Anyone using SDWT in their company or have any good resource links? Thanks in advance!!

We use the term self-directed, but I'm sure the overall intent is the same as self-managed.

We are in the beginning phases of implementing such a philosophy at our site, while our sister plants in South America already have such a philosophy implemented and successful.

Unfortunately, I have no links to list as our methods are taught internally.

Wow, self directed work teams, that is a blast from the past. I have not heard anyone ask questions about it in probably 10 years. I would describe it as one of the quality fads that companies went through in search of the holy grail of quality.

I still have a book on the subject and may be able to provide some summary on the concepts. The ASQ bookstore might still have some books on the subject. They might even be in the discount section. Don't get me wrong, the concept had some merit but like many other management fads it never got implemented fully for it to be successful.

Let me dig out the book, dust it off and I will add some more comments.

Bill Pflanz

Wow, self directed work teams, that is a blast from the past. I have not heard anyone ask questions about it in probably 10 years. I would describe it as one of the quality fads that companies went through in search of the holy grail of quality.

I still have a book on the subject and may be able to provide some summary on the concepts. The ASQ bookstore might still have some books on the subject. They might even be in the discount section. Don't get me wrong, the concept had some merit but like many other management fads it never got implemented fully for it to be successful.

Let me dig out the book, dust it off and I will add some more comments.

Bill Pflanz
Actually, the concept had some merit. Google the entire phrase in quotes for about 4,000 hits ("self directed work team")

If you'd like to start a thread about the pitfalls of SDWT after you've familiarized yourself with the concept, I'd be interested in seeing what pops up. As I recall, executives couldn't stop "meddling." Think "funnel experiment." Often, teams were required to rotate team leaders every few months - the lack of hierarchy just is impossible for some folks to accept.

I've never been a part of an organization that tried the concept. I know for certain I never had a customer that used the concept. None of my suppliers who made custom goods to our design or specifications used the concept. Some of the suppliers from whom we purchased "commodities" may have had it, but we didn't inspect that kind of supplier closely enough to know.

Actually, the concept had some merit. Google the entire phrase in quotes for about 4,000 hits ("self directed work team")

If you'd like to start a thread about the pitfalls of SDWT after you've familiarized yourself with the concept, I'd be interested in seeing what pops up. As I recall, executives couldn't stop "meddling." Think "funnel experiment." Often, teams were required to rotate team leaders every few months - the lack of hierarchy just is impossible for some folks to accept.

I've never been a part of an organization that tried the concept. I know for certain I never had a customer that used the concept. None of my suppliers who made custom goods to our design or specifications used the concept. Some of the suppliers from whom we purchased "commodities" may have had it, but we didn't inspect that kind of supplier closely enough to know.

I familiarized myself and actually attempted the concept in the mid-90's. I went through my library and found the book that I referenced called Leading Self-Directed Work Teams by Kimball Fisher, McGraw Hill, 1993.

I scanned through the book again and found some interesting comments,

* SDWTs were started since the classic hierarchical work culture of the 60's and 70's would not work in the global world of the 80's and 90's and the need to use the workforce to regain the edge.

* Teams would be value/principles based rather than policy/procedures, with shared goals, information shared widely, emphasis on purpose not problem solving achievement.

* They are not successful without managment committment. Business Week and Fortune called them the wave of the future. It was an idea whose time had come.

* Much of the book talked about team leadership vs. bosses, team roles, facilitation, and empowerment.

I should read the entire book again for its idealism alone. We tried the concept with our customer service staff after comments about how they felt out of the loop with management. They were not prepared to take responsibility for hiring their co-workers, solving their own problems etc. There was also the realization that they were taking management roles without the corresponding pay or recognition and found out how hard it was to work out the people problems associated with being a team. It slowly and quietly ended as the realities of the negatives clashed with the positives for empowerment.

Maybe the future is here now and the idea should be tried again.

Bill Pflanz

As someone who worked for a year or so in a self-directed work team, I can tell you they work very well until someone is hired that no one can get along with (domineering, unpleasant, ignorant, biased). When that happens the team devolves into a popularity contest with everyone choosing sides, or the "difficult" employee gets moved into a standard supervisory model. Most people prefer to be polite, so the team will end up doing what the most domineering personality wants in order to avoid conflict until the employee is removed.

(just my experience)

As someone who worked for a year or so in a self-directed work team, I can tell you they work very well until someone is hired that no one can get along with (domineering, unpleasant, ignorant, biased). When that happens the team devolves into a popularity contest with everyone choosing sides, or the "difficult" employee gets moved into a standard supervisory model. Most people prefer to be polite, so the team will end up doing what the most domineering personality wants in order to avoid conflict until the employee is removed.

(just my experience)
I may be too cynical, but your experience is one of the thoughts which kept us from ever implementing the concept even as a trial - too "Pollyannaish" for our taste. (We had REAL folks who sometimes cursed and frequently had bad days.)

We are using a mixed model. Many functions delegated to work centers
-scheduling
-quality discussions
-suggestions
-improvement projects

but there is still a supervisor who handles reviews.

Let me know if you want details.

My boss leaded the project of SDWT before I joined the company, but the project failed.

Having successful records in Lean Six Sigma projects, I was asked to take the lead. However, I have no idea of how to make it work with LSS. Any expert here can help?

Angus - can you be more specific in your question? Otherwise people like me will blab on an on about off-topics.

Is your question about: change management, best practices, etc?

As I said earlier - we implemented a hybrid - so supervisors still conducted performance reviews. Specifically, attendance, training, 5S, improvement projects, safety, nonconformance correction action, and daily output per plan.

Let me know if you want details.

Perhaps you could use this model as a first step before going directly into SDWT?

Steve.

Or maybe, just maybe, SDWT isn't a viable concept with the skill sets of the company in question. My belief is that the pure SDWT concept is only workable in a limited number of work environments.

Slightly off-topic - musings regarding self-directed work, but probably not much help in setting up such teams - more an argument for not setting them up.

I've personally experienced the situation where one or more persons in a group is determined not to go along with the balance of the employees in a department - it's extremely disruptive whether that person is aiming for their own goals (not wanting to do a certain set of tasks) or aiming for superiority (exceeding the union's self imposed bogey's for what a day's work entails, no matter how many hrs are left on turn when the bogey is met). Hard to picture those employees fitting into a self directed work team for very long.

The closest I've personally come to self-directed work teams is in 2 areas. One was in some of the classes I took for my MBA, where we had to form teams and do group projects. I'm a bit of an experimenter by nature - tend to step back and see how people follow procedures, training, instructions, etc. So for the one project I stepped back and didn't push for or assume a leadership role agreed to the other team member's proposals with only minor suggestions for improving them. Our grade was I believe a B-. On the next project with the group, I was more adamant about how we needed to work versus the goals, etc. We got an A. Needless to say these were group grades in both instances.

The other was as an active participator/leader in a division of the Amateur Fencer's League of America, now known (I believe) as the United States Fencing Association. All involved had a unity of purpose, and got along well together, had a shared goal in mind they were aiming for larger than/or overarching any individual goals - we accomplished a lot both personally and for the division, but it also burned us out - after 10 years or so we all needed to retreat, find more personal time, and take a rest from the roles we had taken on. I understand that since then on occasions, politics/infighting have been problems for the division leaders.

What worked for the fencing group was a common goal and a common culture towards meeting that goal. That's not easy to achieve even in groups that exist by choice because of a shared interest or activity, and in my experience, the achievement is usually temporary. Bringing and accepting new members into such groups usually isn't easy, and presents the potential of disrupting group "karma". Not bringing new members in presents the probability of stagnation.

Achieving that combination in the workplace, where at least some of the members of a group are there primarily because they need to make money to live, is I believe even harder to achieve and maintain than in one's private life. I don't have any good recommendations on how to do it consistently, except to note that it has to have consistent top management support. Probably to the point of pushing/continually emphasizing it as a primary goal.

My question is about methodology to setup a SDWT.

My company's current situation is: some senior staff handle around 70 jobs per month, while junior can only handle 5 jobs. To do a job, there are some more knowledge-based high value added steps, and some low value added computer input steps. Besides those job related working steps, everyone receives some unrelated customer enquiries, schedule checking phone calls, faxing form to customers, etc.

What I am going to do:
1. All those job unrelated phone calls and fax handling work will be handled by one junior staff. He will not be in any team but only handle job unrelated things.
2. All knowledge-based high value added steps will be handled by senior staff, who will lead the team with some junior staff, they will input data into computers.
3. Minimum supervision is needed from manager.

Anyone has experience in setting up the team?

I would need some more information to…
I have been working with a company that successfully has implemented SWT in several plants.
The effort for change has taken around 18 to 24 months, and is far from over

The basic problems found are:
What to do with someone who has achieved some results under the "old model" (you will face it and I am pretty sure you will suffer it) that is Managers and Supervisors...you have to change not only the job of the workforce but that of Management, and

How to "teach" basic human skills like "conflict management" , from one of the previous messages I read (it worked until someone nasty got hired...and everyone want to be polite) that kind of problems are the very nature of teams, You may want to look for the “Tuckman Model” He says that all teams go thru phases: Forming, Norming, Performing and “Adjourning” in this the team may receive or loose members without a problem…it will help you understand why it happened

I wish you good luck in this endeavor you are about to take, let me say it has been one of the best experiences I have had and it is very satisfactory see a group of people evolve into a “Team”

We achieved a fair amount of sucess with SDWT.

As has already been mentioned - the company benefits from elimination of middle managers.

As has also been mentioned - not everyone wants to or can work in a SDWT. The literature says these people need to be removed quickly by the team or someone else. SDWT are not a democracy...

We followed a Socio-Technical design model

http://www.enid.u-net.com/Sociotech.htm

The ultimate SDWT are in IRAQ in harms way. The military is held out as the ultimate in command and control, but the front line troops do not fight becasue of orders, religion, or for their contry. They fight for each other. It is unthinkable for them to let the team down.

I hated SDWT...and man I miss it...it was the best of times and the worst of times.

BTW, it takes a generation to implement....decades. But it can be killed in a minute by leadership non support.

We achieved a fair amount of sucess with SDWT.

As has already been mentioned - the company benefits from elimination of middle managers.

As has also been mentioned - not everyone wants to or can work in a SDWT. The literature says these people need to be removed quickly by the team or someone else. SDWT are not a democracy...

We followed a Socio-Technical design model

http://www.enid.u-net.com/Sociotech.htm

The ultimate SDWT are in IRAQ in harms way. The military is held out as the ultimate in command and control, but the front line troops do not fight becasue of orders, religion, or for their contry. They fight for each other. It is unthinkable for them to let the team down.

I hated SDWT...and man I miss it...it was the best of times and the worst of times.

BTW, it takes a generation to implement....decades. But it can be killed in a minute by leadership non support.

Yes indeed, the best and sometimes worst...I was selected, as a newbie line supervisor at a Tier-One rubber extrusion / window seal supplier in the early 80's, to become one of two "team facilitators" for SDWT projects that included an existing mfg. team experiment plus a new product launch. What a choice within a piece-rate factory, eh? I went through some fantastic training on the company dime at NTL seminars in CO and ME that dealt with group dynamics and inter-personal comminications. We selected our initial team members from volunteers willing to learn a new way of working: become a truely muti-skilled cross-functional worker who could perform all direct / indirect functions associated with producing the select product lines. The pay system was established at rate $ 2-3 higher than the avg. piece-worker was making and there was a demonstrated performance test (administered by me) that certified a "core" team member for our teams. We also developed higher-rate positions of Advanced - Technical or Quality to assist in troubleshooting molds and quality issues. We hired a university professor to train us all in the communication style we adopted ( 7 process roles / 7 task roles) and we held team meetings: each week, each team, one hour minimum. They often went longer when there was interpersonal or other issues to problem solve (Confronting is caring...thanks Dr. Charlie). Eventually the entire manufacturing floor was converted to SDWT's.
Someone in a previous post left out the critical group stage of STORMING - it is as predictable as the sunrise but maybe not as frequent.
Caster is spot-on with his comment about management support - we had an extremely progressive top management when we were privately held. Then came the buyouts, the two Chapter 11's (remember junk bonds and LBO's?), three or four plant managers and in the 2000's no more team meetings, teams shrink to one or two people (one-piece pull!) and I heard that they have eliminated the Advanced pay rates. Of course the customer tours are taken to the work cells and the "teams" can dazzle the visitors with their depth and breadth of knowledge...but it's all coasting on the tremendous investment made during the 80's. :(

Hi, I have been absent for a time but kind of kept in touch so let me ad to Wes comment.

I agree some companies do not have the necessary corporate culture to work with SDWT, that does not mean SDWT will not work, that means you have to change the corporate culture, by the way I have work with a company that is in this moment finding (after initiating the transition, they have already trained the workforce in “Social skills”) that one of the major items to consider is :Corporate culture.

Generally speaking when a company pursues SDWT is because upper management think that it is a nice way to save some money, by removing middle management…I believe they miss the point completely…yes they will save money but the real thing is much more then that. What about a company that could outperform its competitors consistently, whose workforce were motivated to learn continuously…Now that is what I think is the purpose to use SDWT, and by the way, what about management? They have to change to? Or not?

:confused:

Hi, I have been absent for a time but kind of kept in touch so let me ad to Wes comment...


Generally speaking when a company pursues SDWT is because upper management think that it is a nice way to save some money, by removing middle management…I believe they miss the point completely…yes they will save money but the real thing is much more then that. What about a company that could outperform its competitors consistently, whose workforce were motivated to learn continuously…Now that is what I think is the purpose to use SDWT, and by the way, what about management? They have to change to? Or not?

:confused:

Yes, I think this is one of the most difficult issues that must be confronted and solved. Upper management often doesn't understand the monster that they have created. SDWT works best in a culture of clear, open, honest communication (work conditions, business goals, job security, advancement opportunities, etc.). If top management is not prepared to meet the needs of the SDWT culture, then TRUST is broken (Dr. Charley says," Trust takes six months to build and only minutes to destroy."). Try getting volunteers for overtime after top management has reduced benefits due to cost-cutting.

Per your previous posting, in our case there were reductions in middle management; my manager during the intial transition became the demonstrated preformance test / pay system developer and worked himself out of the company. Another middle-manager in the Mfg. group became a team facilitator (supervisor). So there are definite impacts to middle management that must be well thought out by top mangement. :yes:

Thanks Steve,

I posted my question a few months ago, and I did some research and my project was deployed at the end of July, now I can see the improvement is significant. Just waiting for data at this month end and present to top management.

I mixed LSS and SDWT together; therefore I don’t know where is the improvement come from, or both. The BU managers are released from daily operation and now only responsible for supervision, validate doubtful data, submit tender, etc.

The users are separated into two groups, and production process is separated into two parts; the senior is responsible for first part of production process, to validate bookings with customer, contact with overseas, make sure the services will be delivered successfully, which are more complex and need good communication skills in English (my project was deployed in China); the junior input data, check document, contact with local customs, from what they received from first part. They worked as a team on a FIFO basis.

The project improves the major KPIs by 50% to 75% in the first month, same as what I did for previous projects with LSS only. Therefore I am not sure what is the extra bonus of SDWT.

We did SDWT for my first job out of college. I thought it was a failure at the time. It wasn't until I left and worked elsewhere that I realized just how well it worked.

We had the right environment in many ways - management support with the goal of quality improvement (not cost cutting by elimination supervisors), JIT, a commitment to world class manufacturing (WCM), and some willing and committed associates.

When it was first introduced, I think management expected something like: WCM + SDWT = Magic. Well, that didn't happen. What did happen is that typically there would be 1-2 people per team that emerged as leaders. We gave themn low-level organizational responsibilities. As we progressed, we assigned more responsibilities to different associates.

I thought it was a failure at the time because for many teams, the best we could do is get 1 person interested in the concept. There just wasn't enough "what's in it for me" appeal for the rest. But 1 person is better than none, and many teams progressed to a nice level of self direction after 3-4 YEARS.

So overall, I think it's a worthwhile concept. Just don't expect magic to happen everywhere and definitely not overnight.