The EFFORT (Employee Find and Fix Obvious Risk Teams) program in a semiconductor fabrication facility is discussed. The philosophy of the program is that employees, not managers, could see and find the problems causing a high risk of scrap. The employee teams would be expected to fix the problems they found, not assign them to another group. Results show that the increased output of improvements due to improved enthusiasm more than outweigh inefficiencies. In contrast to traditional management principles, the EFFORT program showed that specific goals and defined objectives are not necessary for worker empowerment teams to make significant contributions to factory performance. Lack of such goals and their implicit 'this is for the management' message can in fact lead to improved enthusiasm, morale, and productivity.
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