• Teamwork Revisited
  
  

Much has been said over the years about teamwork. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s many logisticians were turning to the teamwork concept to increase morale as much as productivity. What better ways to obtain employee participation, generation of new ideas, as well as have the employee feel like a stakeholder? This was also the era of self-directed work teams. The work team was a functional group of employees who shared responsibility for a particular unit of production or work stream. The team usually consisted of trained individuals who possessed the technical skills to complete all the assigned tasks. The team had the authority to plan, implement, control and improve all work processes. The self-directed concept gave credence to the idea that regardless of the process and procedures, employees will always find shortcuts or ways to make their jobs easier. Thus by allowing self-direction, employees were encouraged to find these short cuts, save the company money and be recognized for their initiatives.

Work team principles have evolved from aspects of management systems that have proven most effective over time. The theory of self-directed work teams incorporates Fredrick Taylor’s principles of scientific management and management by directing theory. In addition, the theories of Maslow, McGregor, Mayo and Lewin are used, and organized according to Eric Trist’s sociotechnical systems theory. Finally, the work teams output of either goods or services are made better by using Edward W. Deming’s fourteen points also know as management by method.

So how does all this translate in to today’s total supply chain concepts of end-to-end supply chain productivity and costs? Primarily it applies to partnerships. Many of today’s businesses taught the partnership concept but when put in action often times fall short. Teamwork by definition means that everyone has a role to fill, but the desired outcome is the same for all participants. As usual our best examples come from sports.

Imagine a football team where the head coach is CEO and the goal is to win the game. The quarterback is the company executive, president or other senior management. The quarterback must set the tone, lead by example, and assist the other players in executing the overall plan to win the game. If the halfback and wide receivers are "partners" their goal in theory should also be to win the game (excluding T.O. of course). However, if the company executive/quarterback doesn’t provide all the information, i.e. the route or formation of the next play, the partner/receiver will most likely run the incorrect route, not score, and most likely by the end of the game the plan to win will fail. Thus the conclusion of this example is suggesting that all members of the team, both internal and external be trusted, contributing participants toward the end goal or business strategy. This is the essence of teamwork and partnership.

Partnerships often fail because they are unbalanced, or skewed toward one side for reward and the other side constantly giving. Whether the partnership is supplier to manufacturer, manufacturer to distributor, distributor to business or end consumer, there must be shared values, shared costs, shared risk and rewards or there will be a high likelihood of non-balance. For example, assume a trucking strike occurs. The supplier must get goods to his partner manufacturing firm in spite of this incident. An unbalanced partnership is the manufacturer proclaiming the supplier provides the materials on time at any cost or face the consequence. While a true partnership has either planned ahead for potential disruptions to business or is willing to share in the costs and process of obtaining the goods in a timely manner.

Just like self directed work teams for an employee was about having a stake in the process so are end-to-end supply chain partnerships. Without "skin in the game" there will be unbalance and only short term success. Teamwork should not just be a buzzword or rhetoric, but rather an executionable plan with action items.


References:

1. Torres, Cresencia & Jerry Spiegel; Self-Directed Work Teams A Primer. Pfeiffer & Company, San Diego, 1991.

2. Byham, William C. Ph.D. with Jeff Cox; Zapp! The Lightning of Empowerment (How to improve quality, productivity, and employee satisfaction). Fawcett Columbine, New York, 1988.

3. Wellians, Richard S. and Jeanne M. Wilson; Empowered Teams: Creating Self-Directed Work Groups That Improve Quality, Productivity, and Participation. Fawcett Columbine, New York, 1988.