Trust has proven to be the most troublesome issue in this work but these companies were successful once deep levels of trust were established.
Why were They Sold on Self-directed Teams?
They were looking for ways to improve their competitive posture and knew that to be better they had to be very different from their competitors. To quote Charles Darwin: “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
How did a strike stimulate this idea?
A personal business experience several years ago crystallized this outlook on self-control, trust, and self-direction in the minds of several of these pioneers and has been shared with others over time.
Several years ago there was an opportunity to work in a large plant in a major Midwestern city where the labor force had gone out on strike. Those in the company who had staff positions joined the local plant managers and supervisors in running the plant for the summer. They were able to maintain quality levels and on time delivery performance and several shift production records were set once they mastered the jobs.
What was striking was that in order to run the machinery, they had to do without supervisors, the production manager, and the general manager. They were all down in the shop running machines, as was the sales manager and the controller. Other than a production planner coordinating the flow of work through the shop, there wasn’t a soul in any of the traditional positions of control. Despite this, the shop ran, and ran well.
Weren't these replacements already competent professionals though?
While the point could be made that there were proven competent professionals running the plant and not the typical labor force, so the lack of these positions could be discounted. It’s doubtful that was the whole story though for several reasons.
- First, if any of the competent professionals had joined the plant before the strike, they would have been subjected to the same control structure that went away with the strike, no questions asked.
- Most had come up from positions similar to those being replaced. Who’s to say the people replaced were not competent already.
- Necessity is the mother of invention. It was never necessary to trust everyone to such an extent so the control hierarchy was always in place.
- The idea of running a normal operating plant in this fashion was so far-fetched at the time that the top management of that company would never have approved it.
Quite simply, the element of trust had an important role to play in that situation. If those trust levels could be replicated then new forms of organization would be possible. Trust has proven to be a big hurdle to cross in the minds of those wanting to move their organizations in this direction. Those who have been able to establish high levels of trust though have been able to create some uniquely successful organizations.
 |
