The implementation of autonomous teams, self-directed teams, and self-managing teams has involved a major change in the work processes where team members take on ever larger shares of the supervisor's and manager's responsibilities. Increasing the degree that a team is self-managing requires a shift toward greater autonomy and reduced managerial control. Theories of self-managing work teams from a variety of sources suggest that such a shift is interwoven with job redesigns that increase empowerment. Some of the attempts to redesign an organization to a team-based structure have been successful while others have ended as major failures. In some cases, the time allotted was too brief to ensure success, whereas in other cases top management commitment was lacking. The chapters in this book address questions about team-based organizational redesign: When should go to teams? How long does the transformation take? When will the payoffs show up? Which types of work are best suited to which types of teams? and so on. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
