Getting maximum productivity and engagement from teams is at the highest of the priority list for many companies. One management technique that has long been a staple within the manufacturing industry and which has gained popularity elsewhere in recent years is that the concept of self-managed teams.

It’s a management technique where a gaggle of employees is brought together and given responsibility and accountability over all or most aspects of manufacturing a product or delivering a service.

Advantages of Self-Managed Teams

Self-managed teams have greater ownership of the tasks they perform and therefore the outcome or service they deliver. Self-managed teams tend to be less expensive and more productive than employees working within a standard hierarchical data structure because the team performs both technical and management tasks. Team members can also fill certain one another to hide holidays and absences. Decisions made by self-managed teams are simpler because they're made by the people that know most about the work.

Some of these benefits include:

Increased productivity

Employees are given full ownership over their respective areas of experience and project outcomes. This helps to spice up overall commitment and staff engagement, successively ramping up productivity for both individual employees and therefore the team as an entire.

Enhanced innovation

When employees are given complete leeway to unravel their own problems and manage their own tasks, innovation and creativity quickly follow. That’s because employees are given direction, then empowered to seek out their own thanks to the specified outcome.

Reduced pressure on managers

Middle and senior-level managers handle most of the burden when it involves organizing teams, managing projects, and completing administrative and organization tasks. This takes far away from their ability to think strategically and make big picture decisions. By removing these burdens, and empowering their teams, managers are freed to try to do more impactful work.

Creating highly motivated teams

By definition, self-directed teams are highly motivated, engaged, and committed to achieving their target outcome. If they weren’t, then it’s unlikely that the team would last very long, or be created within the first place. Highly motivated teams fire on all cylinders, offering maximum impact for key projects.

Disadvantages of Self-Managed Teams

Although a cohesive self-managed team may create a way of trust and respect between team members, overly cohesive teams can cause groupthink: Team members are more likely to evolve with team norms than raise issues that will upset other team members. this might cause reduced effort or stifled innovation. Teams may struggle to form the transition from supervisor-led management to self-management, either thanks to a scarcity of interpersonal skills or poor implementation of the self-managed team concept within the organization.

Conclusion

Although self-managed teams are autonomous in terms of how they manage and perform their work, they still require guidance from leaders within the organizational hierarchy. External leaders provide the link between the broader organization and therefore the self-managed team, empowering the team and advocating on its behalf. External leaders may struggle to seek out the acceptable balance in their leadership style: Their own managers may expect them to be more hands-on, while the team may resist perceived interference.