Team-Based Organization

Support System for Work Teams

Effective, team-based organizations provide nine kinds of support for work teams:

• 1.
  Team roles. Each team in a team-based organization ideally has a well-defined role in relation to the orga-nization's mission and the other teams. Definition of teams’ roles include specification of primary counterparts (such as suppliers and customers), responsibilities, outputs, workflows, performance measures, and reporting relationships.
• 2.
  Leaders’ roles. Managers have the responsibility of defining leadership roles for teams, including an internal role such as supervisor, and an external leadership role such as team manager or coordinator of several teams. Many team-based organizations elect team leaders who hold the same rank as other team members.
• 3.
  Staffing. Well-managed systems for selecting and placing employees assure that teams have members with necessary knowledge, skills, abilities, and other attributes. As more organizations incorporate work teams, more employees acquire the needed teamwork skills.
• 4.
  Training. Systems for employee education and development in team-based organizations often focus on both teamwork skills and coordination of technical skills. Most successful team-based organizations incorporate needs assessments and ongoing training of team members and managers.
• 5.
  Measurement. Team measurement systems can objectively gauge team performance, including customer satisfaction, efficiency, and other key outcomes.
• 6.
  Rewards. Team-based reward systems can provide extrinsic incentives and reinforcement for sustained, cooperative performance by teams.
• 7.
  Information systems. Teams require up-to-date information systems to maintain data on work processes, supplies, customers, and their performance. The same computer-based systems provide information to managers and customers. As information systems become more central to teamwork, computer skills become more essential for team members.
• 8.
  Communication technology. Many teams need specialized equipment beyond telephones, e-mail, and computers to communicate effectively. New technology promotes group interaction via teleconferencing, videoconferencing, and computer-supported collaboration.
• 9.
  Facilities. The physical working environment may be as important as any other factor in supporting work teams. Layout of workstations promotes or inhibits face-to-face interaction, access to equipment, and the capacity to isolate or display work in progress, hold meetings, and move among work areas.

Type of Work Teams

Work teams take many forms. They can be self-manag-ing, virtual, permanent, or temporary. Six common types of work teams appear in team-based organizations, distinguished mainly by the kinds of work they

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