[The following news item appears in the February 1995 edition of
_Quality_Progress_, pages 18 and 20.]

         QUALITY TEAMS ARE GETTING A BOOST IN TODAY'S WORKPLACE

     The presence of teams in today's workplace is not headline
news. What is noteworthy is that the use of quality and
problem-solving teams is one of the most frequent change
strategies used in business units today. This is according to a
study by Development Dimensions International (DDI). The study
also found that training the leaders and members of these teams
and empowering lower-level employees to make decisions are on the
rise. The study also found, however, that there is more
discussion about high-involvement leadership than action. 
     The study, "High-Involvement Leadership: Changing Roles for
Changing Times," includes responses from 61 senior managers, 323
middle managers, and 948 employees in 25 U.S. and Canadian
organizations (13 manufacturing companies and 12 service
companies).
     Other highlights from the study were:
     * Two of the more frequent change strategies used in
     business units were reducing layers of management and
     reengineering.
     * Offering financial rewards for team performance or skills
     and knowledge acquisition was reported to be an
     underutilized change strategy.
     * Those involved in high-involvement workplaces were more
     satisfied with the companies' leaders.
     * Employees saw leadership roles with an emphasis on
     empowerment as significantly more important than traditional
     leadership roles.
     * Leaders claimed to engage in empowering leadership
     behaviors more frequently than was observed by their peers.
     * Leaders often stumbled in implementing high-involvement
     strategies, particularly in choosing a level of empowerment
     to match employee readiness.
     * Employees described women as more empowering leaders than
     men.
     While high-involvement leadership caused some chaos and
false expectations, it also showed several advantages: 
     * Payoffs to leaders included greater commitment to the
     organization, more job satisfaction, more clarity about what
     they were supposed to do, and relief fro routine work and
     decision making.
     * Payoffs to those who report to effective empowering
     leaders included feeling more positive about work and the
     organization and experiencing fewer work stresses and
     strains.
     * Payoffs to the organization included improvement in
     customer focus and quality output.
     To order a copy of the study, "High-involvement Leadership:
Changing Roles for Changing Times," call DDI at 800-944-7782. The
study contrasts empowering leadership to traditional leadership,
explains and illustrates the study's 26 key findings, and
includes five recommendations for action. The cost is $50 in U.S.
funds or $65 in Canadian funds.