Teams: Real Value Or A Corporate Con
by Miki Saxon
There was an interesting, if cynical, article in the Kansas City Star on teams.
“That’s how some corporations have come to think of themselves. As teams up against a lot of other teams in a never-ending season of profit and loss.
And those on the payroll, why, they’re members of the team.
Remember when the worker bees were simply referred to as employees, whereas everyone else was in management?
The relationships haven’t changed. Only the terminology.”
And in far too many cases it is only words.
University of Missouri-Kansas City sociology professor Deborah Smith says, “Workers aren’t stupid. They know this is a gloss.”
Also true, people aren’t stupid.
In large companies each person is a member of multiple, distinct teams. The teams nest, much like the dolls you see.
The smallest team is composed of the immediate people who work together, several similar teams form a group, several groups form the department and multiple departments form the company.
No matter the corporate culture, each team is a product of the manager’s MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™)—the source of it strength or its hypocrisy.
The article presents the idea of teams as a management sop to the masses; a sop that shows its true colors when things go bad and there are layoffs.
I disagree. I’ve known too many people who’ve been laid off and still have strong, positive feelings for the various teams they were on, but it was totally dependent on each manager.
So the next time you’re thinking about how to improve your team building, start by looking in the mirror and asking yourself this question, “If my manager treated me as I treat my people would I want to be on his team?”
Image credit: scx.hu
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