Developing an Effective Self-Managed Work Team in the 21st Century Organization

In today’s organizations conflict and power are important elements to the success of any company but can also create negative long term impacts if not addressed. Organizations require enough power within the leaders to get through conflict and enough conflict within individuals to create new innovations. Not all conflict is bad but when there is conflict individuals with power must assist in aligning conflict resolution to assist in understanding for everyone involved in the conflict. The need for successful conflict resolution is vital for employees so that they are capable of moving on and understanding why the conflict was overcome.

In resolving conflict, ask the question, “How do we keep this from happening again?” The first thing is to be objective. This helps in managing conflict by keeping team members focused on the problem at hand (Huber, 2007)

Conflict results from real or perceived opposition to one’s values, actions, desires or general interests. Conflicts may occur internally or externally between individuals or groups; conflict within a team environment can cause frustration, and occasionally anger. However, conflict resolution can also often generate positive results for the team. Conflict management skills remain in demand; conflict may be managed successfully by reaching an agreement that satisfies the needs of both the individual(s) and the team as a whole

A team is a type of organizational group with independent members. They share common goals and work together to meet these goals (Northouse, 2016). The organization where I work has teams at various levels for maximizing the success. These teams include, core teams, coordinating teams, patient aligned care team (PACT), contingency teams, ancillary teams, support and administration teams (Veterans Health Administration [VHA], 2015). Some of these teams have interdepartmental members while others have intradepartmental staff. Successful teams have a concrete blueprint and that contributes to their effective functioning. There are several factors that affect these teams irrespective of the level. The factors comprise the presence of a clear task, separation from non-team members, authority, and stability. The factors like working conditions, team process and bridging the gaps are concerns for the executive level. The complexity of the task, individual skills and their diverse specializations affect the selection of the team members. The team’s meaningful interactions decide their success. Independent teams can help promote friendly competition within the organization and lead to better staff performance. An efficient leader can design and launch an effective team through careful planning and selection of the right members. He/she keeps the factors that affect the success of the team in mind when designing the teams. The patient care units

In a dispute, it's often easier to describe how others respond then to how we respond. Each of us has a predominant conflict style that we use to meet our own needs. By examining conflict styles and the consequences of those behaviors, we can gain a better understanding of the impact that our personal conflict style has on other people. With a better understanding, you then can make a conscious choice on how to respond to others in a conflict situation to help reduce work conflict and stress.

This exceptional team management and leadership skill demonstrated our ability to get tasks accomplished, regardless of any hurdles staying in our way. Efficient conflict management is critical when managing stress, productivity levels, and team collaboration abilities. The ways in which we handled this conflict inspired creativity, harmony and cohesion amongst our team members. Reacting in a positive, innovative manner helped maintain a positive group dynamic, elevate our problem solving abilities and prevent future conflicts from

The article supports the use of self-managed work teams because of increased job satisfaction, improved communication, shorter decision time, and improves employee self-esteem. This author was easy to read and gave good examples of companies that developed work teams.

The self-directed work team is an autonomous work unit capable of self-management. Such team has little need for direct supervision from managers; rather, the manager’s role is to meet the need of the team through the provision of resources, training and encouragement (Douglas & Gardner, 2004). The team is typically comprised of 5 to 15 members who are responsible for performing and managing all or most aspect of a set of interdependent work tasks (Yeatts and Hyten, 1998). In order to overcome the competitive challenge for production efficiency and effectiveness, organizations have focused on

Self-managed work teams can be defined as a small number of employees with paired skills, talents and knowledge and are all attached to a particular goal and approach, and for which they are themselves personally accountable. Self-governing work teams usually engage workers within a particular field, or employees who are working on a common product or process. Self-managed work team normally can be of any range between 12 to 15workers (Kathy and Deborah 2007, 27). The team takes all the decisions which previously would have been taken by the management and they are responsible for the decisions taken. The teams might work in collaboration with the organisation’s

The training program was based around the concept of conflict management. The session was based on the results of the training needs analysis. The training needs analysis which consist of: what conflict management is, identifying and causes of conflict, warning signs of conflict and causes in the organisation and ways in which to overcome conflict. The focal point of the training needs analysis were basically based the theory of whether or not the audience knew what conflict management is about and what relevance it has to everyday life.

When an organization has to merge two groups together, it goes without saying there will undoubtedly be conflict, but how the newly-formed group manages a myriad of situations can prove to be vital to the survival and success of the newly-formed team. The processes, discussions, and behaviors of the team members can set the tone early for how well the group will thrive during and even after the forming stage. In addition, the team can take many steps to help ensure that conflict is addressed and does not sabotage the group process during the storming stage. Also, the plans a team has in place can help the team members improve their relationships during the norming stage once most or even all of the conflict has subsided. Furthermore, the pre-existing and well-thought-out plans can help all the team members maximize team success and productivity during the performing stage of team development once the conflict and unfamiliarity have long subsided.

“Creating and Managing Effective Groups in a Company of today 's society has reshaped their work environments to be able to compete more effectively and efficiently in the modern business world. Due to high standards of a company’s high-performance in competitive markets has now placed a premium on teamwork. Teams are more flexible and adjusted to the changing of events in the modern business world than traditional permanent groups. There is incredible amount of benefits to be gained by having in place an effective team in your company— As stated in Understanding the Link Between Team Autonomy and Effectiveness”. Developing structures based on self-managing teams has been one of the strategies many Fortune 500 companies use

Accordingly, the concept of self-managed work teams has increasingly been – in today’s globally competitive environment – receiving attention from both academics and organisations as a promising new tool in management (Manz 1992; Druskat & Wheeler 2004). The concept of self-managed work teams describes the set of

When the team members posses the right set of skills associated with the job, the team may achieve results that would not be seen under a command-and-control approach. Besides, self-directed work teams have the freedom and flexibility to devise innovative solutions to company problems and rapid responses to organizational challenges. Next, team members who are being empowered with accountability and responsibility for their work tend to have high levels of commitment and motivation. They are also have high level of job satisfaction which mean there is a low level in job absenteeism and turnover rates in the company. A self-directed teams able to increase compatibility between leaders and employees. The team is mutually supportive and learn from each other instead of approaching the team leader for

For many of us, every day is a struggle to avoid conflict. Yet avoidance is practically impossible since the core characteristics, ideas and beliefs of each individual often conflict with our own. Differences of opinion, competitive zeal, and misinterpretations, among other factors, can all generate ill feelings between co-workers within an organization. While we can’t avoid conflict, we can learn how to sidestep negative confrontations by becoming familiar with the types of conflicts that most commonly arise in the work place and by learning how to resolve them.