The Impact of Contemporary HR Practices: Self Managed & Effective Teams
Self Managed & Effective Teams
We are all aware that reaching goals requires effective teamwork. In order for a company to succeed, it must have high-performance teams. Teams add value because they bring together individuals with diverse perspectives who are working toward a common objective. This implies that several suggestions are made to assist in achieving the objective. The best ones are chosen once these concepts have been merged and processed (Vulpen, 2022).
According to the AIHR article (n.d) a group of people who handle their own work without the typical hierarchical structure or outside guidance is known as a self-managed team. With the help and confidence of the team and the organization, team members who are self-managed empower themselves to make choices and find solutions.
History of self-managed work teams
The autonomous work group, a major type of worker organization developed as a result of socio-technical system theory in the 1960s and 1970s, gave rise to the self-managed work team, which is not a recent development (Herbst, 1962). This theory merged the organization's social and technical structures. It is the only methodology that focuses solely on the group as opposed to the individual (Pasmore et al., 1982). Individuals have been found to be significantly more satisfied by meaningful work and direct responsibility for its accomplishment than by what is performed on an individual basis (Buchanan, 1979). Human needs come first, not technology. Thus, the balance between corporate effectiveness and personal quality of life must be prioritized. The independent work group, which is frequently used interchangeably with participative management or European ideals of industrial democracy, gained popularity in Europe throughout the 1970s. Nonetheless, work group studies were used in the USA to develop new products or services, identify solutions to specific problems, or both (Hackman and Oldham, 1980). Self-managed work teams have gained more momentum as people have begun to see the benefits of employee empowerment (Matza, 1990; Messmer, 1990). Everyone on the team has a stake in the result thanks to empowerment. Empowered teams manage the risks and advantages of decision-making through training, shared commitment, and trust to share equity (Gandz, 1990). It is anticipated that this shared duty will boost productivity, quality assurance, and overall effectiveness.
Characteristics of self-managed work teams
Almost all successful self-managed teams include between two and 25 members, with the majority having an average of 10. More of a practical recommendation than a strict requirement for success, small size. For instance, it is much simpler for 10 people than it is for 50 to overcome their personal, functional, and hierarchical differences in order to work toward a common goal and hold each other accountable for the outcomes they produce, not to mention the logistics of meeting time, place, and other variables (Hirschhorn, 1991). Teams need to discover the ideal size as well as the ideal combination of talents. A group of people working together must have complimentary abilities in order to work together. A common factor in potential self-managed teams is appropriate skill sets. Three areas of skill requirements are generally self-evident:
- Technical or functional expertise
- Problem-solving and decision-making skills
- Interpersonal skills.
How to Implement Self-Managed Teams
- Communicate the benefits and expectations of self-managed teams to all stakeholders, including team members and leadership.
- Provide training and support for team members to develop necessary skills, such as conflict resolution, decision-making, and communication.
- Establish clear roles and responsibilities for team members, including how they collaborate and make decisions.
- Create a feedback and evaluation system to regularly assess the team's performance and identify areas for improvement.
- Build a culture of trust, where team members feel comfortable taking ownership and accountability for their work.
- Deliver ongoing support and coaching to help the team succeed and continue to grow and develop.
Conclusion
One of HR's most important duties is to develop high-performance teams. Successful HRM involves being involved in the way teams are set up and directly promoting teamwork. There are various methods for doing this. Such tactics include tracking team performance, honoring team excellence, and offering management suggestions for tools and techniques that will encourage teamwork. Personality tests for each team member also aid in understanding the thoughts and actions of other team members. One of a manager's primary duties is to understand these procedures. Because of this, many management courses emphasize it. Teamwork is facilitated by several tools. Examples include task and goal setting software, project management tools, feedback tools, and communication software. They can improve team productivity by facilitating communication. Finally, HR needs to promote collaboration across various teams inside the company. A team typically belongs to a bigger organization, such as a department or another team. These bigger organizations must cooperate as well. By facilitating this, you may create a productive organization.
References
Buchanan, D.A. (1979), The Development of Job Design: Theories and Techniques, Saxon House, Farnborough.
Gandz, J. (1990), “The employee empowerment era”, Business Quarterly, Vol. 55 No. 2, pp. 74-9
Herbst, P.G. (1962), Autonomous Group Functioning, Tavistock Publications, London.
Hackman, J.R. and Oldham, G.R. (1980), Work Redesign, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
Hirschorn, L. (1991), Managing the New Team Environment, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
Matza, B.R. (1990), “Empowerment: the key management skill of the 90s”, Retail Control, Vol. 58 No. 9, pp. 20-3.
Messmer, M. (1990), “How to put employee empowerment into practice”, Woman CPA, Vol. 52 No. 3, p. 25.
Pasmore, W., Francis, C., Haldeman, J. and Shani, A. (1982), “Sociotechnical systems: a North American reflection on empirical studies of the seventies”, Human Relations, Vol. 35, pp. 1179-204.
Self-managed teams (2023) AIHR. Available at: https://www.aihr.com/hr-glossary/self-managed-teams/#:~:text=A%20self%2Dmanaged%20team%20is,of%20the%20team%20and%20company. (Accessed: April 11, 2023).
Vulpen, E.van (2022) 7 human resource best practices (a mini-guide to HRM), AIHR. Available at: https://www.aihr.com/blog/human-resource-best-practices/#Selfmanagedteams (Accessed: April 11, 2023).
The blog post clearly discuss the history, characteristics and the implementation of self managed teams within organisations. the post is very well referenced with citations and gives a balanced overview of self managed concept.
ReplyDeleteThanks George for your appreciation and guidance
Deletehis is a well-written and informative article about self-managed teams. The historical background of self-managed work teams is interesting, and the article does a good job of explaining the characteristics of such teams. The suggestions for implementing self-managed teams are also very practical and useful. One aspect that could have been explored further is the potential challenges of implementing self-managed teams, such as resistance from employees or the need for clear guidelines and communication. Overall, this article provides a good introduction to the topic and offers valuable insights for anyone interested in building effective teams within an organization. Good job Janaka.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the appreciation. Thanks for using your time to read my articles and share your thoughts.
DeleteHi Janaka, This article provides a comprehensive overview Self Managed & Effective Teams. According to research by leading HR experts (Smith, 2022), HR practices such as self-managed and effective teams have been shown to have a profound impact on organizations. These practices empower employees to take ownership of their work, make decisions, and contribute their unique skills and perspectives, resulting in increased job satisfaction and engagement. Moreover, studies have shown that effective teams, characterized by clear communication, shared goals, and mutual accountability, lead to improved performance and productivity (Jones et al., 2021). By implementing these modern HR practices, organizations can tap into the collective potential of their employees, creating a dynamic and high-performing workforce that drives success in today's competitive business landscape.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThank you for adding more value to my article with the other authors approaches.
DeleteThank you for sharing this insightful article on the influence of self-managed and effective teams on modern HR practices. The article outlines the significance of collaboration and how self-managed teams can bring together individuals with diverse perspectives to accomplish common goals. I found the historical context of self-managed work teams to be quite fascinating and enlightening.
ReplyDeleteCould you share your thoughts on how can HR promote teamwork and collaboration across different teams in an organization?
Dear Niluka as mention in article there are various methods for doing this. Such tactics include tracking team performance, honoring team excellence, and offering management suggestions for tools and techniques that will encourage teamwork. Personality tests for each team member also aid in understanding the thoughts and actions of other team members.
DeleteThank you for the great article!
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job of highlighting the importance of effective HR practices in fostering employee motivation and engagement. It is essential for HR professionals to be proactive in adopting new practices and technologies to support employee motivation.
I would like to suggest you analyze actual HR data. By analyzing HR data, HR professionals can gain insights into employee behavior and preferences, which can inform the development of new HR initiatives that are better aligned with employee needs and expectations. Providing readers with practical examples of how to use HR metrics and analytics to measure the impact of HR practices on employee motivation and engagement can help them to improve their HR strategies and achieve better results.
Thank you prasadi for suggestions which gives me to consider about HR metrics and analytics to measure the impact of HR practices on employee motivation. This article is an overview about how Self Managed & Effective Teams impact on employee and organisation performance.
DeleteVery informative article on Self Managed and Effective Teams. Great Job on discussing from History to implementation of Self Managed Teams. However, I would like to add that there is a possible risk of having self managed team. Such as Progressive risk taking and slowness on decision making. On that point, management's involvement will be required.
ReplyDeleteHey Thilini appreciate for your thoughts. Yes management involvement and HR guidance required to improve the skills for employees to self-management.
DeleteGood topic Janaka. According to MasterClass, 2022 Self-managed teams may experience stumbling blocks as they work toward realizing their potential. Think about these three drawbacks: Lower effectiveness While there are many self-managed teams that work well, others struggle to operate at their full potential. If no one on the team has strong project management abilities, it could be challenging for the group to set up their workflow in the most efficient manner. In fact, in order to start off strong, each and every member of a self-managed team requires exceptional time management skills. Possibly arising power struggles Self-managed teams evoke images of democratic collaboration, but in reality, they might create a power vacuum. One person may attempt to take on a leadership role, while others may delegate their responsibilities to another group member. The potential of a self-managed team can be derailed by power battles like this without a real manager holding individuals accountable. Less control: Executive-level personnel have much less control over their organizational structure when working in self-managed teams. Without a team leader, team performance is up to a distributed collection of individuals as opposed to simply one manager who reports to the company's upper management. Because of this, it is more challenging for those executives to directly influence a particular team.
ReplyDeleteThe Vulpen (2022) defines a self-managed team as a collection of individuals who manage their own work without the usual hierarchical structure or outside assistance. Self-managed team members are empowered to make decisions and discover solutions with the support and confidence of the team and the company. Thank you Piumi for your thoughts.
DeleteThank you for the great article. Effective time management, prioritization, confident decision-making, stress management, and strong problem-solving are the biggest self-management skills that would be useful when building a team. Those will help employees to feel their skills are valued and important to the team.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kasun for your thoughts as per my studies its Management responsibility to guide employees to improve their skills towards self management
DeleteSelf managing team is a group of employees within an organisation who share ye reposibilities of planning and executing their works. Self management teams have increased in popularity overhead years as they perform well in today's collaborative, creative and hybrid work environments. You can explain this in your article. Advantages of this self management is employee can develop new skills, can gain leadership skills, improve decision making talents. Anyway unique and interesting article Janaka.
ReplyDeleteDear Wishmila thanks for the suggestions. But in order to build a effective self management team organisation and HR involvement required with proper training. However I will consider about your suggestions as well.
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