EUGENE–Henry Ford set the standard for efficiency in business when he perfected the assembly line¾ and workers became interchangeable cogs in a well-oiled machine. But times have changed, and so has business.

Today, many employers are increasing productivity as much as 40 percent by exchanging the assembly line approach, with its autocratic top-down management, for self-directed teams.

The transition can be awkward, but research by a University of Oregon business professor has produced an award-winning curriculum to help ease the change.

"Until recently the work force was composed primarily of Depression-era workers who ‘did whatever it took’ to get the job done," says Susan Glaser, a professor of communication at the UO’s Charles H. Lundquist College of Business. "Now workers want more than a paycheck¾ they want a say in decisions about their work."

Glaser and her husband and research partner Peter have developed a training program to help develop highly effective workplace teams. The International Association of Business Communication Research Foundation recently recognized the curriculum as one of the top three presented at the group’s 1997-98 conference.

"We focus on two key dimensions of teamwork¾ helping people resolve interpersonal conflicts and teaching them how to work well as a group," says Susan Glaser. "This is very concrete observable behavior."

During a typical two-day training session, for example, participants learn non-threatening ways to raise difficult issues without making people feel defensive. At the same time, they learn how to stay focused on problem solving and consensus building skills. The Glasers use skits to illustrate the difference between effective and non-effective communication.

"If we’ve done our job well, every member of any team we have trained will be able to go to anybody else on their team and talk about their issues directly," says Peter Glaser. "What’s more, the team will be able to reach consensus even when they start with no common agreement."

The Glaser’s curriculum is in great demand. They have worked successfully with more than 500 companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Weyerhaeuser, as well as family businesses and government agencies across the United States.

"In most situations the problem isn’t conflict at all," says Susan Glaser. "It’s communication. That’s what we teach."

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