TEAM APPROACH TO MANAGEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY OF THE SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

ABSTRACT

The study centered on Team Approach to management in the manufacturing industry of the South East, Nigeria,  Challenges  and Prospects.  The objectives  of the study include  to:  ascertain  the  extent  to  which  organizational   competitiveness     and effectiveness are better achieved by teamwork than by individualism, determine the relationship between teamwork and organizational performance in the management of manufacturing firms, evaluate the difference  in customer satisfaction between when products are designed by teamwork and  by individual effort, find out the extent to which innovation by workers in an organization is better achieved by teamwork than individualism  and  determine  whether  team  motivation  is  better  than  individual motivation in an organization. This study employed descriptive research design. The instruments  used  for  data  collection  were  structured  questionnaire  and  interview schedule. The questionnaire was structured in line with Likert five point rating scale and was validated. The instrument was checked for reliability using pilot study and Spearman’s ranked order correlation coefficient. The result yielded a coefficient  of

0.79  indicating  high  consistency  in  the  items  survey.  From  a  population  of  ten thousand  and  two (10,002)  workers  in the employ of manufacturing  firms  in the SouthEast States used for the study, a sample size of three hundred and  eighty-five (385) questionnaire distributed, three hundred and fifty (350) were returned, giving a response   rate  of  90.9%.  The  data  from  the  responses   were  presented   using frequencies,   simple   percentages,   cumulative   percentages,   means   and   standard deviations. The tests of hypotheses were carried out using Z-test, t-test and Pearson Product  Moment  Correlation  Coefficient  as appropriate.  The study found out that organizational competitiveness  and effectiveness were better achieved by teamwork than  by  individualism  (Zc   =  1.75  >  Zt   =  1.65;  α  =  0.05).  There  was  positive relationship between teamwork and organizational performance in the management of manufacturing firms (tc = 1.699 > tt  = 1.645; α = 0.05). Innovation by workers in an organization was better achieved by teamwork than by individualism (2c = 1.70 > Zt = 1.645;  = 0.05) There was more difference in customer satisfaction between when products are designed by teamwork than by individuals (Zc  = 1.70 > Zt = 1.645; α = 0.05). There was a positive correlation between teamwork and job satisfaction in an organization  (rc  = 0.65 > Pt  = 0.50).  Team motivation  was better than  individual motivation in an organization (Zc = 1.66 > Zt = 1.65; α = 0.005). Based on the findings the following recommendations were made among others. For effective and durable competition manufacturing industries should embrace team approach in every aspect of  their  activities.  There  should  be  team  incentive  and  rewards  to  boost  team performance and effectiveness. Team members should be reshuffled from time to time to inject fresh ideas aimed at creating conducive atmosphere for innovations.   From the  foregoing  there  is  enough   evidence  to  conclude  that  team  approach  and management in manufacturing industry enhances organizational competitiveness and effectiveness. Also, there is strong relationship between individual performance and team in the management of manufacturing firms.

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the Study

The human resource  is arguably the most important  resource  that an  organization possesses. Working with diverse people to accomplish corporate goals and objectives, remains  one  of  the  most  difficult  challenges  managers  face.  People  need  to  be thoroughly coordinated in their actions in an organization in order to achieve desired results.  This is necessary since  organization  itself is a group of people who work together to achieve common goals. It, therefore, means that individualism of workers in their operations is a disservice to the firm. Yet, the need to perform in the Global Market  in  recent  times  points  to  the  need  for  teamwork.  Jone,  George  and  Hill (1998:436), opine that working in teams produce more or higher quality output than would have been possible if each person had worked separately and their individual efforts were not combined. In other words, it is the synergy of coming together that enhances organization’s performance. The use of teams galvanizes diverse knowledge base which enhances the achievement of the organization’s goals and helps to solve problems immediately as they arise. Be that as it may, managers  of manufacturing organizations or firms should ensure that teams are composed of members who have complementary  skills and knowledge  relevant  to tackling  organizational  problems. Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are high in complexity and have many interdependent subtasks (Bodwell, 1997:17).

The manufacturing sector of the Nigerian economy has been at crossroads. Industries have been subjected to prolonged unfavorable operating environment and they are no longer  yielding returns  to the  investors.  Organizational  teams  need  to accomplish corporate  goals. While  the organization  is the hub of all  activities,  teams are the spokes,  which  generate  output.  Teamwork  can  yield  much  more  than  a  sum  of individual  efforts  simply due to organized  effort  and streamlined  work processes. Work efficiency is enhanced  and needless  multiplication of processes is eliminated (Nzewi,  2006:14).  Organizational  teams also build  the corporate  spirit. There is a sense of belonging among  employees when they are a part of a closely-knit team. Vertical  and  horizontal  communications  are  stronger  and  influential  in  a  well- coordinated team. Hence, organizations can spread the corporate message to the last

employee   down   the   structure.   Employees   feel  a  part   of  a  greater   mission. Organizational  teams,  just like  individual  have  their  own  identity.  Every team  is different from the other. Even within an organization, different teams have different protocols.  The collective style of individuals that form the  team makes the human beings; who have ambitions, strengths, weakness and even ego. Teams can compete, wrestle, succeed or fail. A good organizational team can be an invaluable asset to the organization. A bad team can break the internal structure of the organization (Nzewi,

2006:14).

The  team  approach  to  tackling  organizational  challenges  is  having  diverse  and substantial   effects   on   individuals   and   organizations.    In   our    contemporary organizations people need a strong working knowledge of interpersonal behavior and ability to consider how their behavior impacts on others and how different people take on different roles in a team. Team serves as a corner stone of progressive management for  the  foreseeable  future.  Team  approach  creates  for  an  organization,  natural channels  for  successful  succession  apart  from  the  consequent  development  in  its intellectual bank. Too many organizations have failed and many will yet fail because decision has been left in the hand of the manager and probably the other few wise men that  is the  key  to  the culture of an organization.  Team  approach  within the organization,  produce a strategy which concentrates on the long term and welding together of a committed group of people who are dedicated to adapting to continuous change.  It is also a good way of building succession from within the organization rather  than  having  to  rely on outside  talent.  Members  will  feel more  committed towards greater performance  and attendance  if well motivated.  According to Coles (2002:19), it is also important that teams enjoy reasonable autonomy.    When teams enjoy autonomy they are empowered (Gibson1996:23).

Motivation  plays an important  role in the management  of team members.  This  is primarily because it is associated  with job satisfaction and high  performance.  The manager  in an organization  has to create in a team the  appropriate  state of mind, emotional  stability and positive  work attitude  required for the accomplishment  of organizational  goals.  He must strive  to  adequately  motivate  the team members  to elicit  positive  work  attitude,  and  perform  it  in  compliance  with  pre  established standards of the organization. To do this, he must recognize the need and importance

of effective motivation.  It is only by so doing that performance  will be  enhanced

(Akanni, 1993:224).

Organizations have a choice of using any motivational tool or device to stimulate or energize its team. The initial process of improving the quality of performance  in an organization starts with organizational  sources of technology,  management  attitude and compensation  system  which often contribute  in increasing  satisfaction  on the jobs. The motivational job process combinations is characterized  by variety,   social interaction,    accountability,    utilization,    reasonable    autonomy,    feedback    on performance, participation, recognition, reward and growth will surely result to higher performance. There is need for organizations to device systems which are capable of studying  team  needs  to  ensure  their  satisfaction  and  solicit  their  cooperation  to identify  themselves  with  the  organizational  goals.  When  teams  are  allowed  to participate actively, there will be feeling of belonging, which motivates the concerned team  members to work harder towards achieving the laid down goals with high performance result (Muo, 1999:16-26). In the Nigerian situation, motivational level is still at the lowest ebb. Managers see motivation of teams or workers as  being less important and are therefore not provided for (Davies 2000: 12).

The benefits of teamwork, according to popular view include but not limited to the following:

       Synergy and more creativity leading to constructive thoughts and ideas;

        Monotony which kills interest and breeds dissatisfaction is averted, since tasks are  performed  by  group  while  interactions  are  going  on  among  individual members;

        Tasks are performed and problems are solved within the shortest possible period of time.

        Varied skills are combined together to perform a complete task which ordinarily cannot be completed  by individual  skill.  An instance  is the  building project which  requires  the  skills  of  a  civil  Engineer,  Geologist,  quantity  surveyor, structural Engineer or building technologist, etc to have a perfect edifice.

        Distribution of work is also important because an individual performing an array of activities is bound to be fatigued and prone to make mistakes.  One  cannot imagine, for instance, one person organizing a wedding, who has to take up the

work of decorating,  printing   of and distributing  invitation  cards, making  of wedding apparels, preparing edibles for reception, arranging for hall and seats, etc all alone. (Jude 2008).

When teams are together, they will not be afraid to show what they can do, in the sense that the personal motives will be pushed to the side to allow the team motive to succeed.  The  need  for  team  approach  towards  solving  challenging  problems  of manufacturing industry can also manifest in the opportunity created  for members to learn from each other (Nzewi, 2006:14).

In the team approach to tackling organizational challenges, leadership is viewed more in term of the leaders’ behavior and how such behavior affects the team  member. Consequently,   the  roles  of  leadership  in  the  management  of   organization  are important in the attainment  of basic organizational  goals in  line  with the views of Gullet and Hick (1981; 156). Effective leadership should give direction to the efforts of all workers accomplishing  the goal of the  organizations.  Without  leadership  or guidance,  the  link between team and  organizational  goals may become untenable. This  could  lead  to  a situation  of  sub  optimization  in which  individuals  work  to achieve their goals while the overall organization becomes inefficient in achieving its objectives. The successful leader is a manager who possesses the personal skill and professional  qualification  needed  to  deal  effectively  with  the  job  components  of manager.  The common element in all manufacturing firms is people. It is the team that makes the ratio bigger; it is the team that figures out better ways to use materials. It is the team that decides the best way to improve product quality. Teamwork is the driving force in any performance improvement effort (William, 1986; 4).

It is against this background  that this study is being carried out on challenges  and prospect of team approach in many firms in Nigeria with practical reference to South Eastern Nigeria.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

Too many organizations have failed and many will yet fail because decision has been left in the hand of the manager and probably the other few wise men that is the key to the culture of the organization. Team Approach to solving organizational problems is

fast becoming the vogue in the business world due to its inherent ability in enhancing competitiveness  and  effectiveness.  However,  despite  its  attractiveness  as veritable tool for solving organizational  problems,  the  formation  and  nurturing  of effective teams, is not without challenges.

It is for this reason that managers of some manufacturing firms in Nigeria seem not to be interested in promoting and supporting formation of team. Such managers see team approach as depriving them of their exclusive right to make decision. This scenario has lead to virtually the absence of team work in most  manufacturing  of firms in Nigeria.  Consequently,  Nigeria  manufacturing  industries  are  highly under  utilized with respect to personnel,  material  resources and machinery.  Since the absence of team work deprive  them from  pooling of talents,  skills, knowledge,  experience  of their employees together to bring about solutions to problems, this therefore effected the performance of the firms.

The  Nigerian  Market   is  therefore  dotted   with  products   that  are   substandard, inefficiently designed and poor in quality leading to poor customer  satisfaction and loss of patronage. It is based on the foregoing that this study is being carried out to examine the prospects and challenges of Team Approach to Management in Nigerian Firms.

1.3       Objectives of the Study

The main thrust of the study is the impact of team approach to tackling organizational challenges.

The specific objectives of the study are:

1.        To   ascertain   the   extent   to   which   organizational   competitiveness   and effectiveness are better achieved by teamwork than by individualism.

2.        To determine the relationship between individual performance and teamwork in management of manufacturing firms.

3.        To critically examine and evaluate the impact of team approach in  product

design and customer satisfaction.

4.        To critically examine and evaluate the impact which team approach has  on innovation in manufacturing firms.

5.        To ascertain the effect of team work on employees job satisfaction.

6.        To determine  the extent to which team motivation is better than  individual motivation in an organization;

1.4       Research Questions

Based on the focus of the study, the following research questions were raised:

1.        To what  extent  are  organizational  competitiveness  and  effectiveness  better achieved by teamwork than by individualism?

2.         What is the nature of the relationship  between individual performance  and teamwork in management of manufacturing firms?

3.        To what extent are customers satisfied when team approach is employed in the design of the product.

4.        What  impact  does  team  work  has  on  job  satisfaction  of  employees  in manufacturing firms.

5.        How do we assess the correlation between teamwork and job satisfaction by workers in an organization?

6.        To what extent  is team motivation  better  than individual  motivation  in  an organization?

1.5       Research Hypotheses

The following research hypotheses are formulated to guide the collection of data:

Hypotheses 1

HI:       Organizational competitiveness and effectiveness are much better achieved by teamwork than by individualism.

Hypotheses 2

HI:       There is positive relationship between individual performance and  teamwork in the management of manufacturing firms.

Hypotheses 3

HI:       There is very strong impact of team approach in product design on customer satisfaction.

Hypotheses 4

HI:        There is strong impact of team approach on innovation in manufacturing firm.

Hypotheses 5

HI:       There  is  positive  correlation  between  job  satisfaction  and  teamwork  by workers in an organization.

Hypotheses 6

HI:       Team motivation is far better than individual motivation in an organization.

1.6       Significance of the Study

This  study is significant  in many respects.    It is significant  to  the  organizations, managers, workers, customers, society and the academia.  The study will help to show the extent to which team approach can be used to achieve  organizational goals and objectives.    It will also  help  to show  its importance  in  areas of performance  and responsiveness to the yearnings of the customers of the manufacturing industries.

The  study  will  help  managers  to  exploit  effectiveness  and  efficiency  towards achievement  of  goals  and  objectives  of  manufacturing  industries.    The  study  is significant  because  it will help  workers  discover  the benefit  of  relating  with one another in the organization.  They will find out that by working together, very many costly errors could be avoided thereby resulting to increase in output, organizational performance and effectiveness.   Finally, future  researchers and the academic world could benefit from the study.  The findings of the study will help them tap the benefits of teamwork in an organization.

1.7       Scope of the Study

The scope of the study is on team approach to management  in the  manufacturing industry of the South East, Nigeria: challenges and prospects.  The  study examined importance   of   team   approach   to   management,   concepts  of   team   work   and performance,  team  building  and  customer  needs  satisfaction,  group  behavior,  the nature   of  groups,   general  typology  of   work  team,   teams  and  organizational success/effectiveness  and constraints of team performance in Nigeria manufacturing industries. It is limited to three manufacturing industries with particular reference to Uni-Lever  Plc,  Onitsha  Classic  Foam  Chemical  Industry  Limited  Abakaliki  and Emenite Limited Emene Enugu. It will be an uphill task to attempt to cover all forms of industries  in the study due to there are hundreds of manufacturing  industries in

Nigeria. This therefore informed the limiting of the study to selected firms in South

East Nigeria due to constraints of time, money and other resources.

1.8       Limitations of the Study

In carrying out a study of this nature and magnitude in an instable political, economic and   polluted   environment,   the   researcher   encountered   a   lot   of   difficulties (constraints).

The major constraints of this study include:

        Finance: The study covered three manufacturing industries in southeastern part of Nigeria. A lot of traveling was involved  in visiting these  industries while distributing  the questionnaire  and interviewing the  respondents.  Also a lot of secretarial work was required in typing, photocopying and duplicating materials. All these require funds to accomplish.

        The   uncooperative   attitude   of   the   respondents:   Dearth   of   data   and unwillingness (uncooperative attitude) of those who are in charge to release the available ones constituted limitations to the study. Besides, a great amount of data  that  could  have  been  made  available  to  the  researcher  was  considered confidential by the management of the organizations concerned. Most of them (organizations)  were averse to all forms of labour unionism, industrial actions and publicity especially research studies by external bodies that are likely to expose their inadequacies. It is not unusual for managers to perceive the failure of their organizations as a direct indictment of their capacity and capability to manage any organization, inspect of their towering academic qualifications and exposures.

       Time: The researcher, due to her engagement in office work and other activities

could not get enough time to carryout indebt research work of this study. The researcher had to combine this work with the workload in the office and family.

However, the above limitations were not as fundamental as to render this  research worthless or rather it addressed all the things it is supposed to address.

1.9       Operational Definitions of Terms

It is important to provide operational definitions to some important terms that readers will come across in this work. The following definitions  are  primarily for working purpose of this research.

Team: It is a group of people with complementary skills who work toward common goals  for  which  they  hold  themselves  mutually  accountable.  (Robert  and  David

2001:60).

Team Work:  This is the act of people working together in a small group,  usually with the aim of achieving greater efficiency than could not be achieved  if they are working on individual basis (Tuckman, 1965: 84).

Team Norm: This is a set of rules or guideline that a team establishes to shape the interaction of team members with each other and with employees who are external to the team. This also refers to established standard to which all members of the team must conform. (Malcolm,  1997:90).

Team Cohesiveness:  This means the degree of agreeable  interactions of  members towards the common objective and set standards.  (Susan 2010:37).

Team Conformity: This refers to adherence of members of the team to a set standard or rules in order to achieve a common goal. (Esiri, 2003:8).

Deviance:   This refers to nonconformity or uncompromising  activities of  members which run parallel to the achievement  of set objective or standards.  (Thompson,  L

2002:4).

Team  Innovation:  This  means  positive  changes  or  introduction  of  new  service techniques products or ideas into the activities of the team (Catherine, 2008:370).Dyad: This refers to groups of people or two persons forming a group. (Susan, 2010).

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