Do Decentralized Teams Perform Better?

Although it may be unsettling to consider, management is likely to be your company’s biggest roadblock.

This isn’t to argue that managers are inept at their jobs. Consider some of the activities that a manager is supposed to perform: evaluation, feedback, recognition, rewards, delegating, and task management, to name a few.

Depending on managers for these numerous obligations is unnecessary as the contemporary employee’s attitude towards work evolves. Employees not only have the ability, but also the expectation, to participate in activities such as work prioritizing, information dissemination, and performance reviews.

Employees tend to dangle between centralized and regionalized team structures when company agendas vary, although both setups have their drawbacks and benefits

Centralized Teams — Perks and Benefits

Centralized team structures are driven by technology and a desire to improve cost savings. These can help organizations develop a more focused, company-wide goal while also encouraging divisional collaboration. Here are the pros and cons of Centralized teams:-

Pros

  • A centralized staff is well equipped to collect and analyze employee data, as well as to detect workplace trends that require benefits assistance.
  • The ability to work as a team.
  • The usual anomalies connected with regionalization, such as expansionism by regional teams, are also avoided by centralized systems.
  • Employers have more power to adopt uniform policies, allowing them to construct a unified corporate vision and voice with relative ease.

Cons

  • Employers’ talent management programs may be harmed by centralized arrangements.
  • Because employees do not gain the core benefits expertise that will allow them to go into a specialist benefits function later in their careers, a centralized team model is linked to more fragmented career paths.
  • A decrease in organizational agility.

Are Decentralized Teams Better?

Many of the activities previously delegated to managers, such as task prioritizing, information sharing, and providing feedback on one another’s performance, can and should be taken over by employees. Decentralization expands a company’s prospects by eliminating barriers to input, communication, and motivation.

Here are the advantages of decentralized teams:-

1. Increase in Revenue and Productivity

Self-directed teams were more productive, kept better records, and generated more income, according to research done by the University of Hawaii.

There are numerous advantages to organizing work in this manner, but there are a few things to consider before embarking on any peer-managed project. Everyone must have a clear grasp of their duties and responsibilities, as well as a shared vision of the project’s ultimate end.

2. Employees Feel More Productive

Nobody enjoys the feeling of being out of control. Employees having a significant voice within the organization and authority over how they approach their work are empowered by decentralized teams, which counteract this view. The people who work closest to the project in decentralized teams have the most power to change its outcomes.

3. Sense of Belonging in Teammates

Everyone wants to feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves at work. Because an employee’s obligation no longer feels central to one person — a boss — but to the entire team as team members keep tabs on one another, a decentralized team can assist build a sense of belonging.

4. Communication

Human resources and business professionals must solve communication issues as a result of a decentralized staff. While technology aids, the loss of traditional face-to-face professional team discussion and more casual contacts pose difficulties. 

Social media techniques and the building of an efficient culture that fosters and promotes collaboration and interaction are being used by some businesses.

Conclusion

Without totally redesigning a company’s structure, decentralization measures can be used. To observe how it affects your workplace culture, try putting a self-managed team on a project or implementing a peer-managed recognition program.