Teams offer great flexibility and responsiveness to the marketplace. More than ever, employers are designing their teams as cells that can easily be reorganized to be in alignment with the ever-changing demands of the marketplace.
Reducing Costs
Businesses can reduce operational costs by focusing on team productivity rather than managerial-based decision-making. By focusing on team productivity responsibilities for decisions are placed into the hands of the employees within the teams. Not only does this improve decisions made about frontline concerns, but it can also be a big cost-saver in terms of lowering the number of managerial positions required to run a business efficiently.
Benefits of Strategic Teams
When implemented effectively teams have been shown to increase productivity, improve output, better able to problem-solve, enhance the quality of work life for employees, reduce operational costs, lessen conflict between staff and management, improve creativity, increase organizational adaptability, and provide more opportunities for the ongoing development of employees.
Better Functionality
Many of the world’s biggest companies have achieved remarkable improvements when they were able to harness the power of teams. These include:
- Citibank that used teams to substantially improve customer satisfaction and service.
- Dun & Bradstreet that lowered the number days required to produce reports.
- GE that reported achieving a 30 percent decrease in backlogs.
Robert Hass, CEO of Levi Strauss predicted that team-oriented environments would drive the next generation of business. Hass believed that the strategic use of teams within large companies increased productivity, enhanced peer-to-peer learning, and created an overall higher employee satisfaction rate, necessary for growing a business.
Elaine Allan, BA, MBA
Technology & Business Blogger
Vancouver, Canada