Reading: Design of Work Systems

Highlight: Self-directed teams are designed to achieve a higher level of teamwork and employee involvement. They are typically empowered to make changes in the work processes under their control. The underlying concept is that workers, who are close to the process and have the best knowledge of it, are better suited than management to make the most effective changes to improve the process.”

Operations and its processes including the employee’s jobs are better observed from their point of view as they are the people behind the operations. Employees can be equipped to analyze their jobs and develop ideas for improvement. Provide them with the proper training and armed with problem solving tools, they can help improve not only their work areas but the total operation’s efficiency.
Changes happen every day and to cope up with the times organizations must be resilient to the constantly changing business environment. Companies are forced to implement sweeping changes in an effort to grow and survive.
Empowering workers and making them as partners in the change process does far more than increase the probability of successful change. As they are the closest to the processes and have the best knowledge of it, they use their expertise and knowledge to suggest methods for improvements in their work areas. These suggestions could relate to improvements in their jobs, the products, the work atmosphere-ergonomics, or the company as a whole. Many companies have ventured into a participation-style of management by involving employees in the problem solving and decision making processes.
More so, these workers tend to work harder to ensure the desired results are achieved because they have vested interest and personal involvement in the change process.
The benefits: higher quality, higher productivity, and greater worker satisfaction.