PPG: Developing a SelfDirected Work Force

1
PPG Developing a Self-Directed Work Force

• Case Facilitators
• Tim Caldwell
• Brian Esquivel
• Michael Hannebaum
• Anish Joshi
• Joey Prebynski
• Karey Schreck

2
Contributions of Teams

• Act as a building block for organizational
  structure.
• Increase productivity, improve quality, and
  reduce costs.
• Enhance speed and be powerful forces for
  innovation and change.
• Provide benefits for their members. As a useful
  learning mechanism, the team can teach members
  about the company and about themselves as they
  acquire new skills and performance strategies.

3
The New Team Environment
4
Team vs. Work Group

• A team is made up of people (usually small in
  number) with complementary skills who trust one
  another and are committed to
• common purpose
• common performance goals
• common approach for which they hold themselves
  mutually accountable.
• A work group is a collection of people who work
  in the same area or have been drawn together to
  undertake a task.
• Do not necessarily come together as a unit and
  achieve significant performance improvements.

5
Types of Teams
6
Types of Teams

• What is a self-directed work force and how does
  it function?
• Is self-directed different in any way from
  self-managed?

7
Team Autonomy Continuum
8
Group Activities

• Forming group members attempt to lay the ground
  rules for what types of behavior are acceptable.
• Storming hostilities and conflict arise, and
  people jockey for positions of power and status.
• Norming group members agree on their shared
  goals, and norms and closer relationships
  develop.
• Performing the group channels its energies into
  performing the tasks.

9
PPG Developing a Self-Directed Work Force

• What does management gain (and lose) with a
  self-directed work force?

10
Building Effective Teams

• The productive output of the team must meet or
  exceed the standards of quality and quantity set
  by customers inside and outside the company.
• Team members must realize satisfaction of their
  personal needs.
• Team members must remain committed to working
  together.
• Must avoid social loafing working less hard and
  being less productive when in a group.
• Must increase social facilitation effect
  working harder when in a group than when working
  alone.

11
Motivating Teamwork

• Important Aspects in Motivating Teamwork
• Meaningful tasks that motivate people
• Accountability-mutual commitment and trust
• Tie rewards to team performance

12
Team Cohesiveness

• Cohesiveness refers to the attractiveness of a
  team to its members, motivation levels of members
  to remain in the team, and the degree to which
  team members influence one another.
• Cohesiveness is important to both member
  satisfaction and performance

13
Building Team Cohesiveness

• Recruit members with similar attitudes, values,
  and backgrounds
• Maintain high entrance and socialization
  standards
• Keep the team small
• Help the team succeed and publicize its success
• Be a participative leader
• Present a challenge from outside the team
• Tie rewards to team performance

14
Whole Foods

• Store divided into individual teams
• Meat, Produce, Grocery, Front End, Bakery,
  Specialty, Whole Bodies
• Hierarchy (or lack thereof)

15
Whole Foods (contd)

• Hiring Process
• Submit application at local store
• Preliminary interviews with store team leader
  (STL)
• Day 1 and Day 2 training with teamwork activities
• 1 month probationary period working on team
• Teams votes to add or reject new team member

• As a team member
• Participate in the regular Team Builds
  activities (they normally go hang out together
  afterwards)
• Participate in buying decisions
• Receive social and financial rewards (Store
  Outstanding Team Member)

16
Whole Foods (contd.)

• I like being on a team
• If you miss a shift, then you feel like you let
  your team down.
• I love the team concept
• Pay is a lot better too, you start off at 10/hr

17
Selecting Team Members

• What type of employee does this arrangement
  require?
• How do you make sure you get these people?

18
8 Dimensions of Employee Performance

• Communication Skills-the ability to speak and
  write clearly, understandably, and concisely,
  listen attentively to others, and inform others
  of important information.
• Judgment-the ability to develop alternative
  courses of action and make decisions that are
  based on logical assumptions and that reflect
  factual information.
• Problem Solving-the ability to seek and use
  information, understand and develop unique
  solutions to problems, learn new information, and
  anticipate and identify problems.
• Organizing Skills-the ability to develop
  efficient strategies and procedures for
  accomplishing tasks, sequence tasks according to
  priority, and make efficient use of own time.
• Thoroughness and Accuracy-the ability to follow
  tasks through completion, check work for errors
  and ensure accuracy, keep track of important
  details, and not take short cuts.
• Initiative-the ability to come up with ideas for
  improvement, show consistent energy, start work
  quickly, stay busy, take initiative to correct
  problems without being told, show pride in high
  quality work, and work well without direction.
• Performance Reliability and Adaptability-the
  ability to maintain a good attendance record,
  come to work on time, consistently complete
  assigned tasks, easily adapt to changes in
  policies, procedures, or directions, and handle
  constructive criticism non-defensively.
• Interpersonal Skills-the ability to get along
  with others, work together and help others when
  needed, and work through problems and
  disagreements with co-workers. 

19
Hiring Process Simulation

• Simulation 1 Individual
• Simulation 2 Teaching
• Simulation 3 Group

20
PPG Developing a Self-Directed Work Force

• Is the PPG situation appropriate for a
  self-directed work force?

21
Utilizing a Self-Directed Team

• Self-directed teams are most frequently found in
  manufacturing, but are utilized in many other
  industries
• Approximately 68 of all fortune 1000 companies
  utilize some form of self-directed work teams
• Ford
• Proctor Gamble
• Federal Express
• Lockheed Martin

22
Utilizing a Self-Directed Team

• Self-directed teams are
• More productive
• Have better safety records
• Provide better quality products
• More satisfying for team members
• Even with these benefits, a team environment is
  often resisted. Why?

23
Resisting a Team Environment

• Typically a team environment is resisted due to
• Members not wanting to take on additional
  responsibility
• Change from being an individual contributor to a
  team member can be difficult
• Unwillingness to perform HR functions if part of
  team responsibilities

24
Why Groups Sometimes Fail

• Teams is a word used by management to describe
  putting people into groups
• There may not be any team chemistry
• Teams are often launched with little or no
  training or support systems
• Giving up control is difficult for managers from
  traditional systems
• Managers may not know what it takes to make a
  team successful

25
Controlling the Direction of Teams

• How can PPG exercise control in a self-directed
  work situation?

26
Controlling the Direction of Teams

• Management must provide a common purpose to
  achieve the organizations goals
• Performance measures should be tied into these
  goals
• Team members should participate in the goal
  creation and performance measurement process

27
PPG Povliks Goal

• Develop a fully self-directed work force that
  fostered innovation, cut costs, and adapted
  quickly to adversity.
• Transformation of the corporate structure was
  achieved over several decades

28
Union Free Plants

• Crestline, Ohio (1958)
• Unions created an adversarial working environment
• Work assignments were divided by seniority and
  job classification which afforded plant managers
  little discretion in assigning work

29
Flexibility Cooperative Labor Relations

• Tipton Meadville Pennsylvania (1966-1968)
• Eliminated time clocks
• Placed workers on salary
• Reduced number of job levels (14 v. 67)

30
Company Restructuring

• Chehalis, Washington (1986)
• Whatever you do dont try to implement new
  technology and a new approach to managing people
  at the same time
• Goal State of the art manufacturing facility
  based around six semi-autonomous work teams.

31
HR Challenge

• Perry, Georgia (1989)
• Employee selection became difficult because of
  the changing roles of the workers.
• 8 Dimensions of Employee Performance

32
Growing Pains

• Berea, Kentucky (1988)
• Initially semi-autonomous teams
• Few models to mimic
• Lacked a endpoint (moving target)

33
Adjustments

• Addition of Situational Leadership

34
PPG Self-directed work teams

• Did PPG create effective self-directed teams?

35
PPG Self-directed work teams

• Creating self-directed work team is a long term
  goal.
• System Engineer programmed a new robot.
• Technicians and support workers solved day-to-day
  problems.
• Technicians were qualified to play in 2 to 3
  areas.
• Support workers worked on a rotation basis.

36
PPG Self-directed work teams

• What type of work (tasks) and task environment
  would seem to benefit from a self-directed
  approach to work force management?

37
PPG Production tasks

• Material movement and supply.
• Checking production schedule.
• Juggle production schedule.
• Arrange to have replacement silkscreen shipped
  quickly to the plant.

38
PPG Production tasks (contd.)

• Workers ordered rolls of vinyl.
• Workers followed up with vinyl suppliers whenever
  they experienced quality problems.
• Phoned in requests for slight modifications in
  boxes used to ship products.
• Design new tool racks and tables.
• Improve productivity and safety.

39
PPG Unresolved HR tasks / decisions

• Support workers felt they lacked status when
  compared with technicians.
• Subtle distinction had crept in plant culture.
• Support workers saw technicians as obstacle to
  their own chances of promotion.
• Team coordinators opined they were training
  people to take over their own jobs.
• Recognition and rewards were not satisfactory.

40
PPG Unresolved HR tasks / decisions (contd.)

• Disagreements about overtime and vacation policy.
  
• Workers demanded use of voting system in handling
  of day-to-day issues.
• Management and employees had different views as
  regards conducting peer review.

41
Moving Along the Continuum

• Can PPG make the leap from self-directing work
  groups to a self-designing team?

42
PPG Vision for Future

• Video presentation June 6, 2007 Forbes
  interview with CEO Charles Bunch

43
PPG Comparison Chart 1991 vs. 2007

• GEOGRAPHIC
• SEGMENTS 1991
• Net Sales (Millions)
• U.S. 3,624
• Europe 1,497
• Canada 408
• Other 144
• Total 5,673

• GEOGRAPHIC
• SEGMENTS 2006
• Net sales (Millions)
• The Americas
• U.S. 6,878
• Other Americas 983
• Europe 2,347
• Asia 829
• Total 11,037

44
PPG Comparison Chart 1991 vs. 2007

• INDUSTRY SEGMENTS -
• Net Sales (Millions) 1991
• Coatings and Resins 2,185
• Glass 2,186
• Chemicals 1,100
• Other 202
• Total 5,673

• INDUSTRY SEGMENTS -
• Net sales (Millions) 2006
• Industrial Coatings 3,236
• Performance and Applied
• Coatings 3,088
• Optical and Specialty
• Materials 1,001
• Commodity Chemicals 1,483
• Glass 2,229
• Total 11,037

45
References

• Bateman, Thomas S. and Scott A. Snell.
  Management Leading Collaborating in a
  Competitive World 7th Edition McGraw-Hill/Irwin,
  2007. pgs 460479
• PPG Corporate Website http//corporateportal.ppg.c
  om/ppg/
• Interview with CEO Charles Bunch
  http//www.forbes.com/video/?videofvn/business/ja
  l_ppgceo060607
• Tata, Jasmine. Team Self-management,
  Organizational Structure, and Judgments of Team
  Effectiveness. Journal of Managerial Issues. Vol.
  XVI Number 2 Summer 2004 248-265
• PPG 10K information http//www.secinfo.com/dsvRr.b
  1q.c.htm