1. The implementation of the new team based structure at Digitech was not as successful as expected.
Digitech Company wanted decisions made to be effected quickly and so they implemented multi-functional teams; customer care team, development team and manufacturing team. Customer care team was responsible for installation of electronic devices, provision of direct support to clients and dealt with customer complaints. The development team dealt development of new ideas testing of prototypes and determination of which new devices would go to market. The manufacturing team dealt with production of all devices to a high quality standard.
This team based structure was not successful due to a number of factors first; there was conflict in authority especially between the customer care team and the management executives. The second factor was lack of commitment and participation by team members. The third factor was lack of communication among teams.
2. Team structure
When it comes to team work there division of responsibilities among team members is a key factor. The team members are responsible for work preparation, work support and work control. In every team there exists a team leader who is also part of the team responsibilities but he is also the decision maker in a team. The team leader is usually selected by the management of the organization. (Doorewaard, 2002)
Team based work is becoming more popular since it is believed to improve productivity and quality on both the team and organization level. Most jobs are becoming advanced and time consuming proving difficult to be handled by one person hence the adoption of team based working environment.
A team has specific conditions that make it one. It should have a specific goal that they are aiming to achieve. Team members in a team should be interdependent; they should not achieve the organizations goals separately but together as a team. Teams have identifiable membership that make them last long enough to achieve their goal. In a team, the team members are in charge of their activities and internal processes. In order for a team to work effectively each member should be aware of their roles. (Thompson, 2003)
Despite the effectiveness of team work, a team has its dysfunction. This was brought out in Lencioni’s model of a team, in this model there are five dysfunctions of a team. The first dysfunction is absence of trust. This happens when team members are not ready to rely on one another. The second dysfunction is fear of conflict which is brought about by lack of trust in the first place. The third dysfunction is lack of commitment which can easily lead to poor results and production. The fourth dysfunction is avoidance of accountability, when there is no commitment in a team then even accountability to duties and mistakes becomes a problem. The last dysfunction is inattention to results, when team members lack commitment and accountability the organization ultimately suffers. (De Meuse, 2009)
For Digitech to affect its team work, the three teams, that is customer care, development and manufacturing team should evaluate team structure and conditions and follow the steps taken. They should improve their communication since communication is one of the key issues for a team to be effective. They should also analyze and understand their roles and work together as a team to achieve the company’s goal.
References
Thompson. L. L Making the Team: A Guide for Managers (July, 24, 2003) Prentice Hall; 2nd Edition
De Meuse. P. K Driving Team Effectiveness; A Comparative Analysis of the Korn/Ferry T7 Model with Other Popular Team Models (2009)
Doorewaard. H Team Responsibility Structure and Team Performance (2002)
Benson. A & Rice. M Developing and sustaining Effective Teams (March, 2007)
Cavanagh. M, Grant . M. A & Kemp. T Evidence Based Coaching (2005)
Team structure type retrieved from: http://www.imse.hku.hk/imse3002/Overview%20HTML/3-12.htm