On Increasing Organizational Effectiveness Through Team Work
Surprisingly, many frustrations about behavior in organizations are consistent from person to person and from company to company. For example, any one of the following concerns is quite typical: • "I wish people would think for themselves and run things like it's their own business rather than waiting for someone to tell than what to do!" • "I wish the people who make the decisions were closer to the action and knew what's really going on. I also wish that those of us who have to implement their decisions could have our say." • "I wish people would offer more ideas and suggestions, or I wish I'd find somebody to listen to my ideas." These concerns are reflections of the culture of the organization, its structure, tradition, and way of doing things. Any organization whose concerns are similar to the above is likely to have a directive or autocratic history. A directive management style results from the traditional American view of how organizations should be managed. The traditional view assumes that the manager knows best and must inspect and control all work and that workers are best utilized only for performing the work. This view are rapidly changing. There is a new corporate culture emerging in American business. The old business culture that emphasized authoritative management practices is being abandoned in favor of a new culture that emphasizes a more democratic, or participative, style of management. This transition can be observed in almost every major corporation in America. Its motive forces are the financial necessity for improved productivity and quality and the demands made by employees for a more satisfying work environment. Yet, despite good intentions and numerous attempts by various organizations to implement a team approach to their management styles, some work teams are ineffective. There is nothing worse than seeing a group of star performers flounder because they do not know how to work together.
