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In this article, we present a qualitative discussion of 28 empirical studies on self-managing teamwork and psychological well-being. We address three questions: (a) Which variables did they include and which results did they obtain?; (b) How did authors deal with issues of level of theory, measurement, and analysis?; and (c) Do such level issues affect the results of the studies? This review demonstrates that only job satisfaction is consistently related to self-managing teamwork. In addition, authors often fail to specify the level of their theory, thereby impeding judgment on the appropriateness of analysis procedures. Finally, we present preliminary evidence that level issues may affect the results. We plead for the incorporation of multilevel theory and analysis techniques into the field of self-managing teamwork and psychological well-being.

A field study was performed in a hospital pharmacy aimed at identifying positive and negative influences on the process of detection of and further recovery from initial errors or other failures, thus avoiding negative consequences. Confidential reports and follow-up interviews provided data on 31 near-miss incidents involving such recovery processes. Analysis revealed that organizational culture with regard to following procedures needed reinforcement, that some procedures could be improved, that building in extra checks was worthwhile and that supporting unplanned recovery was essential for problems not covered by procedures. Guidance is given on how performance in recovery could be measured. A case is made for supporting recovery as an addition to prevention-based safety methods.

The past decade and a half witnessed a global trend towards the use of participatory team‐based interventions. In the present contribution, we address the widespread idea that the resulting increase in team autonomy fosters employee psychological well‐being. Specifically, we address the common but mostly implicit rationale for this widespread idea that the well‐being effect occurs because the increase in team autonomy is reflected in individual task design. We collected survey data from 733 members of 76 healthcare teams. The results of multi‐level mediation analyses were supportive of our theoretical framework. The higher the team autonomy, the more active learning behaviour and the less emotional exhaustion team members reported. These relationships were mediated by the individual job characteristics of autonomy, variety and demands. These results draw attention to individual task design in a team context.