Business Without Bosses

"Teams are a way to undertake continuous improvement designed to increase productivity."

"The company thought of its knowledge about the team organization as a type of trade secret and required consultants and employees to sign nondisclosure statements."

"The increased ownership and commitment that results can pay off handsomely in terms of improved performance."

"Anticipate and monitor their fears, and respond to them."

"Implementing teams requires putting into place well-thought-out structure for guiding and designing the change/implementation effort; for example, a steering committee, a design team, and so on."

"If the teams are intended to serve as a vehicle for enforcing company policy and procedures, individual discretion and self-management are put at risk."

"A perspective that recognizes the role of self-leadership for each employee is at the heart of this empowerment approach."

"An evolution of the organizational structure from a vertical hierarchy to a flat, delayered form has accompanied the emphasis on self-management."

"Core values are to act with integrity, to be fair, to have fun, and to be socially responsible."

"When employees experience greater ownership of their jobs and their outputs, they become motivated and committed."

"An employee in one company said that outsiders seem to think we don't have any problems anymore since we went to teams."

"Decision making tends to be top-down, and highly politicized. Now the question is, how can they extrapolate this team concept to higher levels of the corporation?"

"Through our exploration of teams, we have discovered some important strategies that can help organizations survive and thrive."