Performance management of a self-directed work team is usually done by the team itself to some degree. That degree varies from organization to organization, or even from department to department, and also depends upon the readiness of the team members to assume those responsibilities. A fully empowered mature self-directed work team will describe its own jobs, set its own standards, give feedback to members about work performance and team skills, appraise its own performance, and identify and support the training and development needs of its members. The organization will provide guidelines and a framework for that performance management, but within that framework, the team is responsible and accountable for its own performance. A cross-functional team typically operates without formal supervision, though it may have a team leader.
Members usually report to performance managers in their home departments.
These performance managers are often not present when team members are participating in the work of the team and may only know about the results of the team's work and the team member's performance through the reports of others, evidence of the team's products, or via customer reports. When a team approach to work is in place, the focus of performance management is on the accomplishments of the team as well as the individual's contributions to those accomplishments. When the performance management process recognizes individual performance instead of team performance, the incentives work in favor of individual accomplishment alone, which can result in competitiveness at the expense of team interests. Experience has shown that team effectiveness is improved when both team and individual performance are recognized as significant and factored into the performance management process. Employees who work on self-directed work teams may well spend most of their working day doing the work of the team.