Peter Grazier, President, Teambuilding, Inc.
"If you are serious about implementing self-directed work teams, get this book. This book is a valuable case study in how to implement work teams successfully. It pulls no punches in helping us understand what is required to implement self-directed work teams."

Scott J. Simmerman, Managing Partner, Performance Management Company
"Why re-invent the wheel when Ed Rose has been there and done that already? This book is a workable framework for implementinghigh-performance teams, with plenty of detail and structure to allow anyone to generate results."
 

The Self-Directed Work Team versus Taylorism: Any Questions?

Taylorsaurus Rex Looks menacing due to its size, but it takes a long time to decide to do anything. Spinal cord: a pyramidal hierarchy for passing information up and down. A lot gets lost in transit. Status: extinct Taylorism in its extreme form: employees leave their brains at the factory gate. (Taylor himself did not advocate telling employees not to think!)

Self-Directed Work Team (SDWT) Unlike Taylorsaurus Rex, a self-directed work team (depending on its ability and empowerment) can react to a threat or exploit an opportunity without waiting for information and instructions to travel through a long hierarchy.  SDWTs break down organizational barriers within the organization (W. Edward Deming's advice) and even between your company and its customers or suppliers (Tom Peters' advice on making an organization porous). Intersil's Customer Contact Teams have worked with customers to not only solve problems, but develop innovative and customized product solutions. The team performs specific tasks. Team members are multiskilled. Team members are interdependent. Team members control their daily, monthly, and yearly goals. The team focuses on team results, not individual results. Team members rotate tasks because extensive cross-training enables them to perform many different jobs. The team monitors and controls both its work quantity and quality. Each team understands the need for effective teaming behaviors.

• Foreword: Team-Based Organizations: The Employee as Expert (Jon Cordas and Michael Beyerlein)
• Preface
• Section I: An Introduction to Teams
• Chapter 1: Teams, Teams, and More Teams (Darcy Hitchcock)
• Chapter 2: What is a Self-Directed Work Team? (William A. Levinson)
• Chapter 3: The Need to Change for Survival and Success
• Chapter 4: Cultural Transformation: Moving to a Team-Based Culture
• Section II: The Importance of Training: Using the Trust-Leadership-Competency Model
• Chapter 5: Developing the Training
• Chapter 6: TLC: The Role of Trust, Leadership, and Competency (Ray Odom)
• Section III: Implementing Self-Directed Work Teams
• Chapter 7: Designing the Change Process (Steve Gilmore)
• Chapter 8: Implementing SDWTs: Action Steps for Teams
• Chapter 9: Implementing SDWTs: Action Steps for Management
• Chapter 10: Ensuring Success, Avoiding the Pitfalls
• Section IV: Tools for Trainers