SELF-MANAGED TEAMS:
MEET THE NEW BOSS

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

Maybe at most newspaper operations, but not at Interweb Ontario, the Mississauga-based printer of The Globe and Mail. In its shop, there are no bosses. Everyone’s a member of a team that oversees one of five key areas -- core, personnel, site, planning and operations. Everyone, that is, except for the people you’d consider the bosses of a more traditional printing operation. They’re in yet another team called the "resource group." And the resource group doesn’t supervise per se -- it merely ensures the other teams’ actions fit into the big picture.

That, plus “making sure people don’t give themselves big raises,” joked Tom Hogan, Interweb’s resource team leader.

How does this “self-managed organization” work? Simply put, it requires top-notch personnel. Prospective hires go through what Hogan called a “rigorous” selection process, including mechanical-aptitude tests and assessments of the candidate’s ability to fit into a self-managed organization. And that’s all before the peer interviews and other tests. Pay is determined by skills, not seniority. And “everyone has direct contact with the customers,” Hogan said, meaning they’re reminded constantly of Interweb’s top priority.

As for the resource group, they’re not sitting around twiddling their thumbs. Their role is to remove any roadblocks the company’s self-managed teams might come across, such as a faulty piece of machinery.

“It’s all about removing excuses,” Hogan said.

-Mark Toner