4. Pioneers of teamwork
• As early as 1918
Cadbury pioneered
elected work councils at
its Bourneville factory
5. Elton Mayo
• The Hawthorne Studies
of the 1930’s proved
that morale and
productivity could be
boosted if workers felt
that they belonged to a
group.
• Read the Hawthorne
Effect
6. So if Mayo was right....
• Developing more effective employee
participation may mean
– Business success
– Less labour turnover
– Higher productivity
– Higher motivation
– Higher innovation (creation of ideas)
Win / win / win / win ...etc you get the idea
7. Must be a downside surely to all this
employee participation....
• Too many cooks spoil the broth
• Crisis may require a quick decision
• May cause irritation when people have
different agendas and expectations
• Managers resent being challenged
• Employees expect more power than they get
10. Kaizen Groups
• Devised in Japan by
companies such as
Toyota and Nissan,
means improvement in
Japanese
• Read Kaizen
11. Works Councils
• a council composed of
both employer and
employees convened to
discuss matters of
common interest
concerning a factory,
plant, business policy,
etc., not covered by
regular trade union
agreements (not pay)
• Read the Personnel
today article
12. Autonomous Work Groups
• Consists of a team of
people who are given a
high level of
responsibility for their
work
The concept of an autonomous
work group was developed by Eric
Trist at the Tavistock Institute in
London, England after the end of
World War II. Involving the working
team to decide for itself how the
work should be carried out, and
distributed among members.
13. Employee Shareholder
• To develop a common
sense of purpose, some
companies give
employees a share in
the business
• They should become
more interested in the
overall performance of
the firm
• “their” company
16. EU Works Council Directive
• Forcing some large UK
forms to change
approach and introduce
works councils
•
•
•
The 1994 European Works Council
directive applies to all companies
with 1,000 or more workers and at
least 150 employees in each of the
EU member states.
The aim of the directive is to ensure
that workers are able to consult with
their colleagues in other EU based
operations of the same company so
that they can respond more
effectively and efficiently to
management decisions that are
made beyond national level.
The success of the directive has,
however, been limited. Only a third
of companies which are legally
obliged to set up an EWC have done
so.
20. Team working
• Many organisations now expect employees to
undertake their work in teams
– More efficient production
– People respond well to working with others
because this satisfies their social needs (Mayo,
Maslow)
21.
22. The Ups and Downs of teamwork
• Social needs
• Gain from the strength
of others
• Fun to share a task
• May be able to change
job roles
• Work to own strengths
• Some people do not like
to work in a team – are
you one of them?
• Decision making can be
slow
• May be disagreements
with the rest of the
group
24. Evaluation
• Needs to be managed effectively
• Greater participation can lead to competitive
advantage
• Read: Strategy – competitive advantage
25. Key terms
• Industrial democracy – what does it mean?
• Teamwork – what’s your definition? Would
the examiner agree with you??
• Works Council? What’s that all about?
• Answers on next slide
26. Answers to key terms
• Industrial democracy
– When the employees have the opportunity to be
involved in decision making.
• Teamwork
– Individuals work in groups
• Works council
– A committee of management and workers that
meets to discuss company – wide issues such as
training, investment and expansion.
27. Discuss
• Explain the possible
benefits to a firm of
greater employee
participation.
