Difference between self-managed and self-directed teams
Many companies use teams to help improve quality, work processes, or customer service. When a company is beginning the team-building journey, leaders need to understand what type of team they want them to end up using the most in the organization. Although many use the terms self-managed and self-directed interchangeably for teams, there are differences in how teams are used and operated. The characteristics of the two types of team to consider when developing work teams in an organization are listed.
Characteristics of a self-managed team
- The team receives goals from the leadership and determines how to achieve its goals.
- Build employee engagement and morale.
- Team members should be trained in meeting, problem solving, project planning, and team skills.
- The team designs work procedures and determines their work processes and assignments.
- Although little supervision is required, this can be time consuming for the leader as the progress and direction of the team may need to be monitored.
- It requires open communication from the leadership about the goals and objectives of the company.
- The team can increase customer satisfaction through a better response time to get work done or to respond to problems.
Characteristics of a self-directed team
- The team determines its own goals and determines the best way to achieve them.
- Creates an environment of high innovation, commitment and motivation in team members.
- Team members need additional training in decision-making, conflict resolution, and advanced problem-solving techniques.
- It can be costly as it takes a long time to build a team and conflicts will ensue.
- The leader is less time consuming, but it is more difficult to track progress and verify that the team is heading in the right direction.
- It requires a system that provides two-way communication of corporate strategy between leaders and their teams.
- Teams can reduce cycle time by solving any work problems as they arise and making informed decisions about how to proceed.
When reviewing the characteristics of self-managed and self-directed teams, the differences in how teams can operate and which can best be used in a particular organization or situation may be easier for management to understand. With this knowledge, companies that want to use equipment to help improve quality, work processes, or customer service can have a better idea of how to determine what type of equipment is best suited to their situation and the desired results.
