“The biggest challenge is to achieve the dream, not only my dream and my vision but the dream and vision of the group in the mind of each individual, in order to reach one voice and one culture. Let us work in the spirit of one team, regardless of position, and to maintain our performance.”

 – Dr. Edson Gedoy Bueno

Self-managed work teams (SMWT) are considered one of the contemporary initiatives that help to maximize participation and engagement in terms of productivity and quality in addition to cost reduction and resources saving.

The trend in the business field has increased during the nineties of the past century to rely on self-management work teams, as they are called by many different names, such as:

• Self-directed teams.
• Autonomous improvement teams.
• Shared leadership teams.
• Autonomous work groups.

Thus, all researchers and writers agree that the core concept of self-managed work teams can be defined as “A group of individuals fully responsible for accomplishing certain tasks, such as manufacturing a product or providing a service, and making the necessary decisions to complete them, such as defining tasks and methods of achievement, arranging and scheduling tasks, holding meetings between team members to solve work problems, as well as taking care of raising personal issues”.

Reasons to transform to self-managed work teams:

• The outdated concept of management, which allows one person to issue orders and supervise a large number of individuals carrying out his/her orders, which leads to low levels of commitment and lack of loyalty, which results to low quality, performance and customer dissatisfaction.

• The best organizations are those that direct their attention to the lower levels of employees and not only to the customers. The best way to achieve this is to form working groups that work as one unit and allow its members to take the initiative in solving problems and making decisions and sharing success and best practices with management.

• The tendency to reduce the volume of labor to reduce costs and reduce the degree of bureaucracy, by relying on self-management, which leads to the disappearance of supervision and middle management, in addition to effective decision-making, flexibility of communication, and strengthening the behavior of organizational citizenship.

• Attention to total quality management, enhancing customer care, and desire for continuous improvement in performance, which requires more dynamic and creative work systems. Thus, the solution lies in empowering employees through self-managed work teams.

• The increasing interest in teamwork and the desire to achieve employees’ loyalty to the organization and their sense of job satisfaction, self-realization and quality of work life.

Limitations of implementing self-managed work teams:

Collectivism:

This constraint refers to the degree of importance an individual gives to teamwork versus individual action. Individuals who have value for teamwork tend to value the good of the team more than the good of the individual and tend to say (we), while individuals who have a low level of group sense, are characterized by independence and care about their own interests thus constitute an obstacle to the success of self-managed work teams because they have lack of desire to work with others and do not like to take responsibility at work, and tend to say (I).

Power distance:

This value expresses the degree of commitment that the individual has to participate in decision-making or the degree of influence on the decision taken by the administration. Being away from authority Individuals tend to submit to orders and not express opinions because they are accustomed to the hierarchical organization style. Therefore, it is difficult to keep pace with the style of self-managed work teams.

Doing orientation:

This restriction expresses the extent to which individuals are keen to go towards implementing the goals and adopting a strong motivation towards work, and this depends to a large extent on the clarity of the goal on the one hand and the benefits that will accrue to individuals as a result of achieving the goal on the other hand, which creates motivation among Individuals to move towards achievement, however, in the event of ambiguity of goals and lack of clarity of the benefits that individuals will obtain from achieving the goals, individuals will not have the motivation and desire to work with the team, not even bear the slightest responsibility.

The degree of determinism:

Individuals who feel unable to change the course of things within their organizations even with a broad mandate to them believe in determinism and result in excessive satisfaction with current conditions and in case of failure tend to withdraw or justify and then stop trying to reach the goal claiming that this is their fate. Therefore, they will not be in line with the style of work teams and self-management. As for individuals who have a low degree of inevitability in their culture, they take challenging positions to complete the required work even with the least powers available to them, as they have confidence in their abilities to influence the existing conditions and bring about change in the organization in line with achieving goals.

Shifting to self-managed work teams:

It cannot be easily assumed that individuals who are accustomed to a work environment with restrictions, and specific procedures, can suddenly switch to a work environment that allows them to make decisions and take responsibility. But when the team leader becomes a coordinator and collaborator, it will start to make the team act as a decision-making entity. And when the leader becomes more skilled in developing the team’s decision-making capabilities, he can turn to other duties while the team undertakes to perform its responsibilities and approaches, with the accumulation of its experience, to self-management.

The following table shows the transition towards more self-management:

The optimum organizational structure for organizations to adopt self-managing work teams:

When there is a traditional structure with a broad hierarchy, and there are a number of different ranks, while some sectors are viewed with a different perspective that reduces their position in the organization; Working in the form of a responsible and self-managed work team is a very difficult process, and the activities of building these teams become very complex, so it was necessary to change the organizational structures in order to align with the work teams, as the organizational structure changed from a hierarchical form to a simple form that the middle management is limited and followed by the main sections, followed by work teams in the organization.

Organizational structure based on work teams:

Organizational structure based on hierarchy:

Responsibilities of self-managed work teams:

These teams bear a set of administrative and financial responsibilities that were limited to the senior management only, as these responsibilities and powers are transferred from outside the teams to within them in order to raise the level of performance, develop its quality and improve the quality of work life. This transformation is considered the most important characteristic of these self-managing teams.

• Job descriptions:

The job description process is considered one of the most bureaucratic processes carried out by the Human Resources Department, as each job is described accurately, the competencies required for it and the responsibilities assigned to it are determined, in addition to that, wages and salaries are determined accordingly, however, by applying the concept of self-managed work teams, fundamental changes occur to the job description process where it is expected and supposed that team members will be able to perform all the work and tasks assigned to the team. In addition to the exchange of skills and experiences that each individual can replace the other if necessary. Therefore, work is more flexible and ensures the provision of specialized and interchangeable human resources as a means to confront the dynamic nature of changing demand and the surrounding environment.

• Selection and appointment of new team members:

The logic of this responsibility is that the team is best able to know the actual needs of individuals, and not only financial and material needs, but also intangible needs, such as the degree of the individual’s dependence and devotion to teamwork and the ability to interact and deal with others in a harmonious and consistent manner within the teamwork in addition to the extent to which the individual’s personal values are consistent with the style of the self-managed team’s work.

It is important to modify the recruitment system to depend mainly on the work team, that is, the team members have the authority to appoint the new individual through:

• The team members manage the interviews that will be held with the candidates.
• The decision is made on the candidate’s ability and eligibility to be a member of the team.
• The team makes the decision to appoint the new member unanimously.

• Determining the financial needs:

Where the team determines the financial needs in order to carry out the tasks entrusted to it and achieve the goals, as these needs cover all the activities of the team in their various forms and diversity.

• Training and development:

Training needs are of paramount importance to the self-managed work team, where team members identify and assess needs and participate in designing appropriate training programs and evaluate training outcomes after implementation.

Thus, training should cover the following topics:

Self-management and leadership, where the team needs training in supervisory functions by learning how to carry out tasks, define performance standards, simplify work procedures, learn communication skills, conflict resolution, decision-making, meeting management, and time management.

In addition to responsibility for the work as a whole, team members need to learn the skills of dealing with customers, as well as dealing with suppliers, unions, banks….etc.

• Payroll and salary management:

The traditional system of salaries and wages is based on the job grade, as this system supports individual achievements only. Therefore, according to the concept of self-managing work teams, this system must be modified and replaced with a team-based system, and that the most used system in the payment of salaries and wages within work teams is the payment for knowledge, where wages are paid to team members based on the number and type of tasks that the team member can accomplish as well as the team’s participation in the gains and profits achieved depending on the team’s performance to motivate it to more effort and continuous improvement.

• Performance appraisal :

It relates to the responsibility of measuring the team’s performance level and efficiency. The team can achieve this responsibility through:

• Replacing the people’s appreciation with the team’s appreciation: this depends on the team’s responsibility, achieving its goals as a whole and not individually so that the team maintains the spirit of teamwork and is collectively rewarded.
• Self-evaluation: where the members evaluate their work and the team sets standards for all the tasks that are assigned to it, and each member knows what is required of him/her and can measure his/her performance on a constant periodic basis.
• Reports: they are prepared periodically to express the progress of the team in completing the work and submit it to the higher management.

Characteristics of self-managed work teams:

• It is a group of employees who develop relationships and have goals, roles, values ​​and behavioral rules in addition to the desire to work, interact and work to reach the goal.

• Relying on open discussions as one of the democratic methods in making decisions.

• The team does not depend on senior management except in a small part, that is, it is relatively independent. It is self-moving and having a high degree of independence as it sets goals and plans, makes decisions, solves problems, allocates roles and assigns responsibility, monitors and evaluates.

• The results of the team’s work are the result of interaction, cooperation and harmony among the team members.

• The effectiveness of one team affects the effectiveness of other teams.

• The overall effectiveness of the organization consists of the effectiveness of the teams in it.

How to transform into self-managed work teams?

• Step 1: Communication:

This stage depends on the success of the communication process and the achievement of the desired commitment, in which the identity of the self-managed teams is defined, the extent to which it fits with the existing organizational culture, and clarification of the appropriate set of values and organizational vision for members.

• Step 2: Team building:

The time frame for this stage depends on the size of the organization and the culture of the workforce. Teams are being developed. The focus at this stage should be on the composition of the team, the tasks required of it, and the role of each member in it.

• Step3: Shifting to self-managed work teams:

At this stage, the process of transition and the development of self-managed work teams takes place and moves to work as an independent unit responsible for the product as a whole or the manufacturing process, where the administrative levels are reduced and often we find only two administrative levels linked by supportive units for work.  

• Step4: Continuous development:

At this stage, the process of continuous improvement and development takes place internally, the process of transforming to self-managed teams all over the organization. In addition to integration with customers, Therefor, complete integration between the structures of the organization creates a competitive advantage for the organization.

Benefits achieved by successful self-managed work teams:

• Reducing costs.
• Improving the level of quality.
• Reducing the rates of loss and damage.
• Providing a high degree of flexibility within the work environment.
• Increasing the morale of the employees and reducing the rates of turnover.

Organizations applying self-managed work teams:

• GMC (for automotive industry).
• AMIL (a health care company).
• TOYOTA.
• General Electric.

Conclusion:

The commitment of the individual and his/her involvement in the work is are core values that lead to the development of the organization, and the organizations that promote those core values create a consensus between the needs of the individuals and the business needs, and this consensus often leads to the existence of an effective organization and individuals who are satisfied and enthusiastic in their work and have a sense of ownership. Therefore, a self-managed work team is an effective tool to achieve commitment and satisfaction along with growth and quality. However, that can happen through the learning and empowerment of the team.