Reference to K.C. Burgess Yakemovic questions...
>My questions:
>
>- how did your organization decide that SDWT's were an (the?) "answer"?
>
>- are they being implemented "across the board" (e.g., everyone will now
>work in a SDWT)? or to address specific problems (e.g., time to market
>for new product, production quality)?
My company has gone through a radical reengineering effort over the
last two years. We are a wholesale distribution company with about
100 locations nationwide. One of the outcomes was an organizational
redesign of the management levels from 5 to 3 (VP, Manager, Team Leader).
As the title would imply, the Team Leaders needed teams to lead. The
organization gave birth to Self-Directed Teams! The think was, with an
increased span of control (from ~6 to ~12), the team members must
take greater responsibility for their work.
The SDT effort applies primarily to the warehouse workers. This is about
125 teams, ~1400 employees, out of 2100 total employees.
Initially, my group developed a set of learning experiences for the team
leaders. The experiences involved 9 days of workshops spread over 6
months. The team leaders practiced delivering the topics during the
workshops, this was part of their role as leaders. In turn, they skilled
their teams.
The results? That's where we are today, assessing the results. We
completed the skilling in October and are working on the other essentials
(management direction, coaching, and reward/measurements) for team leaders
now.
-- Ron Miazga ronunivar@aol.com Univar/Van Waters & Rogers Voice 206-889-3436 Fax 206-889-4123