Think about the groups or teams you belong to, church groups, work teams, e-mail discussion groups, partnerships, and even baseball teams. Some even set up their families as teams.
Brand U teams come in many forms. Team members in one company are called ‘associates’ and are real process stakeholders. They participate in decisions that traditionally were the purview of middle management such as deciding whether to buy a major piece of equipment. Every Brand U has a direct stake in the machine’s operation. In this plant, hiring is also a joint process involving a hiring board consisting of the personnel director and hourly employees. After the orientation and review period, team members evaluate the new worker’s performance, including training and team responsiveness.