Group And Team Behavior Essay

Group and Team Behavior

MGMT 325
Assignment 3-3
1/23/12
C. Shaw
Analyze how jcpenney uses self-directed teams. What are the benefits or limitations that these teams bring to the organization? If your organization does not use self-directed teams, discuss what benefit(s) it could gain by doing so.

The biggest self-directed team that jcpenney uses is the winnovation core team which is comprised of individuals from every department within the facility. This team meets weekly and discusses all new ideas submitted for possible improvements to the facility whether it is through process, costs, or layout. The team breaks into smaller groups which then look at specific ideas from individuals and discuss the idea with that individual to gain further insight to what they want and meant within their submission. The groups then reform into the team to bring back all the information to decide whether or not each idea should be implemented, shelved or closed.
McShane and Von Glinow define self-directed teams as being “ similar to production/service teams except (1) they are organized around work processes that complete and entire piece of work requiring several interdependent tasks and (2) they have substantial autonomy over the execution of those tasks (i.e., they usually control inputs, flow, and outputs with little or no supervisiotn)” (2012, p.136). jcpenney uses few self-directed teams throughout its logistics facility.   Within the facility there are several departments that are comprised of individuals and teams that work together to eventually perform one task- ensuring the customer receives the right merchandise they ordered, therefore jcpenney’s logistics facilities tend to operate more through production/service/leadership teams than it does through self-directed team. The limitation for the current self-directed teams at jcpenney is that so many of them are within a single department and there are not many that move inter-departmentally. The biggest benefit...