Viewpoint

Citation

Beyerlein, M. (1998), "Viewpoint", Team Performance Management, Vol. 4 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/tpm.1998.13504faa.001

Viewpoint

Michael BeyerleinCenter for the Study of Work Teams, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas

Work teams contribute in many settings. Most of the literature on work teams deals with work groups composed of people within a single organization and often within a single functional area. Cross-functional teams have been written about and proved to be of value in practice. However, cross-organizational teams are fairly rare. They may take the form of a work team that includes members of supply and customer organizations. At the upper levels of the organization, they may represent alliances of two or more organizations. The joint projects of some large companies, such as those in high technology, require such collaborative structures. Merger teams also benefit from such structures. Some circumstances have provided opportunities for government cross-organizational teams to prove their worth. Chris Huxham's (1996) book on collaboration provides examples of that type.

However, there is an even more comprehensive system that benefits from the use of work teams: society as a whole. Little has been written about the impact of work teams on society. Some research has examined the contribution of team experience and training on family life, for example, the way conflict management training at work helps reduce destructive conflict at home. I believe that is a single example of a significant potential contribution. I believe an understanding of that potential may encourage some organizations that take social responsibility seriously to make an extra effort to sustain their team initiatives.

There is a fair amount of agreement and evidence that use of teams provides a way of organizing work that contributes to both the business unit and the team member: a win-win arrangement. I believe that the key components of thecontribution of teams depend on increasing competencies, empowerment, and a sense of ownership. Lack of competencies, empowerment, and ownership provides the environment that allows errors, indifference, and alienation to thrive; that lack seems to be most common in organizations that depend on traditional bureaucratic principles of organizing and leadership structures and styles that rely on command-and-control.

I have been reading a novel by Frederik Pohl (1988), one of the dominant science fiction novelists of the past 50 years. This particular novel is not science fiction, rather, it is a historical dramatization of the explosion of the number 4 nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl power plant on April 26, 1986. The science and history are accurate and based on careful research. In examining the cause of the nuclear accident and the subsequent events, one of the themes that emerges in the novel is the lack of empowerment, responsibility, and ownership. Repeatedly, the operators and managers made statements like, "I am waiting for orders," "that is not my job," "I have no responsibility for that," "I am not authorized to do that." These statements are not unique to Chernobyl, the Ukraine, or the business of nuclear power generation. These examples merely illustrate the problem of designing and operating organizations in ways that deny appropriate empowerment, decision making authority, and opportunities to experience ownership. These examples also illustrate the severe consequences that may occur in some situations where empowerment practices are absent. The novel suggests that there were at least four opportunities when a control panel operator or a manager could have taken steps to avoid or minimize the severity of the explosion. The novel also gives examples of employees who did take steps and consequently prevented the explosion of the other three reactors.

If we are lucky enough, we will have employees and citizens who will take initiative when something is going wrong. The team environment provides the opportunity for such people to take initiative, for less independent people to develop the ability to take initiative, and for all members to build the competencies and attitudes that improve the likelihood that they will take initiative in appropriate situations outside of the work place. A business composed of such entrepreneuring/intrapreneuring members will be likely to survive and thrive in the challenging business environments of the next century. A society with a critical mass of such responsible citizens is more likely to develop and sustain a high quality of life for current and subsequent generations.

So, I am arguing that the most important payoff from using teams in a large number of business organizations will be an increase in the human resources that an entire society can rely on in coping with the challenges of the next century. Most of us agree that we will be faced with shortages of many key resources in the next quarter century and beyond. Many of us might agree that the development of the human resource will be critical. And some of us will agree that the learning experience of working in teams will develop that resource better than any other method. I don't think teams are appropriate for organizing work in every possible job situation, but I do believe that the learning and development that occurs from a good team experience will contribute to becoming better national and world citizens.