Formation & Management of Work Teams

But all working groups are not equal. There is an aphorism: "A camel is a tiger designed by a committee." In contrast, we have all had many personal experiences in which working by oneself would have been far more efficient and efficacious than working with a particular group.

These seemingly conflicting aspects of human behavior mean that one of the skills that a good manager must possess is the ability to tap into people's natural skills and desires to work together while at the same time fashioning and directing those groups in a way that makes them as productive as possible.

One of the newest workplace tools (although some companies have in fact been experimenting with the idea for two decades, when the idea for work teams began slipping out of the academy into the business world) along these lines is called the work team concept. This paper explores how work teams are formed and how they can best be managed. While many companies (in a wide range of fields and with very different employee demographics) have found at l

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accomplished by setting up a brainstorming process in which work team members generate options, evaluate them, then decide on a plan. 4. After having researched and defined the plan and brainstormed a solution, the manager with the work team should agree on specific actions to carry out. It is important at this stage of the process for the manager to ensure that everyone has a chance to participate. Who will do what? Where? When? How? It is also important for the manager to lead by example at this point, taking on some of the work of the project himself or herself and thus lead by example (Beckmann, 1990, p. D2:20). Work teams have attracted both praise and condemnation; they seem to be one of those topics about which people have strong feelings one way of the other. One team that has found success with the model is Colgate-Palmolive. To make the work team process as efficient and rewarding as possible at their company, Palmolive has instigated a number of management policies. These include: ensuring that all employees have received all of the training and education that they require to work toward the goals of their team; ensuring that employees continually work to acquire new skills while managers continually work to under
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Edges Orsburn, , European Japanese, Personnel Journal, Can't Succeed, Hewlett-Packard Starbucks, orsburn et al, et al, orsburn et, Times Orsburn, et al 1990, al 1990, curtius 1997, team concept, Walt Disney, team model, beckmann 1998, skills managers, D220 Caudron, Los Angeles, al 1990 8, 1997 d25, curtius 1997 d25, personnel journal, entire product refrigerator,
Approximate Word count = 2789
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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