Organizational Design for Self‐managed Teams

Abstract

Explores the organizational components deemed necessary to the development of heterogeneous self‐managed work teams. Explains the interrelationship between organizational structure and strategies. Describes the organic structure, with emphasis on formalization, socialization, training and empowerment/ decentralization, as the cornerstone of the development of these teams. Outlines strategies for effective use of communication, shared values and trust.

Intellectual Capital Management Enablers: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis

“…self-renewal (Hong, 1999;Jaw and Liu, 2003;Thibodeaux and Faden, 1994), and knowledge workers and innovative learning (Watkins and Gutzwiller, 1999). This study reinforces this literature and contributes by determining the directionality of the relationship.…”

“…In essence, organizations that build trust among employees will also lay the foundation for more effective human and relational intellectual capital management processes. After trust has been established, it makes the gathering and interpreting of information easier (McEvily et al, 2003), and it promotes the acquisition of skills among employees (Thibodeaux and Faden, 1994) and helps to build relationships that involve risk-taking (Mayer et al, 1995), which are all essential for intellectual capital management systems to work properly. Further, Horwitz et al (2003) have suggested that building trust (and other factors) helps employees to turn tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, thus enabling the organization to build intellectual capital.…”

“…This six-item scale complements the concepts of organic renewal in the sense that for employee interactions of a particular kind to occur, an organic (2003), Covin and Slevin (1988), De Long and Fahey (2000), Detert et al (2000), Gillen and Carroll (1985), Glynn (1996), Hurt et al (1977), Jaw and Liu (2003), Khandwalla (1977), Leitch et al (1996), Liebowitz and Suen (2000), Patterson et al (2005), Pearce and David (1983), Robbins (1990), and Ståhle and Hong (2002) Interactive behavior items 6 Abdel-Halim (1983), Latham et al (1994), Parnell et al (1992), Parnell and Bell (1994), Parnell and Crandall (2001), and Wheeless et al 1983Trust items 5 Appelbaum (1975, Calabrese (2006), Galagan (1986), Hoogervorst et al (2004), Lin (2007), Mayer et al (1995), McEvily et al (2003, Serva et al (2005), Ståhle and Hong (2002), Thibodeaux and Faden (1994), and Wheeless and Grotz (1977) Intellectual capital management planning and control items 21 Boisot (2002), Bontis (1998), , Bontis and Fitz-enz (2002), Bueno et al (2004), Bukh (2002), Edvinsson and Malone (1997), …”

“…In a discussion about self-managed work teams, Thibodeaux and Faden (1994) found support for organic structures as fundamental for effective control and informational changes among the work group members. Regarding human capital management, van Marrewijk and Timmers (2003) emphasize that today's complex work situations demand that ''employees and organizations find a certain alignment in goals and responsibilities'' (p. 175), and this can only be accomplished in a collegial and motivational atmosphere.…”

“…Melé (2003) purports that a humanizing culture tends to bring about trust and the development of social capital. For the purposes of this study, we define organizations as having high levels of trust when people confide in one another rather than hold back on what they communicate, follow through on what they say they will do, and believe that the organization is concerned about their welfare (Appelbaum, 1975;Calabrese, 2006;Galagan, 1986;Hoogervorst et al, 2004;Lin, 2007;Serva et al, 2005;Ståhle and Hong, 2002;Thibodeaux and Faden, 1994).…”