Overhead Transparencies

Transparencies prepared for lecture session

Transparencies of case study. Tommy - Facilitator or Supervisor?

Transparencies prepared for lecture session

Division of Labour

Differentiation and Integration

Conception and Execution

Ownership and Control

Labour as commodity?

Hierarchical v. Concertive Control

Philosophies of Management

Dictatorial v. Inclusive

Hard (Rules) v. Soft (Values)

Action/Process in Teamworking (2)

Action/Process of Members and Facilitators

Before SE’s change to teams, the shift supervisors and line leads made all the work-related decisions. The workers focused on separate tasks (assembly, testing, repair, etc.) while the supervisors did all the necessary coordination. Supervisors communicated information down to the workers (e.g., how many boards to build by when, who would work overtime, etc.), and workers communicated information up to the supervisors (production problems, machinery breakdowns, etc.). Although some workers had input into what work was done, this input was the exception rather than the rule.

 

 

FACILITATOR OR SUPERVISOR?
- THE LIFE OF TOMMY (3)

But in SE’s self-managing system, there were no supervisors to make decisions for the team; they had learned how to do it for themselves. The teams had already completed this learning phase of their development as team workers. Now Tommy’s blue team and all the other teams had to teach the new employees how to be effective team workers. The longer-tenured workers on the blue team could make good decisions, and they could react to problems that arose during the workday. But now their team had added eight new members over the last few months. The blue team had to get these new people working effectively as soon as possible.

 

FACILITATOR OR SUPERVISOR?
- THE LIFE OF TOMMY (4)

That was one of the reasons why Tommy was the blue team’s facilitator. Tommy, an original team member, knew how to run a team meeting so that his team could make good decisions on work issues. He also knew how to help new workers distinguish between the right ways of doing teamwork and the wrong.

That morning, Tommy studied his production schedule. This was a weekly schedule the teams received that told them how many boards of a particular type they had to build and when they had to ship them. Tommy had used this schedule as the basis for structuring the blue team’s meetings. He knew that the team needed to answer four basic questions:

I. What needs to be done today? (e.g., How many boards need to be built?)

2. What parts, supplies, or help do we need to do this?

3. Who is going to do what tasks? (e.g., Who will put boards together, test for malfunctions, package finished boards?)

4. Can we get this done today? (Do we need to work overtime? Should we borrow help from another team?)

 

 

FACILITATOR OR SUPERVISOR?
- THE LIFE OF TOMMY (5)

Tommy’s role, as the facilitator, was to ensure that the team talked through these questions, set goals for how many boards they had to finish, and determined the sequencing necessary to meet their schedule. By following this pattern, the blue team could organize its work activity and coordinate for necessary supplies, parts, and extra help. Also, each of the teams normally took time at either the beginning or end of the meeting for two other important functions: disseminating general company information (announcements, safety inspections, etc.) and dealing with problems that the team was experiencing (personality clashes, unacceptable team behavior, etc.). Following this pattern allowed the teams to effectively manage the necessary ancillary issues to their production functions.

 

FACILITATOR OR SUPERVISOR?
- THE LIFE OF TOMMY (6)

When he became the facilitator, Tommy had gotten himself a white butcher-paper flip chart, and he used the key questions above to write out today’s outline for the team to follow during the meeting:

Today’s Meeting

1. What we’re doing.

2. What we need.

3. Work assignments

4. Coordination.

5. Announcements.

Other stuff.

Tommy wrote these items out in bold black letters and set the flip chart out in the middle of the blue team’s area. He looked at his watch. "Almost 6:50, I’d better get a move on if I’m gonna run this show."

FACILITATOR OR SUPERVISOR?
- THE LIFE OF TOMMY (7)

Tommy’s role as the facilitator had undergone several changes since SE had converted to self-managing teams. At first, the teams had "coordinators." These were team members who took on the role of coordinating team information for 1-month periods. After about a year, the teams started to elect coordinators for 3-month terms instead of for 1 month as they had done originally. The teams had learned that continuity in the coordinator role made for good teamwork. Coordinators then got an extra 10% in pay as recognition of the increased responsibilities they had assumed. After a few years, the teams and SE’s management formally acknowledged that the coordinator role had grown into something of a "first among peers" leadership position, so they formalized the role (see Chapter 3). Jack, Juli, and a few team members solicited applicants for the leadership position in each of the now six teams. To recognize the formalization of the role, they renamed it from coordinator to "facilitator." Tommy applied, interviewed, and was chosen to be the blue team’s facilitator.

 

FACILITATOR OR SUPERVISOR?
- THE LIFE OF TOMMY (8)

As before the influx of new workers, the facilitator role involved coordinating the team meetings and ensuring that information flowed into, within, and out of the team. The facilitators were still, seemingly, not supervisors. Their sole job was to facilitate the flow of information. But the reality was that the teams now placed some supervisory expectations on the facilitators, and the extra pay was a tacit recognition of that fact. The blue team expected Tommy to take complete responsibility for running the morning meetings, to facilitate all communication with other teams and SE’s managerial staff, and to take the lead in solving any problems that came up during the day. As we saw with other facilitators in Chapter 3, Tommy knew he was a de facto supervisor.