The traits of self-managing groups...

• People who come together and accept responsibility for a group task seek to make their worklife easier and more productive by:
  • - communicating quickly, directly, and openly its needs for coordination arising from task or individual variability.
  • - by allocating tasks and other rewards and punishments to control what they consider to be a fair contribution by members.
• The groups are self-managing, but not autonomous. The larger organization is responsible for setting the strategy, pay rates, product quality goals, etc.
• The relation between a middle manager and a selfmanaging group cannot be properly described as being superior/subordinate. Middle management must negotiate targets and plans with the work groups and renegotiate them when unforeseen contingencies disrupt those plans. During these negotiations middle managers recognize the greater knowledge the work groups have of the ongoing work but must, when necessary, be able to lead those groups to see the logic of the overriding plans and objectives of management.
• Differing organizational circumstances will determine the range of responsibilities for different working groups:
  • - At the lowest level of selfmanagement, the groups may simply have the right to decide on working methods and the allocation of work between themselves.
  • - At a somewhat higher level they may control some of the conditions from which they start: membership of their groups, equipment and tools, maintenance, support, quality specifications, etc.
  • - At an even higher level, they may be involved in redefinition of work goals and deeper involvement in the
  • longer range concerns of the organization: product development, selection, work with external customers and suppliers, etc.
• A face-to-face workgroup has the same human requirements for productive work as an individual. They must know that they can aim at targets that are explicit, realistic, and challenging to them; and they must have feedback on group performance.
• In setting group goals and targets the group must set a comprehensive set of goals, including human, social and environmental, as well as the purely economic and technical. It is important that the group has first go at setting its goals, but these must be negotiated with and agreed to by management.
• They must feel free to organize their own spokespeople and internal group structure. Leadership and training roles usually move around the group as circumstances and needs change. These are rarely appointed formally but arise from daily group working.
• Group integration will be low unless there is sufficient multi-skilling in the group to allow for flexible allocation of work to both individuals and subgroups. How they allocate their work should be their responsibility, with explicitly agreed limits to protect plant, safety, etc. This includes on-the-job training which the group will have considered in its initial analysis of the skills it holds as a group. Once constituted as a self-managing group, they will normally work to increase the extent and level of skill in the group to improve their performance adaptiveness and cohesion.
• Self-managed work groups require clear boundaries and expectations. Management and groups must agree on clear mechanisms for coordination and control.
• Self-managed groups need to have a conceptual knowledge of the design principles involved in self-management. With this knowledge they can continually evolve their design towards greater group responsibility and effectiveness. Without this knowledge, work processes and relationships will often
• regress (over time) back toward a more bureaucratic and less productive form.

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