Self-Managed Teams

 

Whereas traditional managers and leaders are expected to provide command and control, the role of leaders in teams is to facilitate processes and support team members. The leader sets the general direction and goals; the team members make all other decisions and implement team. This new role for leaders is most obvious in self-managed teams (SMTs), which are teams of employees with full managerial control over their own work, with following characteristics:

 

• Power to manage their work. SMTs can set goals, plan, staff, schedule, monitor quality, and implement decisions.

• Members with different expertise and functional experience. Team members can be from marketing, finance, production, design, and so on. Without a broad range of experience, the team cannot manage all aspects of its work.

• Absence of an outside manager. The team does not report to an outside manager. Team members manage themselves, their budget, and their task through shared leadership.

• The power to implement decisions. Team members have the power to implement their decisions.

• Coordination and cooperation with other teams and individuals affected by the teams. Because each team is independent and does not formally report to a manager, the teams themselves rather than managers must coordinate their tasks and activities to assure integration.

• Team leadership based on facilitation. Leadership often rotates among members depending on each member's expertise in handling a specific situation. Instead of a leader who tells others what to do, sets goals, monitors achievement, team leaders remove obstacles for the team and make sure that the team has the resources it needs.

 

The success of the team depends on a number of key factors. First, the members of a team have to be selected carefully for their complementary skills and expertise. Second, the team members need to focus on and be committed to the team goal. Third, the team task must be appropriately complex, as well as provided with the critical resources it needs to perform the tesk. Finally, the team needs enough power and authority to accimplish its task and implement new ideas.