Case studies in human resources management

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Case 11 "Team Building" of Shanghai ZS Company

"Team Building" is a method that relies on the organizational group members themselves (plus the help of external organizational development personnel) to improve the effectiveness of the organizational group. planned change activities. In recent years, this approach has been widely adopted by Western companies. Its purpose is: to analyze and solve problems and complete work tasks; to facilitate relationships within the group and improve group effectiveness; to improve the activity process of groups and organizations and improve the effectiveness of work.

Whether team building can be adopted by Chinese companies is a question we are concerned about. At the end of 1994, at the invitation of Sino-American ZS Company, we launched a team-building project for the company titled "Introducing American Self-Directed Work Teams (SDWT) to improve production management and improve work efficiency." It has made some meaningful attempts and created a good start for the company to implement the "work management group model" in the future.

1. Question raised

Shanghai ZS Company is a well-known Sino-US joint venture. In recent years, with the accelerated pace of China's reform and opening up and the rapid development of the market economy, the company has faced severe challenges from fierce market competition. It is a top priority to further stimulate morale, reduce costs and improve workshop production efficiency. For this reason, the company leaders decided to transplant the American ZS SDWSDWT group model of the parent company. This is a bold decision, because is this new management model that originated in the West suitable for China? This is a mystery to everyone. The company leaders objectively analyzed the internal and external environment faced by the American ZS Company back then and found that it was very similar to today's Shanghai ZS Company.

In the 1960s, the American ZS Company faced the rapid development of science and technology, changes in labor relations, and unprecedented fierce international competition. However, the internal profits of the company decreased, the market share declined, the product structure was in urgent need of adjustment, and social responsibilities such as environmental protection were increasing. These drastic changes in the internal and external environment require enterprises to make corresponding adjustments and changes in order to survive and develop. In the early 1970s, the British ZS Company boldly implemented a new management model that was completely participated by employees-SDWT group. Participatory and command are two different management models, representing two different management ideas. The American ZS Company has taken this step very difficultly, starting from scratch, from point to point, and now the "SDWT Group" is active in Each production workshop injects vitality into the company's management. Team members actively participate in multiple activities of production management, from plan formulation and implementation to production control. SDWT members also actively participate in discussions on various management topics, from improving work efficiency to cost control, from technical assurance to safe production, etc., forming a good atmosphere in the entire production management process where we can brainstorm and work together to overcome difficulties. This change in management model has greatly increased the company's production efficiency and expanded its market share year by year. Today, SDWT company has developed into a world-famous large company. Accordingly, in 1994, Shanghai ZS Company decided to send three production department managers to the United States for special inspection and training. And with the help of the resources of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Management, we conducted an investigation and study on the current situation of company management. After analyzing the management differences between Chinese and American companies, we based on the seven prerequisites for the implementation of work management groups, four of which are full support from top management and middle-level cadres. In terms of competent personnel, sufficient preparation and effective training, Shanghai ZS Company has a certain foundation, so it can pilot the SDWT group model in a small area.

In April 1995, the C production line work management group of the production department (referred to as the C work management group) was officially established. The 12 members are all grassroots staff with the same or similar work nature. There are workshop directors, operators, equipment maintenance personnel, quality management personnel, and technical support personnel. Through regular meetings, they first held special discussions on how to reduce the loss of C products.

A good start has been made, but it is not easy to establish an SDWT team. In Western companies, it usually takes about 3 to 5 years.

The establishment of the SDWT team must have 6-8 highly trained personnel who can share responsibilities for products, services or information, and can receive sufficient resource support, problem solving, time Have clear responsibilities for scheduling, quality and cost, and have the authority to plan, execute and control the entire production process.

Due to the differences in management between the East and the West, the management ideas, management methods, and management behaviors under the original planned economy model still have a certain impact on Chinese employees. Compared with Western companies, the salary and welfare systems of employees are The gap is still relatively large. The 12 members (except for one workshop director) still lack systematic training and have not yet fully established the awareness and responsibility of the SDWT team. It is indeed difficult to carry out SKWT activities in Shanghai ZS Company. We decided to give this a try using team building methods.

A complete team building generally goes through three processes.

Unfreeze: Unfreeze the original values ??and attitudes in the organization. Let members of the organizational group discover problems by themselves and realize the need for reform;

Second promotion (action): Group members participate in collecting information, analyzing the situation, identifying problems, and formulating action plans to solve the problems ;

Three freezes: Collectively summarize and evaluate the results of the implementation plan, and consolidate them on a new basis.

The whole process of team building must be participated by all members. In the specific operation, we combine the "action research" technique of organizational development (OD) to make it easier to operate.

Action research is a data-based problem-solving model. This is a way to solve problems and an important research method. "Action research"*** is divided into seven stages:

(1) Both parties have similar values ??and theoretical foundations;

(2) Understanding and confirming the problem;

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(3) Collect data;

(4) Feed back data to members of the organization to promote their absorption and understanding of the data;

(5) Work with members of the organization Analyze data and diagnose problems;

(6) Formulate action plans and take action;

(7) Post-action data collection and feedback diagnosis.

In order to achieve the expected goals, we and Shanghai ZS Company *** jointly formulated a "training course plan to improve work efficiency, reduce costs, and carry out team building". Team building starts with training and action research Throughout, unfreeze-advance-refreeze, unfold step by step. The goals of the training are: ① Assist in building the SDWT team; ② Reduce consumption and improve production efficiency.

This is an application-oriented training. The entire training is divided into the following stages.

2. Learn how to “unfreeze”

The first step in team building is to “unfreeze”. During the "unfreezing" stage, the following must be done:

(a) Prepare necessary theories and methods;

(b) Conduct an investigation of the current situation of the organization;

(c) Analyze the organization’s existing attitudes and values; and find breakthroughs for unfreezing.

1. Theoretical and methodological preparation. The SDWT work management group model is based on modern management theory. Due to the differences in management between Eastern and Western enterprises, we first arranged special lectures on establishing new concepts of modern management and "Characteristics of American Enterprise Management".

Team building is an important technique in organizational development (OD). Western organizational development is guided by modern systems theory. It views enterprises as open social and technological systems. Any change in the system will affect other subsystems and even the status and changes of the entire system.

The implementation of the SDWT team in the production department is by no means an isolated event. The status of the company's entire system and its interaction with the external environment must be taken into consideration. Therefore, modern systems theory is the basic theory of team building. To this end, special training on systematic thinking and problem-solving procedures was carried out for all managers of the production department.

The prerequisite for solving any problem is to understand the current situation, and what we are facing is a systematic and comprehensive problem. We must change my previous traditional linear thinking method and establish a new systematic thinking method. In the systematic thinking training course, we have used the more popular Western "Fifth Repair" to practice the monumental wine production and marketing system. Put students into a system of production, supply and sales. The atmosphere throughout the exercise was lively. Through scenario simulation and role playing, group members realized that we lacked a systematic perspective in thinking about problems in the past. We often think about ourselves when solving problems. As a result, we solve our own problems but create many problems for others. In turn, it restricts the solution of one's own problems. The practice of the Monument Wine Production and Marketing System tells everyone that only by paying attention to the understanding of the system structure and seeing the power of the team. Analyzing and solving problems from a systemic perspective is the fundamental way.

The entire training focuses on student participation and adopts various forms such as teacher lectures, case teaching, group activities, large group exchanges, and action research. In the training, in addition to selecting classic cases at home and abroad, we also pay more attention to selecting real cases within the company. Practice has proved that by putting students into real situations and practicing real knives and robbery, the effect is beyond the reach of relying on other people's cases.

During the training on problem-solving procedures, the managers of the production department conducted a comprehensive force field analysis of the current working status of the production department. After analyzing the motivation and resistance factors of the current situation of the production department, the managers used relevant techniques to find five key resistance factors that currently affect the achievement of goals as the main targets. This is also a problem that the C work management team needs to solve. In this regard, the company's production department also held a special business meeting to discuss. The meeting agreed that among the five key obstacles, strengthening the management of material procurement and supply is an urgent problem that needs to be solved. It seriously hinders the increase in daily production. The reason for this problem is: between the planning and purchasing departments. Poor communication and cooperation.

So we used the "role analysis seminar" method in team building to carry out special training on "role expectations and role cognition" for members of the planning and lottery departments under the production department.

Team building for role analysis first requires members of the "Purchasing" and "Planning" departments to give a collective lecture and write down their job responsibilities, status, and expectations for each other's roles, and then play each other's roles. Role, estimate the other party's requirements for your role, and then communicate and modify their opinions. Make a written description based on consensus. This activity achieved the desired results. The following is the evaluation of this event by the manager of the company's planning and purchasing department (US side) (see attachment).

2. Conduct an investigation of the current status of the organization to discover and analyze existing attitudes and values. The company's basic activities and vitality come from the strength of the team. A work management team (SDWT) is a team. The eight criteria for a successful team are clear goals; organizational belonging; sense of participation; effective communication; correct handling of various conflicts; encouragement of self-development; teamwork; and establishment of new ideas.

An efficient team should give employees maximum responsibility and development space, allowing them to fully participate in goal setting and problem solving, and each member should be assigned a certain role. Team strength increases when all members are able to integrate their skills and make the most of them.

How to make the C work management team achieve these goals as soon as possible, first of all, we must conduct an investigation of the current situation of the organization and develop existing problems in the original attitudes and values. Only in this way can we find out the distance between the current situation and the goal, and make action research more concrete.

We carried out the following three surveys: ① Assessment of leadership ability and psychological quality; ② Survey of organizational climate; ③ Force field analysis of the current situation of C work management model. Investigation methods include observation, questionnaires, interviews and force field analysis.

(1) Assessment of leadership ability and psychological quality, self-identification of working group members. This assessment is mainly based on questionnaires. Through questionnaire evaluation, the preliminary conclusions drawn are: ① In terms of the way members of the working group deal with conflicts, do they mainly use competition (40) or cooperation (37)? Through data feedback, the working group realizes that they have not yet found the solution. The best way to resolve conflicts.

② Judging from the survey results of leadership styles, in terms of the dimension of concern, 88% focus on production, indicating that members of the working group care more about production than about people. ③From the perspective of leadership style, the democratic and liberal style is dominant. These data remind everyone that working group members have not yet found the optimal point in how to deal with production and interpersonal relationships.

The above data caused the work management team to think deeply.

(2) Organizational climate questionnaire survey. We used the questionnaire method to investigate the organizational climate of the company and production respectively, involving: analysis of current status and trends of enthusiasm, work motivation, participation in management, work goals, communication and cooperation, demand structure, motivating factors, job satisfaction, etc. for nearly 20 years projects. The survey results will be fed back to the working group and relevant personnel in the form of a Pareto Chart, and group discussions and large group exchanges will be organized. Everyone has a more comprehensive understanding of the current situation of the organizational climate. Identifying the existing gaps, clearly strengthening inter-departmental cooperation and improving the sense of organizational belonging are the keys to team building. Below are some results from the survey.

What should be explained here is: In order to promote the quality of group activities, during the above data collection, discussion and feedback process, we pay special attention to the observation and intervention of the entire process.

Each group will elect a meeting observer for each event. His task is to observe and record the meeting process from the aspects of meeting atmosphere, power factors, meeting procedures, interpersonal relationships, personal factors, etc. Intervene in the meeting process when necessary and report in large group exchanges to ensure that the meeting process is carried out reasonably and effectively and to ensure the quality of group activities.

(3) Carry out Lichang Institute analysis of the current situation of the C work management group management model. Work management team (SDWT) is a model of modern management. In order to realize this model, we must analyze the existing model of C working group in order to find out the gaps. As a team A breakthrough in construction.

Force field analysis is an effective technique commonly used in organizational development work. The use of force field analysis can help inspire and guide managers to comprehensively understand analytical problems and seek solutions.

The force field analysis method believes that anything that is stable is in a force field with a balance of action force (power) and reaction force (resistance). To change an organization, the current status of the organization must be changed. This force field balance state. By increasing power or reducing resistance, the actual state is pushed toward the goal state.

In addition to helping us work together, analyze systematically, and comprehensively understand the situation, the force field analysis method also focuses on the study of psychological factors and the control of organizational climate during the entire force field analysis process. A successful force field analysis can not only help We analyze the problem comprehensively. It can also help with effective communication, clear goals, teamwork, and enhance the sense of responsibility for completing tasks.

Current status of C work management group management model:

Advantages (motivation)

(1) Leadership attention;

(2) Group Members are highly motivated;

(3) Members already possess certain skills in certain aspects;

(4) Already have relatively clear short-term goals (reduce consumption);

(5) Improvements have been made after training;

(6) Active cooperation and support from brother departments;

(7) Production conditions have certain advantages;

(8) Supported by the existing successful experience of ZS headquarters in the United States;

(9) Employees have certain conditions for job rotation training;

(10 ) The rotation of team leaders has begun;

(11) Employees have a certain sense of urgency;

(12) Corporate policies and corporate culture support the work management team;

(13) Have certain time and resources;

(14) Can use external resources to help.

Disadvantages (resistance)

(1) Group members are highly motivated, but workers are not motivated enough;

(2) Members have less time for activities;

(3) Lack of funds (activities);

(4) Members’ business skills are not comprehensive enough;

(5) Insufficient understanding of long-term goals ;

(6) The company’s recent situation is severe;

(7) The market competition is fierce and the company’s prospects are dim;

(8) Part 1 and Lack of communication among subordinates due to working conditions;

(9) Lack of planning for work group work;

(10) Low overall quality of employees;

(11) There is less communication between teams;

(12) The income of production workers is lower;

(13) The mobility of production workers is large, resulting in unfamiliar production skills ;

(14) The combination of personal goals and collective goals is not enough;

(15) The working group lacks training.

3． Seeking a breakthrough in "unfreezing"

After preparing a series of theories and methods, we mastered the three aspects of "leadership ability and psychological assessment", "organizational atmosphere" and "C status of work management group management" The data provided us with a more comprehensive understanding of the current situation, which laid the foundation for the continued implementation of the seven-stage "action research" technique during the unfreezing stage. We feed this data back to organizational members. All members participate together, discuss and analyze data, and diagnose problems together. The purpose is to find out the key resistance factors that cause the current situation and the goal. Although these resistances only account for 20% in number, they have an impact of 80%.

After discussion among the group members, the five most important gaps (resistances) affecting the current situation and goals are (in order of priority and priority): ① Insufficient combination of personal goals and organizational goals; ② Lack of action plan in the working group ; ③ Insufficient communication between superiors and subordinates; ④ Lack of training for working group members; ⑤ Lack of communication between teams.

3. Learn how to "advance"

The "unfreezing" of team building requires a process, especially in terms of changing people's inherent concepts and traditional management behaviors, which does not happen overnight. The criteria for measuring "unfreezing" are: whether members have stimulated the motivation and sense of urgency for change; whether they have a clear understanding of the current situation and whether they have found a breakthrough for "unfreezing"; and whether teamwork has been strengthened.

The C work management team of Shanghai ZS Company still has a lot of work to do in the unfreezing stage. Due to the recent fluctuations in morale due to the fierce market competition, these have left us with many issues for team building. After the "unfreezing" stage of work, the C work management team has been theoretically and methodologically prepared, has formulated work goals, and strengthened teamwork. These are our mainstream. After study, both parties agreed to continue the team building activities to the second stage - "advancing" development. The specific implementation goals of working group C are: ① team building; ② reduce consumption and increase daily output to achieve the predetermined target.

In Western companies, a successful SDWT team needs to go through 3 to 5 years of self-construction. During this period, it generally goes through five stages: ① starting stage; ② confusion stage; ③ leader-centered Team; ④ closely united team; ⑤⒌ self-directed team. Taking the starting stage as an example, it must be completed: feasibility study, goal development, measurement action plan, selection of development location, management and members starting action (especially in terms of training), etc.

Work management group activities take many forms. For example, taking turns on duty can enhance the organizational ability of each member; the task contracting responsibility system helps team members master the entire production process; the product quality mutual inspection system helps improve employees' sense of responsibility; the on-site management inspection system helps Improve the management level of each member. Members of the C work management team discussed this one by one, and some have already adopted it and taken action.

(1) All members participated in formulating the work management team's work goals for the first half of 1995 to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

These goals are:

a) Improve work efficiency goal: C product output reaches 14,000 pieces per shift;

R product output reaches 12,000 pieces per shift .

b) Consumption reduction target: packaging materials (including gas tank and valve material consumption reduced from 1.2 to 0.8).

And draw up a specific implementation plan to identify 12 quality and cost consumption control points in the production line.

(2) Continue to carry out "problem-solving training" courses guided by (workshop) production cases for members of the C work management team.

According to the suggestion of the production department manager, this training was carried out with the theme of improving "workshop equipment operation quality". Because the speed of production line operation and the quality of equipment are key factors affecting production efficiency, all members conducted a careful force field analysis on the current status of the workshop equipment. A gratifying phenomenon occurred. During the analysis, everyone worked together and actively participated, and the atmosphere was very lively. Instead of the negative attitude of only looking for other people's reasons and one-sided emphasis on objective factors in meetings in the past, there was a team spirit in which everyone took the initiative to take responsibility. Through comprehensive analysis, everyone realized that low equipment operation efficiency is a key factor affecting production efficiency. And find out the five key negative factors in equipment management, and analyze and classify these problems one by one:

Category A is: problems that can be solved by the efforts of this workshop (2 items );

Category B is: problems that can be solved by this workshop (5 items);

Category C is: problems that can be solved by this workshop with the help of others (5 items) item);

Category D is: due to limitations of subjective and objective conditions, the problem cannot be solved for the time being. Here we use a commonly used method in team building in Western companies - team building meetings. The purpose of this method is to help work group members. In the form of problem recognition and problem solving, activities often involve outside consulting work group members. Recognize the problem and solve it. External consultants usually participate in the activities. They work with the group members to collect information, summarize and analyze, clarify the problem, guide the group to discuss, and use "relevant techniques in problem-solving procedures" to discuss solutions to the problem (Requirement 2 or more), and then according to the large group communication plan and the requirements of target management, issue a target task statement and implement it. Then comes the post-implementation follow-up evaluation.

The following is the current force field result of the workshop equipment.

Analysis of the current situation of C product workshop equipment

Power

① It used to take one day to replace a product, but now it only takes three hours. This is a cooperative effort between the machine repair and the workshop Results;

②The mechanics arrived at the production site in time;

③The technical level of the mechanics has been greatly improved;

④The mechanics have a strong desire to learn technology

⑤Operators also have a strong desire to learn to repair machines;

⑥The management level of workshops and teams has improved;

⑦The machine repair department has a strong desire to learn to repair machines. The workshop is particularly supportive and the team spirit is strong;

⑧Reduce personnel while increasing production;

⑨The work management group has begun to take shape;

⑩Equipment and workshop There is good cooperation between the two directors;

The communication between the mechanic and the workshop director is good;

The company leaders are determined and the support from various departments is good;

The workshop The director understands the equipment, which facilitates communication among the mechanics.

Resistance

① When producing KIC, it is easy to be crushed by the kerosene cylinder;

② When producing BL long cans, bottle inversion will occur if the vehicle speed is high;

③The quality of the cans has an impact on the assembly line;

④In order to reduce defective products, the assembly line should be adjusted to the optimal speed;

⑤In terms of equipment maintenance, The regular cleaning and maintenance system of the sealing machine is not perfect;

⑥The basic management of the equipment is not enough, and the operators are not familiar with the performance of the machine;

⑦The sealing rings of the sealing machine should be numbered and saved;

⑧ Frequent mobilization of operators and lack of familiarity with the work;

⑨ Innate lack of frequent mobilization of the air flushing room turntable and unfamiliarity with the work;

⑩ Gas flushing The turntable is inherently deficient, resulting in many cans being dumped;

The qualification rate of raw materials (such as cans) entering the factory is unreasonable, resulting in many second-class products and waste products in the finished products. The reason for waste cans does not account for 20% of the unqualified products;

The operator's responsibility must be strengthened;

The deviation in the appearance size of the can causes malfunctions;

The operation of the equipment is affected by the weather, such as when the temperature is high and it is cloudy. During the weather, there are many faults in the gas flushing room;

The reasons for downtime are not recorded in detail enough;

Whether every existing operation by employees is a valuable operation;

The ability of mechanics to analyze and solve problems needs to be improved;

Although the situation of scrap caused by material breaks has improved, it still occurs.

(3) Connect with the actual production and carry out training on "ergonomics" theories and methods

The content of "ergonomics" training includes: how production front-line employees understand ergonomics; Re-understanding of efficiency and effectiveness, goals and means; the relationship between market awareness and improving work efficiency; operation analysis and performance measurement; assessment of first-time pass rate; formulation and improvement of operation standards; input-output analysis, etc.

The above content laid a theoretical foundation for the C work management team to "reduce consumption, improve work efficiency, and achieve the daily output target for the first half of the year."

(4) Strengthen team self-building, and Working Group C has become increasingly complete and mature. They formulated work goals and action plans, held regular weekly activities, and enhanced members' awareness of self-change. The theme of each activity was determined by group members' collective lectures. Group members took turns taking charge of the work, and now the scope of this participatory management has gradually expanded to include the entire workshop. They participate in formulating and revising various management systems and manage 12 quality and cost control points of the production line. ***Work together to study how to formulate new working hour quotas; how to increase the operating speed of the production line.

They also actively participate in discussions on management issues. Now, they are discussing "how to improve work efficiency while strengthening civilized management of the workshop"; "how to further stimulate employees' sense of responsibility and participation."

Measures must be taken to "refreeze" realistic goals and achievements. Consolidate the theories and methods you have learned and continuously develop your own ability to change.

After nearly half a year of hard work by all members of the C work management team, today the daily output of the three main products of the workshop has been:

A. Increased from 9,000 to 16,000;

B. Increased from 7,000 to 11,000;

C. Increased from 8,000 to 13,000.

The production efficiency of daily output increased by 57% to 77% respectively.

4. A new topic - learning how to "refreeze"

Today, the activities in the two stages of "unfreezing" and "advancement" are being carried out smoothly. A good start has been made in implementing the working group management model. A new topic is placed in front of us, that is: after trying to "unfreeze" and "advance", how to "refreeze" the achieved results is a key link between the past and the future. This is where the success or failure of group building lies. Failure to "refreeze" means retreating, and may even retreat to a worse level than the initial state. The core of "refreezing" is the management concepts and behaviors that have been initially formed in the organization, including the management concepts and behaviors formed on this basis. Management systems and management norms should be stabilized and internalized.

The original old ideas and old ways of behavior will not easily quit under the influence of internal and external environments, but will come back again. This is proven by many lessons.

The driving force behind an enterprise’s organizational change activities is human behavior and interpersonal relationships. C Work Management Group has recognized this and has instituted new training requirements in this regard. The results achieved are being consolidated and moving forward step by step along the five stages of work management team development.

One piece of gratifying news is that in order to strengthen the leadership of the work management group, Shanghai ZS Company is planning to establish a steering committee for the work management group. Other workshop directors also requested that this new management model be implemented in their workshops.

We believe that the work management team of Shanghai ZS Company will produce fruitful results.