Transition to a Teambased Clientcentered Work Organisation in Administrative Service Work – A Focus on Effectiveness,Empowerment and Quality

Abstract

A new work organisation has been introduced in administrative service work in the surveying company in Sweden during 1997 and 1998. The focus has been on empowerment, effectiveness and quality. The new work organisation implies 1) a transition to a teambased organisation implying a change in competence required, from specialist to generalist knowledge and 2) a change to a more client-centered organisation. The aim of this paper is to describe the personnels' perception of this transition process a short period after the start with a focus on empowerment, effectiveness and quality aspects. All surveyors in five regions in Sweden participated, in total 640 surveyors. A tailored questionnaire about the content of the transition process and the Teamwork Profile were used. Positive effects of the transition process were noted, as improved job control, more varied job content and improved cooperation with clients. The change in qualification from being a specialist to being a generalist in a team were highly related to group cohesion, supervisory support and job control as well as to overall effectiveness and flexibility of groupwork. All these aspects were also related to continous improvement practices in the surveying organisation. A focus on empowerment, effectiveness and quality is needed for continuous improvements of the surveying work organisation.