUCTION Over the past few years, there has been much talk about the benefits of self-managed teams (also known as self-directed teams, natural teams, or semiautonomous work groups). Everyone seems to want some form of them in their organization. A number of books and articles have been written on the subject since they were first introduced in the 1940s as a method of employee involvement. They typically list the activities and steps the organization should follow to develop self-managed teams, outline the skills required of team leaders and team members, and describe the phases an organization goes through to achieve its objective of employing self-managed teams. These books and articles contain good ideas and useful information, yet many organizations do not have fully functioning self-managed teams. Why is this? We believe it is due, in part, to the lack of a model that describes the roles of self-managed teams within organizations. This paper introduces such a model that includes the following roles: ■ Uphold organizational and personal values and principles; ■ Accomplish the team’s work; ■ Organize the team’s work environment; ■ Manage the team’s work processes; ■ Participate in organization-wide systems; ■ Participate in organization-wide strategies; and ■ Manage team processes. The types of responsibilities that are a part of each role and how each role fits within the overall work of the organization are detailed here. In addition, we provide steps for introducing your organization and your work group to this model. WHAT IS A SELF-MANAGED TEAM? Even though the terms “self-managed” and “self-directed” are used

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