Ben & Jerry's Team Building as an OD Intervention

Introduction

Team building involves the performance of tasks and activities that seek to promote a team's ability to work together effectively. It is worth noting that team building has historically been used to address organizational bureaucracy and rigidity arising from over-organized systems. Organizational development (OD) interventions such as team building can, however, serve the opposite purpose as well. Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc. (B&J's) sought to deploy team building as a way to provide structure to its under-organized system. This paper assesses whether this was a sound approach and identifies additional measures that could be implemented going forward.

Determining Whether a Company Is Over-Organized or Under-Organized

For a company to remain relevant in a highly competitive business environment, the optimal organization of human resources and processes is essential (Black, Bright, and Gardner, 2023). When entities are over-organized or under-organized, they are likely to struggle with the challenges of the modern business environment and may fail to pursue available opportunities.

Several factors can help establish whether an organization is over-organized or under-organized. With respect to over-organization, one key indicator is the hierarchy of power and the degree to which it contributes to rigidity and inflexibility. In an over-organized entity, there is an established and deeply entrenched mechanical way of doing things (Poole and Van, 2021). Regulation and rules are prioritized, and activities are tightly compartmentalized. This mechanical approach may result in a failure to adequately capture the emotions and needs of employees. Another characteristic of over-organized entities is slow decision-making, which impedes effective task performance and can cause inordinate delays. Cheung-Judge and Holbeche (2021) also note that over-organized entities tend to be more reactive than proactive — meaning that change is neither anticipated nor welcomed. As a result, such organizations are likely to be caught off-guard in a rapidly changing business environment and may be unable to thrive amid uncertainty.

Under-organized entities, by contrast, are characterized by unclear structures and roles. In such organizations, the duties of each member are not clearly defined, and norms governing work behaviors appear imprecise and poorly communicated (Poole and Van, 2021). Under-organized organizations are also marked by poor teamwork: employees lack a common goal and do not work toward shared ends. According to Cheung-Judge and Holbeche (2021), weak working relationships are another prominent feature of under-organized entities. The failure to embrace collaborative efforts and build strong working relationships can stretch individual workers to their limits.

Most of these factors were clearly evident at B&J's — particularly the lack of well-defined structures and roles, and poor teamwork. Lines of responsibility and authority were visibly blurred. For instance, no unit or department at B&J's took responsibility for a broken freezer door, so it simply remained unfixed. Additionally, workers were putting in long hours and operating under constant pressure.

Several OD interventions can be deployed to address over-organization or under-organization. To maximize the chances of success, the intervention selected should be organization-specific, since no two organizations present an identical set of challenges. The intervention should also involve the owners and management of the organization across all phases — design, implementation, and evaluation — given that this group controls the organizational resources required for change. Finally, the OD intervention should be all-inclusive, addressing the needs of all employees regardless of background, race, gender, or other demographic characteristics. If any constituency feels excluded, it is likely to disengage, undermining the entire effort.

Team Building as a Way to Launch an OD Effort

Kloep, Helten, and Peifer (2023) define team building as "all activities used to maintain and improve the performance of a team and the achievement of team goals or to increase interpersonal relations and satisfaction when working together" (p. 406). Other scholars, such as Smith, Skinner, and Read (2020), view team building as a set of directed efforts that promote synergy and collaboration in work settings and recognize it as an ongoing process. As those authors note, most businesses attribute their success to enhanced trust, communication, and collaboration among workers. Team building has traditionally been deployed to loosen organizations deemed too bureaucratic and rigid; however, it can equally serve to introduce much-needed structure to an under-organized system by establishing and strengthening bonds between employees.

One of the key concerns in B&J's case was a lack of teamwork. Team building activities can serve as an icebreaker of sorts, helping employees interact in more effective and productive ways. Another challenge identified — the lack of common direction and mission — is also something team building can help address. According to McKenna (2020), team building encourages employees to approach organizational objectives from a unified front. More specifically, "the team-building process teaches employees how to trust each other and work together to achieve common objectives" (McKenna, 2020, p. 311).

B&J's also lacks a clear structure, and roles are not well-defined. Systematic change can be accomplished through team building because, during team building engagements, employees come to recognize that each person has specific capabilities and skills and plays a distinct role in ensuring the stability of a larger system. As a consequence, they are likely to develop a clearer understanding of individual functions and more readily embrace the roles and responsibilities distributed across the organization.

Furthermore, B&J's employees are overworked and stretched to their limits — a symptom of poor collaboration and ineffective workflow management. Team building would help employees collaborate more effectively by enabling them to identify and complement each other's strengths. It would also help managers adopt a more proactive approach to task assignment and activity scheduling. Critically, Smith, Skinner, and Read (2020) observe that managers can gather useful feedback on employee capabilities through team building activities, and can use those insights "to form more effective teams in the future and understand how to best utilize team members" (p. 183).

Conclusion

In the final analysis, team building proves to be an ideal way to plan systematic change in the scenario presented. In addition to helping employees interact in more effective formats, team building will help unite employees toward a common goal and enable those in positions of responsibility to adopt a more proactive approach to task assignment and scheduling. Providing structure to B&J's under-organized system will undoubtedly help the company better handle the challenges it faces in an increasingly competitive marketplace and will support the organization's long-term growth efforts.

References

Black, J.S., Bright, D.S., & Gardner, D.G. (2023). Organizational Behavior. IP.

Cheung-Judge, M., & Holbeche, L. (2021). Organization Development: A Practitioner's Guide for OD and HR. Kogan Page.

Kloep, L., Helten, A., & Peifer, C. (2023). A playful way to promote team flow: Evaluation of a positive psychological board game for team building. International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, 8, 405–427.

McKenna, E.F. (2020). Business Psychology and Organizational Behavior. Taylor & Francis Group.

Poole, M.S., & Van, A.H. (Eds.). (2021). The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Change and Innovation (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Smith, A.C., Skinner, J., & Read, D. (2020). Philosophies of Organizational Change: Perspectives, Models and Theories for Managing Change (2nd ed.). Edward Elgar Publishing.