ities to reach those goals and objectives." (1986, cited in Denton, 1992:87). The implementation and operation of a team can either be a great success or a costly failure, both money wise and time wise. Many companies have benefited from teams, as Dumaine (1994) points out, "when teams work, there's nothing like them for turbocharging productivity." There are many examples of successful implementation of teams. To name a few, Federal Express and IDS boosted productivity by 40% and Boeing cut its engineering hang-ups on its new 777 passenger jet by more than half. (Dumaine, 1994). The Ford Motor Company in the United States also had great success with teams when producing the new Mustang prototype. Ford produced the Mustang from design concept to the finished product under budget and in record time. (Klein, 1995). However, many companies and managers are put off by the very mention of the word team. As McGarvey (1996) suggests, are teams just another management fad or are they for real? He also points out that " many businesses have had bad experiences with teams that flopped." (McGarvey, 1996:80). As is also pointed out by Magee (1997:26) " ill - functioning teams can cause disastrous effects on the individuals involved, the organisation's service delivery and customer service reputation, and the mood of the entire organisation." So, there is little wonder why many organisations and mangers are disillusioned by teams and apprehensive to implement them. Evidence of this apprehension could be interpreted from a study conducted by the Centre for Effective Organisations at the University of Southern California. The Centre conducted a survey of Fortune 1000 companies and found that 68% of those companies used self - managed work teams. However, on the flip - side, only 10% of total workers are in such teams. (Dumaine, 1994). Not a large percentage of the total workers. These results may suggest that most companies are still learning and pilo...
