Teams can do a variety of things. They can design products, provide services, negotiate deals, coordinate projects, offer advice, and make decisions.19 For instance, at Rockwell Automation’s facility in North Carolina, teams are used in work process optimization projects. At Arkansas-based Acxiom Corporation, a team of human resource professionals planned and implemented a cultural change. And every summer weekend at any NASCAR race, you can see work teams in action during drivers’ pit stops.20 The four most common types of work teams are problem-solving teams, self-managed work teams, cross-functional teams, and virtual teams.

1. When work teams first became popular, most were problem-solving teams, which are teams from the same department or functional area involved in efforts to improve work activities or to solve specific problems. Members share ideas or offer suggestions on how work processes and methods can be improved. However, these teams are rarely given the authority to implement any of their suggested actions.

2. Although problem-solving teams were helpful, they didn’t go far enough in getting employees involved in work-related decisions and processes. This need led to another type of team, a self-managed work team, which is a formal group of employees who operate without a manager and are responsible for a complete work process or segment. A self-managed team is responsible for getting the work done and for managing themselves and usually includes planning and scheduling of work, assigning tasks to members, collective control over the pace of work, making operating decisions, and taking action on problems. For instance, teams at Corning have no shift supervisors and work closely with other manufacturing divisions to solve production-line problems and coordinate deadlines and deliveries. The teams have the authority to make and implement decisions, finish projects, and address problems.21 Other organizations, such as Xerox, Boeing, PepsiCo, and Hewlett-Packard, also use self-managed teams. It’s estimated that about 30 percent of U.S. employers now use this form of team; among large firms, the number is probably closer to 50 percent.22 Most organizations that use self-managed teams find them to be effective.23

3. The third type of team is the cross-functional team, which we introduced in Chapter 8 and defined as work teams made up of individuals from various departments and that cross traditional departmental lines. Many organizations use cross-functional teams. For example, ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel company, uses cross-functional teams of scientists, plant managers, and salespeople to review and monitor product innovations.24 The concept of cross-functional teams is even being applied in health care. For instance, at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, intensive care unit (ICU) teams composed of a doctor trained in intensive care medicine, a pharmacist, a social worker, a nutritionist, the chief ICU nurse, a respiratory therapist, and a chaplain meet daily with every patient’s bedside nurse to discuss and debate the best course of treatment. The hospital credits this team care approach with reducing errors, shortening the amount of time patients spend in ICU, and improving communication between families and the medical staff.25

4. The final type of team is the virtual team, which is a team that uses technology to link physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal. For instance, a virtual team at Boeing-Rocketdyne played a pivotal role in developing a radically new product.26 Another company, Decision Lens, uses a virtual team environment to generate and evaluate creative ideas.27 In a virtual team, members collaborate online with tools such as wide-area networks, videoconferencing, fax, e-mail, or websites where the team can hold online conferences.28 Virtual teams can do all the things that other teams can—share information, make decisions, and complete tasks; however, they lack the normal give-and-take of face-to-face discussions. That’s why virtual teams tend to be more task-oriented, especially if the team members have never personally met.