Hewlett Packard a Team-Based Organization.
Teams have been used, written about, and studied under many names and organizational programs: self-directed teams, self-managing teams, autonomous work groups, participative management, and many others. Organizations worldwide are using teams as a business strategy to increase quality and customer service, improve productivity, and decrease costs. In addition, these organizations are also reporting improved morale as employees realize opportunities to participate in decision-making, learn different job skills, take on new responsibilities, and increase their value to the organization and in the marketplace. The effective implementation of teams can provide a powerful competitive advantage (Moorhead/Griffin, 1998).
Since its founding in 1938, the Hewlett Packard Company has been known as a leader in high-technology equipment, including sophisticated testing equipment, computers, printers, medical technology and calculators. Hewlett Packard has fostered a team-based, participative culture throughout its history, oriented primarily around its culture of high performance. Teams are an integral part of its management culture that some employees may not realize the extent to which the company is managed as a team-based organization. Teams may be one important reason why they rated ninth on the fortune list of the most admired company (Fortune, 1999).
In 1993, Hewlett Packard used a team-based approach to reengineer its order-to-delivery process. For all of its success in satisfying customer and employees, they knew that with increased competition and changing customer demand, business as usual was not the right answer. They only knew that they had to produce significant, measurable improvements in customer satisfaction in less than nine months.
One important factor in building Hewlett Packard high-performance teams is the level of support for a team-based approach that exists throughout the organization starting with senior managers.