Change Drivers for Teams

The large scale drivers leading organizations to use teams are much the same as the drivers producing change in other aspects of operations such as downsizing, decentralizing, reengineering, etc. These reinventions of how we work are driven primarily by changes in demographics (composition of the workforce and markets), globalization (location of resources, cost of labor, regulations, new markets, new competitors), information (trying to get the edge on competitors), technology (using new technology to do things better and quicker), economy (lower profit margins, new opportunities), and especially competition on a global basis.

As a result, organizations are responding by forming strategic alliances with former (and current) competitors for mutual advantage. Organizations are networking globally to provide faster information at lower costs that can make a strategic difference. Multilayered, bureaucratic, and authoritarian organizations are delayering, downsizing, and dejobbing to become faster and more responsive.

To survive, let alone thrive, organizations need to rethink what gives them competitive advantage. What worked in the past may be very different from what will work in the emerging marketplace. Some of the key requirements are customer satisfaction, speed of response, flexibility (responding different ways or producing varied products with the same technology), efficiency (using resources wisely), cost containment (making sure all expenditures add value), quality (meets or exceeds customer expectations), innovation (continually improving products/services), timliness (just in time), and accountability (knowing who does what, when, how well, and how it contributes to desired outcomes).

Teams have become one of the more common ways of restructuring work. This is partly due to its being so successful in other competitor countries such as Japan. It offers specific advantages such as: close to the customer, rapid turnaround of information, diverse representation of the organization and market, less overhead (than having many higher levels of supervisors and managers), creativity (good team spirit), self monitoring (for quicker revision and improvement), increased ownership (team members lives with what they create), and more flexible roles.