nt goals, workers are being rearranged and integrated, often into process teams. Such teamwork requires employees who possess the ability to shepherd a particular process from start to finish, i.e., multiskilled employees.
Multiskilling is concerned with the process, attitude, and approach to work moreso than with a defined set of skills for each worker. Multiskilled workers have the freedom to perform any job which they possess the competency for, even those jobs outside of their primary skill areas. Work can be performed either as teams or as individuals. As Cross (1991) describes it, "Multiskilling is a form of working which seeks to promote the exchange, sharing and a common ownership of tasks. The only limiting factors . . . are safety, time and ability" (p. 44).
The hallmark of multiskilled work is responsibility. Workers are empowered to progress tasks as far as they can. Headroom is given for the workers themselves to make short- and long-term improvements in processes, a responsibility formerly the exclusive domain of management. Multiskilled workers often know more about the details of production than the managers or owners of an organizations. Assistance is solicited from colleagues and superiors wherever needed, but the multiskilled worker, being more knowledgeable about the overall production process than the single-skilled worker, generally is more self-sufficient and less dependent on the oversight of management. Multiskilling requires adaptability, courage, and confidence. Multiskilling promotes the full utilization of the capabilities of the work force.
Multiskilling is a work process that has found greater acceptance among foreign firms than with firms in the United States. Japan is one country where multiskilling has existed in the workplace for years. This mode of work is also common on the continent of Europe. Variations of multiskilling in Japanese and European models of employment exis...