Service Adhesives tries again

1. Service Adhesives Ltd currently employs up to 20% of their workforce on short-term contracts. What effect will this have on the proposed team-based working structure? It is recognized that in order to meet changing business needs more effectively; there may be occasions where managers need to implement relatively minor changes to working practices. Reasonable minor changes and adjustments to duties and working practices may be implemented without recourse to the formal procedures. Minor changes are implementation of different methods of carrying out tasks, introduction of new technology, changes in duties within the remit of the post. As a guide a minor change may be deemed as a change of less than 20% of expected delivery of role. Minor change does not apply to any case leading to redundancy for either a permanent or fixed term member of staff. While formal consultation is not required for minor change, staff should still be consulted about changes that have an impact on their work. Managers should meet with staff either individually or collectively to explain the reasons for the need to implement any minor changes and to ask for views before implementation. Staff may wish to be accompanied by a Trades Union representative or colleague at a meeting to discuss changes to duties and working practices and this should be permitted. This does not negate the right of a manager to meet with a member of staff, on a one to one basis, to discuss day to day working issues. 2. 2. In considering a transition from a traditional organizational work structure to a team-based work structure, what sort of barriers is Service Adhesives Ltd likely to encounter? Think about formal structures (e.g. roles and procedures) and informal structures (e.g. social groups and communication). Evidently there are flaws to every method of structure. Some people simply don't like working in groups, which could put a group at a disadvantage when it comes to a lack of communication. Some members of the group might be lazy, which can also hinder the forward progress of the group. Some of the disadvantages that occur are greater chance of conflict between individual learners, decision-making takes more time, segregation of individuals can occur, less extroverted individuals can feel intimidated and be hesitant to contribute the trainer may need to intervene and provide leadership. 3. Senior management of Service Adhesives thought that the reason for ineffective improvement initiatives in the past was due mainly to the apparent lack of cohesion amongst the organizations human resource. Could a team-based work organization be the answer to their organizational difficulties? Teaching and developing people in the workplace is a set of developmental principles and routines embedded into the day-to-day processes of a work team such that team members continuously learn and develop. The developmental activities are not new, coaching, stretch assignments, review of lessons learned. However, such developmental activities are typically conducted in an irregular and inconsistent way. The benefit of Team-Based Learning is that everyone on the team participates in the developmental activities on a consistent basis, because the activities provide other benefits that motivate the team to use them. That is, the team not only develops its people but also functions better. The idea is that not everyone has the same skill sets and that there are multiple parts to a project. Members in the team can do specific parts of the project while also reiterating to the team members,

who don't have specific skill sets required to get the project completed, how to gain those skill sets. So, it is learning while working together. In a sense, team based learning is almost another form of peerbased learning while getting work done. Those team members who did not have certain skills set needed to complete the project will make up in another area of the project. In the case of team based learning, everyone is good for something. 4. Employee empowerment is a key element of team-based working; what difficulties could Service Adhesives face in implementing empowerment? As many organizations begin restructuring their corporate cultures with empowered employee teams, employees across the organization will be involved in the decision making process. Truly empowered employee teams can help those organizations improve customer satisfaction, increase employee productivity, increase quality and lower costs. Ultimately, team members will have the final authority and responsibility to effectively implement goals. This may include anything from developing a new training program, to creating new software, to solving corporate wide problems. Additionally, as part of a team, purchasing and supply managers may determine what tools the team needs. Senior management will entrust its team-appointed employees to make decisions with little or possibly no involvement from middle management. The key to any successful company is, first and foremost, its employees. There is no substitute for a knowledgeable and productive work force. Creating empowered teams people working with all the direct information, power, recognition, reward and training they need to satisfy their customers and meet the company's business goals is one way a company can build on that foundation. Teamwork is very important to increased productivity and value in employees, teams in the workplace is not new; however, truly empowered teams are few and far between. It is easy to use the word 'team' to describe groups in your workplace, but creating true empowered teams is not something so easily carried out.