How And Why Are Work Teams

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How and why are Work Teams
effective in today’s work environment ?

The phenomenon of work teams is not new. The study of work groups and group processes has a long and continuous history in organizational studies dating back more than half a century. Yet the use of work teams is experiencing a resurgence interest in organizations today. In the United States the use of work teams has become a popular strategy for increasing productivity and worker flexibility. 78 percent of all U.S. organizations report that at least some of their employees are organized into work teams. In those organizations that utilize teams, an average of 61 percent of all employees are members of work teams [5].

What are teams ? According to the definition of Katzenbach and Smith “A teams is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable” [1].

Teams are in many cases more convenient than traditional company units, as they have greater organizational flexibility. Teams can be quickly assembled, deployed, refocused, and disbanded. The most frequently utilized forms of work teams are: problem-solving teams, self-management teams, cross-functional teams, and virtual teams. These different types of work teams are used, as appropriate, for fulfillment of different tasks.

The problem-solving teams are used in order to find solutions to various industrial or operational problems, or to work out suggestions on improvement of the utilized work processes and methods in order to increase their efficiency.

The self-management teams represent continuing work units responsible for producing goods or providing services, that involve employees in making decisions that were formerly prerogative of supervisors and managers.

The cross-functional teams are teams of company employees of comparatively equal level, but from different wo...