How Do The Standards Set By Fred Smith For Federal Express Teams Improve Organization Performance?
Question #1: How do the standards set by Fred Smith for Federal Express teams improve organization performance?
FedEx establish a standard of commitment to total quality service and also the company was ranked consistently as Worlds Most Admired Companies, 100 Best Companies to Work For and other such awards. So from the beginning high standards were set and now in the increasing adjustable and competitive business environment FedEx has to set new standards in order to maintain all those achievements.
Frederick W. Smith organizes the company in eight business units. Splitting the company in eight business units made much easier to control the efficiency of each business unit. Also this reorganization allowed a better managing of the employees. …show more content…
Instead of a hierarchical structure and approach he chooses to implement a team approach to get things done. By doing this he transferred the leadership roles from the managers to the team members allowing them to have an increased decision making authority which led also to an increased team accountability and responsibility. These changes stimulate the employees to find out new solutions for their problems instead of waiting for them to come from manager’s levels. Teams are task oriented and having all the members of the team looking for a solution when a problem occurs is much more productive than having a single manager looking for a solution. Maybe the best example for a standard set by Fred Smith is the “golden package” concept. This is a concept focused on the customer need to have the package delivered in time so it was oriented towards customer satisfaction. In the same time the concept was reinforcing the team work idea by involving all the team members in finding a way in which the package can be delivered in …show more content…
According to case, FedEx was organized superteam. These teams were self-managed and had little supervision from the managers. Such teams were directly involved in solving problems which saved a lot of money and improved company efficiency and profitability. In order to have Self Manage Team performing effective he had to build the work environment needed for this team. People are usually afraid to take responsibilities also the teams are afraid. In order to minimize this he had to build a job-secure environment so, that people are not afraid to take decisions even if sometimes the results are not very good.
Team-Centered Decision-Making Model
The team-centered approach empowers team members to make decisions and follow through. Advocates of the team-centered approach argue that empowerment results in a more dedicated, energetic, and creative workforce. Managers are by no means obsolete at FedEx. Smith has redefined their roles. There has been a shift in mindset from the traditional leader-centered to the team-centered leadership approach.
Question #4: Leaders play a critical role in building effective teams. Cite evidence from the case that Federal Express managers performed some of these roles in developing effective
FedEx establish a standard of commitment to total quality service and also the company was ranked consistently as Worlds Most Admired Companies, 100 Best Companies to Work For and other such awards. So from the beginning high standards were set and now in the increasing adjustable and competitive business environment FedEx has to set new standards in order to maintain all those achievements.
Frederick W. Smith organizes the company in eight business units. Splitting the company in eight business units made much easier to control the efficiency of each business unit. Also this reorganization allowed a better managing of the employees. …show more content…
Instead of a hierarchical structure and approach he chooses to implement a team approach to get things done. By doing this he transferred the leadership roles from the managers to the team members allowing them to have an increased decision making authority which led also to an increased team accountability and responsibility. These changes stimulate the employees to find out new solutions for their problems instead of waiting for them to come from manager’s levels. Teams are task oriented and having all the members of the team looking for a solution when a problem occurs is much more productive than having a single manager looking for a solution. Maybe the best example for a standard set by Fred Smith is the “golden package” concept. This is a concept focused on the customer need to have the package delivered in time so it was oriented towards customer satisfaction. In the same time the concept was reinforcing the team work idea by involving all the team members in finding a way in which the package can be delivered in …show more content…
According to case, FedEx was organized superteam. These teams were self-managed and had little supervision from the managers. Such teams were directly involved in solving problems which saved a lot of money and improved company efficiency and profitability. In order to have Self Manage Team performing effective he had to build the work environment needed for this team. People are usually afraid to take responsibilities also the teams are afraid. In order to minimize this he had to build a job-secure environment so, that people are not afraid to take decisions even if sometimes the results are not very good.
Team-Centered Decision-Making Model
The team-centered approach empowers team members to make decisions and follow through. Advocates of the team-centered approach argue that empowerment results in a more dedicated, energetic, and creative workforce. Managers are by no means obsolete at FedEx. Smith has redefined their roles. There has been a shift in mindset from the traditional leader-centered to the team-centered leadership approach.
Question #4: Leaders play a critical role in building effective teams. Cite evidence from the case that Federal Express managers performed some of these roles in developing effective