Comparing Work Groups & Teams

Solution Preview

1. What are the differences in Leadership at Green River and FMC Aberdeen?

Green River's leadership is hierarchical and referred to as autocratic/authoritarian style with the control (all decisions made at the top) coming from the top management, often employing authoritarian leadership style versus participatory model (like Aberdeen), with participatory/transformative leadership style. The former is hierarchical, whereas the latter is a more flattened structure, employing the team approach, where decisions have input from all team players - through the use of groups and teamwork.

Green River: Autocratic/Authoritarian Management Style
The premise of the autocratic management style is the belief that in most cases the worker cannot make a contribution to their own work, and that even if they could, they wouldn't. McGregor called the belief system that leads to this mindset Theory X (autocratic, like Green River). Under this theory, workers have no interest in work in general, including the quality of their work. It argues that because civilization has mitigated the challenges of nature, modern man has become lazy and soft. The job of mangers is to deal with this by using "carrots and sticks." The "carrot" is usually a monetary incentive, such as piece-rate pay schemes. The "stick" is docked pay for poor quality or missed production targets. Only money and threats can motivate the lazy, disinterested worker.

Theory X's (like Green River) natural management style (with the above beliefs) would favor the autocratic management style. Autocratic managers attempt to control work to the maximum extent possible. A major threat to control is complexity; complex jobs are more difficult to learn and workers who master such jobs are scarce and possess a certain amount of control over how the job is done. Thus, autocratic managers attempt to simplify work to gain maximum control. Planning of work, including quality planning, is centralized. A strict top-down, chain-of-command approach to management is practiced. Procedures are maintained in exquisite detail and enforced by frequent audits. Product and process requirements are recorded in equally fine detail and in-process and final inspection are used to control quality. http://www.qualityamerica.com/knowledgecente/articles/CQMStyle2.html.

However, Dailey reported that he is closer to the participatory view management in his person values and principles.

FMC Aberdeen: ...