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Self-directed work teams--also known as autonomous work teams, self-managed work teams or leaderless work groups--are one of the current rages in the field of organizational development. Work teams form the foundation for today's complex companies, hospitals and agencies and are as basic and necessary to organizations as families are to society. No organization will be strong and competitive without effective teams for every aspect of work.
I am concerned, though, that this popular idea is in danger of going the way of quality circles and so many other programs: a short, intense period of interest but with few real results. The reasons for my reservations are threefold.
First, the concept is mislabeled. I do not think we really mean for work teams in complex organizations to be "self-directed, autonomous, leaderless or self-managed."
Second, I believe complex organizations need better, stronger and situationally correct leadership, not less leadership. The popular notions about self-directed work groups do not seem to address this crucial need.
Third, traditional reward systems do not support team-based organizations. Current reward systems support individual performance to such an extent that they discourage teamwork.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Names convey meaning. The name we give to a new approach will influence how people understand the process. Names such as self-directed autonomous, leaderless and self-managed carry messages of independence, freedom to act and workers' control of their own work.
These are good messages but they lack something. And to the extent that they are lacking, they risk being misunderstood.
Self-directed implies that work teams provide their own direction. This is inaccurate because teams take their direction from the situation and the goals of the organization. Goal-directed is preferable to self-directed. Autonomous suggests that teams are independent of each other. The reality is that in organizations, interdependence, not independence, is the need. Coordinated more accurately expresses this need for interdependence than autonomous.
Self-managed work groups and leaderless work groups connote the demise or restriction of supervision and management action. We...