Purdue News

April 1995

Team concept makes things difficult for managers in the '90s

Joan M. Chesterton, associate professor of organizational leadership and supervision at Purdue's North Central campus, says the traditional organization -- where managers think, supervisors push and workers work -- is counterproductive in today's business environment.

"Because of teams and empowerment, employees are learning to manage themselves," she says. "Traditional management skills from 1969 aren't going to cut it. Managers must develop new skills for supporting teams or they'll get left behind. Those skills include coaching, facilitating and conflict resolution."

Chesterton says more and more companies are putting employees into teams. The theory is that employees are more productive and will produce a higher quality product working as a team. Traditional managers, however, may find the team concept a challenge.

"Managers who will have the most difficult time in today's team environment come from supervisory backgrounds," Chesterton contends. "The skills they have been taught apply to managing or supervising individuals. Those are exactly the type of skills that can kill a team project."

Chesterton has 20 years of experience as a line manager and consultant for manufacturing and service organizations involved in re-engineering, employee empowerment and improving relationships between management and unions. She says advances in technology, training and education make today's employees more knowledgeable than employees in the past.

"Employees know more about the job they are doing and how it relates to a company's success," she says. "They are much more aware of the bottom line and the inner workings of the organization. Today's managers have to be more willing to listen to what employees are saying, and work with employees rather than over them."

She says if your management style includes any of the following tactics, you might want to update your skills -- if not your resume. As a manager, you're in trouble if you:

• Get on the road with a trunk full of concepts, buzzwords and success stories from best sellers, but throw out maps that estimate time required, detours, breakdowns and real travel distance.
  
• Treat all design, coordination and process re-engineering as management functions. Plan to deal with employees, "the soft side," later.
  
• Make idle promises of solutions and success.
  
• Hang inspirational banners throughout the plant.
  
• Underestimate the intelligence and disbelief of workers.
  
• Believe that teams are an immediate morale booster -- producing camaraderie and commitment in the members. Believe employees are motivated by speeches built on sports analogies.
  
• Reject and silence all doubts, questions and resistance as antiquated thinking that is disloyal to the organization.
  
• Delegate the team effort to a middle manager who may lose his or her job if teams succeed.
  
• Select "coaches," "coordinators" or "facilitators" from the ranks of supervisors with high seniority -- those whose promotions stemmed from success in traditional close direction, supervisory problem-solving, and effective discipline of employees.
  
• See team development as a conference-room training program -- two days of consultant-led games, role playing, case studies and videos.
  
• Skip on-the-job training needs such as employee-to-employee cross training, technical updates and computer training.
  
• Restrict information. For example: keeping the union in the dark; limiting computer access; and keeping real data and crucial information private to management.

The road to success is smoother, Chesterton says, when managers understand that a willingness to change their approach from directive to facilitative will result in an explosion of productivity for their teams and a rewarding new life in management for them.

Source: Joan M. Chesterton, (219) 785-5297
Writer: Victor B. Herr, (765) 494-2077; Internet, victor_herr@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu

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