Section Four
Commonalities in the approaches of Frost, Inc. and
Chaparral include broadened employee job scope and
responsibility, lean staffing, small size, informality, information
availability, financial incentives based on company
performance, and a flat organizational structure. It is important
to note that the efficiencies obtained at Chaparral and Frost,
Inc., through flexible work assignment and broadened jobs,
were accompanied by corresponding changes in involvement in
decision making, compensation, informality, and education.^8
Using Work Teams
Requirements for Effective Teams
Several conditions must be present before teams are likely to
be effective. One of the most important is that there must be a
compelling purpose that is served by real teamwork. Team
members have to buy in to the objective and feel responsible
and accountable for performance, and their managers need to
provide frequent reinforcement of the team’s pursuit of this
compelling purpose. Effective teams also have members whose
skills are complementary; therefore, careful selection of team
members is critical. Some companies select team members on
the basis of their personality characteristics as well as their
technical skills. Personality assessment instruments, such as the
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), are being used for this