Here's a good one.... My team has been dubed a Self-Directed Work Team and lost it's supervisor and had a "hands off" manager. We've been functioning quite productively for a little over two years. During a re-organization of the company, we had a new manager appointed to us (who has a history of being a micro manager). Her roles & responsibilities are not clear to her, and when we (the team) explained how our team functioned in the past she had a feeling of "no control" and wanted something stating a manager's function and/or role in a SDWT. Does anyone out there have any information?

-- Phil Vanaria (phil.f.vanaria@usago.ksc.nasa.gov), August 28, 2000

Answers

I've had great success with approaching the team versus management responsibility issues using the following guideline: Teams have the responsibility and authority for: - Managing their process - Proposing modifications to their proesses - Carrying out their processes Management retains responsibilty and authority for: - Directing the organization - Determining required cost levels (budgets) - Establishing schedules and capacities - Establishing quality parameters

In other words - teams have the responsibility for the "how". How it is going to get done. Management has the responsibility for the "what". What needs to get done.

Al Dahms www.workteam.com

-- Al Dahms (dahmsa@workteam.com), September 05, 2000.