Topic 9: Leading Self – Managed Teams

Weekly Reflection 

Week 10 

2 January 2022

Assalamualaikum and bismillah. 

 

    As for this week's presentation, the group members who presented on the topic of Leading Self – Managed Teams did an outstanding job. Excellent definition, benefits, and drawbacks of self-managed teams and actual experiences by Mr Lim Thou Chun, one of the group members. During the presentation, Mr Adam posed a series of questions for the remainder of the class to contemplate and discuss. Those are the sort of things that I'm going to attempt to answer in my weekly reflection. Insha Allah.

    Whenever I searched for self-managed teams, prominent names such as Google and Facebook showed up in the search engines, indicating that they had embraced self-managed teams focused on efficiency, flexibility, recruiting young people, and fostering creativity. We could observe how effective these organizations have been so successful all over the globe. Then why and how can self-managed teams have the possibility of failing since they are such a popular trend in organizations today? Self-directed teams are becoming more common in organizations, and they are often established since it has been shown that they are associated with greater productivity, career satisfaction, and commitment to the organization, among other things. Self-managed teams are sometimes referred to as self-directing teams, self-regulating teams, or autonomous teams, depending on their role in the organization.

Questions shared by my fellow coursemate that I wish to reflect:

a) What are the challenges of applying a self-managed team in our organization?

b) What are the factors that affect the self-managed team?

c) What are the weaknesses of a self-managed team?

d) In your opinion, will a self-managed team have a positive impact if applied in your organization? Yes/ No And why?

e) As a team member in an organization, how do you apply SMTs in education.

 

What are the challenges of applying a self-managed team in our organization?

    From my point of view, forming a self-managed team is complicated and challenged by the need to distribute management power and duty among the team members. Leaders don't want their employees to bear responsibility for choices they've already made. Self-managed teams may face difficulties when having each team member specialize in a single activity. When any team member is absent from the group without a replacement who can carry out his responsibilities, the team's productivity may deteriorate. Furthermore, the issue of specialization in self-directed teams may affect the level of shared commitment among team members.

 

What are the factors that affect the self-managed team?

    Many of the factors of having a great leader are shown through well-managed teams. To eliminate barriers and keep focused on the common goals, these teams frequently adopt more effective decision-making methods that include several points of view, more natural cooperation and give-and-take, and a shift toward action. From my 18 years of experience as a school teacher, it has been observed that younger generation teachers who are just starting the teaching profession are more concerned with acquiring competence than with advancing through the ranks, which might be seen as an opportunity. Self-managed teams are an excellent approach to expose this younger generation of teachers to a wider range of experiences while also allowing them to experiment with and master new skills via rotating responsibilities and learning from other team members.

 

What are the weaknesses of a self-managed team?

    Despite their many advantages, self-managed teams are far from being a solution for increasing overall production levels. Self-managed teams are no exception when it comes to the difficulty of implementing and adjusting to a new organizational structure. Self-managed teams can require a significant amount of time to set up and perform well. The right and perfect people may not be available, and the correct combination of rapport, dedication, and competence is required for the success of the self-managed team. Furthermore, self-managed teams might become disorganized and demotivated without the necessary training. In schools, I believe that one of the most significant concerns of self-managed teams is inequality. A bias and a perception of favouritism have been seen in certain self-managed teams when compared to conventional teams. This discrepancy may result in suppressed creativity if team members are afraid to share ideas and the team falls prey to groupthink. Tons of meetings schedules, such as the Curriculum meeting, Co-Curriculum meeting, Panel meeting, Staff Club meeting and other similar gatherings, may cause a separation from overall goals and put a self-governing team on the incorrect path.

 

In your opinion, will a self-managed team have a positive impact if applied in your organization? 

    When it comes to self-managed teams, most teachers usually question whether they are prepared to go beyond their comfort zone and do something more challenging. Then I learned that it relies on becoming a teacher leader, both from the outside and those from inside the group. SMTs are used in schools to strengthen teachers' leadership abilities. SMTs operate on democratic principles inside the school organization. The teachers are given the power to make all decisions regarding their team. Each team member has a say in decision-making, and members agree on everything from the Takwim Tahunan to the teacher evaluation, such as Borang Keberhasilan.

 

As a team member in an organization, how do you apply SMTs in education?

            If I were to apply self–managed team in education, it would be beneficial to offer the team members some basic guidance since self-managed teams are used to operating independently. I would suggest setting a few objectives for the team and recommending some best practices. 

Self-managed teams often do their best when their members have a high level of confidence in one another and communicate well with one another. Consequently, if I were to use self-managed teams in education, I would start by forming a new self-managed team, which would allow me to plan some team-building activities at the outset of every project. It is possible that teams may feel more comfortable speaking with one another after participating in team-building activities to get to know one other better.

After my self-managed team has begun their work, I would consider defining the tools that they will be needed to interact with one another in order to be successful. When my team members all work in the same teachers' staff room, I may establish a specific space where they can all get together. I may install new team communication applications for teams that work online, such as WhatsApp groups, telegram groups, and other similar tools.

To conclude, it is a good idea to periodically examine the performance of my team members to verify that they are on track to accomplish project objectives. My team's performance can be improved by implementing strategies to enhance the functionality, such as providing an alternative approach for them to work or communicate, which will help them perform better. Depending on the nature of the project, I could do a progress review with the team. Providing positive comments to my team to support their great results is something I would do if they made significant improvements.

 

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