Understanding and Managing People

Student ID 09028846

Summary Every organisation should have team which is a vital factor for an organisation and for a business process. On the view of Coca-Cola it is important to choose a suitable team from Self-Managed team, Virtual team and Matrix team. The report discusses why team work is important for an organisation and which team will be useful for on prospect of Coca-Cola. Introduction About Coca Cola The Coca Cola Company was established in 1886 by Dr John Styth Pemberton in Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia. Then it became worlds leading soft drinks manufacturer, marketer and distributer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, used to produce nearly 400 brands. The Coca-Cola Company operates in a 200 countries and it has employs around 49.000 people worldwide.[1] This multinational organisation has wide range of employee with a different talents and ability. As a leading company it is important to make use of them in an effective way. About Team Work The important role for employees have the potential to play in Coca-Cola is, team work. Team performance thus affects the success of the organisation as a whole. Andrzej at el (2007) says being able to work productively with others is so important that companies place an emphasis on their recruits being a good team player.[2] Katzenbach and Santamaria (1999) define group and team as team is a group that has successfully arrived at the performing stage.[3] From the point of view of management, a team is a group which possesses extra positive feature. The noteworthy of team of the organisational context is that they are necessary for the achievement of the desired objective and can provide competitive advantage. For example, Hamilton et al. (2003) demonstrate that productivity increased by 14 percent on average as a result of the change from individual piecework to team incentive in a garment factory.[4] In this case Coca Cola needs to know how to use a team in an effective way to achieve its objective. Teamworks characteristics influence the performance of the organization. It show how the different members involving in working toward team goals and how different skilled people with different individual behaviours. Team work gives a synergy mixing of these people as well as for and organisations performance. Working successfully as a team is not an easy task at it seems. To an effective team there should be some factors in place to achieve it. Factors are,[5], Good Leadership Clear Communication Conflict Resolution

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Understanding and Managing People

Student ID 09028846

Leadership reflects the capability of one person to direct and control the activities of others. Effective leadership is one of the most important components of good teamwork. The teams leader should possess the skills to create and maintain a positive working environment and motivate and inspire the team members to take a positive approach to work and be highly committed. Leadership is also the success of teamwork because it guides team members to its goal.

Different Teams of Organisation Self Managed Work Team As Yeatts & Hyten (1998) says a self-managed work team (SMWT) is a group of employees who are responsible for managing and performing technical task that result in a product or service being delivered to an internal or external customer.[6] Furthermore they say the team consists of 5 to 15 employees who are responsible for managing all or most aspect of the work including, for example, planning and scheduling, monitoring and staffing. In addition, the team members of an SMWT in general rotate management and technical responsibilities among themselves at regular intervals. SMWTs are not generally thought of as team brought together for a short-term purpose, such as virtual teams or task team. On the other hand, it is logical to believe that many of the factor that are important to high SMWT performance also be essential to the performance of work groups and short-term team. y         y Advantage SMWT Improved quality, productivity and service. Greater flexibility. Reduced operating costs. Faster response to technological change. Fewer, simpler job classifications. Better response to workers' values. Increased employee commitment to the organization. Ability to attract and retain the best people. Disadvantage SMWT Some people do not have the skills and initiative to work together productively which means output will be less from them. Virtual Team People who are primarily interact electronically and who may meet face-to-face occasionally. Examples of virtual teams include a team of people working at different geographic sites and a project team whose members telecommute. The common use for keep interacts with team members are hardware and software which are like telephone, computers, E-mail and groupwares. Reason for why virtual team is,

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Understanding and Managing People

Student ID 09028846

Team Members may not be physically collocated It may not be practical to travel to meet face-to-face. Team members may work different shifts

Specially for, Organization-wide projects or program

There are the some examples why an organisation goes for the Virtual team. y     Advantage Virtual-team People can work anywhere at any time. People will work 24 hours because of geography difference No commute time Expenses like Travel, Hotel can reduce and might be eliminated.

Disadvantage Virtual-team Lack of physical interaction Loss of face-to-face synergies Lack of trust Greater concern with predictability and reliability

Matrix Team Matrix teams include work groups, cross functional teams, task forces, problem solving teams, committees, special project teams, etc. They are normally composed of a small number of people from different departments, functions, or organizations who have banded together to solve a common problem or achieve a goal through collaboration. This matrix team work cross functionally as a result teams are working simultaneously requiring people to relate to one another vertically, horizontally and diagonally at the same time. In Matrix team the members might have multiple memberships in other team as well for an example, a group of workers report to a its working department manager and the same works assign to different project and they also need to report the project manager while working in the project so each worker may have to work under several managers. y Advantage Matrix-team

 Individuals can be chosen according to the needs of the project.  The use of a project team which is dynamic and able to view problems in a different way as specialists have been brought together in a new environment.  Project managers are directly responsible for completing the project within a specific deadline and budget.

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Understanding and Managing People

Student ID 09028846

Disadvantage Matrix-team Cost can be increased use of communication and management. Hard to interact with each and every team members Matrix team might be difficult to monitor

Recommendation To recommend, I suggest to use Self-managed working team because they are the positive aspect of a business. As I noted earlier, Self-managing team offer a number of potential advantages over other managed teams and for a Coca-Cola, Including strong commitment, improved quality, enhanced efficiency and faster product and service development. In addition, some research suggests more satisfied employees, lower turnover and lower absenteeism. Cordery et al (1991) and Cohen and Ledford (1991) found that SMWT teams had higher job satisfaction and were rated more effective by management than employees in traditionally managed teams.[7][8] Yeatts & Hyten (1998) noted the use of SMWTs has been found to result in higher performance at less cost which is a good for an organisation.[9]These studies show how important is self-managed work team rather than other teams and they also shows if Coca-Cola adopt this team method how useful it will be for the organisation for a employee point of view and for a employee view of point. For all of their noticeable advantages, self-managed teams suffer certain limitations. This might impact on coca cola and some noteworthy drawback can be highlighted as well. SMWTs are difficult to implement, and they risk failure when used in unsuitable situations or without enough leadership and support (Hackman, 1986).[10] The overall research on the effectiveness of SMWT has not been uniformly positive. For example, who working in SMWTs seems to have higher absenteeism and turnover rates.(Wall, 1986; Cordery 1991)[11] Conclusion In conclusion, if Coca-Cola implements SMWT it will positively impact organisation and its process. As mentioned before because of self managed work teams Quality, productivity and service will improve, reduce in operating costs and increase employee commitment to the organisation. In Europe, Volvo, Saab and other companies have been using SMWT for years.[12] The Use of SMWTs growing and it appears to be organisations adopting this team methods as it is liked by employees and the reason for is, it is managed by their self and management and responsibility rotate among the team members. Teamwork rather effective than a individual because success is depend on everyone and in teamwork everyone is important. Sugarman K. (2004) says Just Remember T.E.A.M Together Everyone Achieve More. [13]

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Understanding and Managing People

Student ID 09028846

Reference 1. About Us, [Online], Available : http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/About_Us/ [Accessed 12/04/2010] 2. Andrzej, A., et al (2007). Organizational Behaviour. 6 edition, England : Prentice Hall. 3. Katzenbach, J.R., & Sanatamaria, J.A (1999). Firing up the front line. Harvard Business Review, Vol 77, no 3,. pp 107-17. 4. Hamilton B.H., Nickerson, J.A., & Owan, H. (2003). Team incentives and worker heterogeneity : An empirical analysis of the impact of teams on productivity and participation, Journal of Political Economy, June, Vol 111, no 3, pp 465-98. 5. Source (Online) - http://www.articlesbase.com/team-building-articles/the-importance-ofteamwork-381813.html [Accessed 20/03/2010]

6. Yeatts, D., & Hyten, C., (1998)., High-Performing Self-Managed Work Teams : A Comparison of Theory to Practice. Sage Publication Inc. : Califonia. 7. Cordery, J., Muller, W., and Smith, L., (1991). Attitudinal and behavioural effects of autonomous group working : A longitudinal field sudy. Academy of management journal, 34, pp 464-476. 8. Cohen, S., Ledford, G., Jr. (1991). The effectiveness of self-managing teams : A quasi-experiment. Los Angeles, CA : Center for effectiveness Organisatios, University of Southern Califonia. 9. Yeatts, D., & Hyten, C., (1998). High-Performing Self-Managed Work Teams : A Comparison of Theory to Practice. Sage Publication Inc. : Califonia. 10. Hackman, J., (1990) Groups that work and those that dont. Jossey-Bass : San Francisco. 11. Wall, T., Kemp, N., Jackson, P., and Clegg C., (1986) Outcomes of Autonomous workgroups : A Long-Term Field Experiment. Academy of Management Journal. June. Pp 280-304 Cordery, J., Muller, W., and Smith, L., (1991). Attitudinal and behavioural effects of autonomous group working : A longitudinal field study. Academy of management journal, 34, pp 464-476. 12. David, K., et al (1992). Management Decision : Work Teams (SMWT) and the Human Resource Function. Emerald Journals, Vol 30, No 3,. pp 40-45. 13. Sugarman K. (2004), "Understanding the Importance of Teamwork", Brian Mackenzie's Successful Coaching (ISSN 1745-7513), Issue 13.

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