I. What type of team is being used at ICU? Explain.
2 . To what extent are the teams self-managing?
3. Which of the seven techniques for building effective teams have been instituted at ICU Medical? Provide supporting evidence.
4. Rewards have created tensions at ICU Medical. What is your evaluation of how the company has handled the rewarding of teams and team members?
5. Which of the five conflict handling styles were used to resolve conflict about team rewards?
American corporations love teamwork . But few companies are as smitten as ICU Medical Inc. At the San Clemente, California, maker of medical devices, any worker can form a team to tackle any project. Team members set meetings, assign tasks, and create deadlines themselves. Chief Executive George Lopez says he's never vetoed a team decision, even when he disagreed with it. These teams have altered production processes and set up a 401 (k) plan, among other
changes. ...
Most big companies assign teams for projects. ICU, which has around I ,480 employees, is unusual in that it allows workers to initiate the teams .... Dr. Lopez, an internist, founded ICU in 1984. By the early 1990s, the company had about $10 million in annual revenue and was preparing for a public offering. Demand for the company's Clave product, used in connecting a patient's IV systems, was skyrocketing; Dr. Lopez needed to figure out how to ramp up production.
ICU had fewer than 100 employees but was expanding rapidly. Handling the booming growth and demand "was an overwhelming task for one entrepreneur CEO," says Dr. Lopez, 59 years old. He was still making most decisions himself, often sleeping at the office. Then, he had an epiphany watching his son play hockey. The opposing team had a star, but his son's team ganged up on him and won. "The team was better than one player," says Dr. Lopez. He decided to delegate power by letting employees form teams, hoping it would help him spread out the decision making and encourage input from people closest to the problems.
Some executives hated the idea; his chief financial officer quit. Putting the new system in place, Dr. Lopez told employees to form teams to come up with ways to boost production. It didn't work. With no leaders, and no rules, "nothing was getting done, except people were spending a lot of time talking," he says.
After about a year and a half, he decided teams should elect leaders, which brought a vast improvement. In 1995 he hired Jim Reitz, now the human resources director, who helped him create a structure with a minimum of bureaucracy. They developed core values-"take risks"-and so-called rules of engagement-"challenge the issue, not the person." At the same time, ICU started paying teams rewards based on a percentage of the cumulative salaries of their members.
It worked. Employees embraced teams. Today 12 to 15 teams finish projects each quarter, often meeting once a week or so. The typical team has five to seven members, and the company allots $75,000 quarterly to reward those that succeed.
Teams have propelled changes over the objections of top executives. Dr. Lopez, worried about the cost, didn't want to institute a 401 (k) plan, but acquiesced after a team recommended one. He now concedes the plan has helped in retaining employees.
Dr. Lopez can veto team decisions but says he hasn't yet. For teams to work, employees need to feel they have authority, he says. A veto would "really have to be worth it," Dr. Lopez says. The team would have to be putting the company "on a pathway to destruction."
So far, that hasn't happened. ICU's revenue grew 28% last year [200 6] to $201.6 million, though the company projects that revenue will decline this year. Its stock has climbed more than sixfold in the past decade ....
At ICU, team members don't get a break from their regular jobs. Serving on teams is technically voluntary but some employees with special expertise are "requested" to join. "It's above and beyond your job," says business-applications manager Colleen Wilder, who has served on many teams in the 10 years at ICU. "You still have to get your job done."
The rewards can create tension. Ms. Wilder once balked at sharing a reward with co-workers she thought had joined a team solely for the money. She proposed dividing the money based on what tasks team members performed. "I said, 'You did nothing, and I propose you get nothing,' " she says. The team agreed.
The payment system has been changed to peg the size of the reward to the importance of the project. "People started thinking, 'We created a whole new product for the company and these guys painted the lunch room, and they're getting the same amount of money that we are?' "
Mr. Reitz says. He encourages employees to question whether teams really met their goals, or whether a project is significant enough to merit high reward levels.
Over the years, ICU has instituted more rules to help teams function smoothly. A group of employees created a 25-page handbook that concretely spells out team operations-for instance, listing eight items for "What should we do at the first meeting?"-and addresses frequently asked questions. Teams must post notes of each meeting to the company intranet, where any employee can offer feedback ....