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The Effectiveness of Self-Managing Teams: A Quasi-Experiment

Center for Effective Organizations, Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-1421

Gerald E. Ledford, Jr.

Center for Effective Organizations, Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-1421

This study used a quasi-experimental design to assess the effectiveness of self-managing teams in a telecommunications company. These teams performed customer service, technical support, administrative support, and managerial functions in a variety of locations. The balance of evidence indicates that self-managing teams were more effective than comparable traditionally-managed groups that performed the same type of work. The study illustrates the value of a collaborative research project in which researchers and clients jointly define the research questions, study design, and methods.

Key Words: self-managing teams • self-regulating teams • team effectiveness

Human Relations, Vol. 47, No. 1, 13-43 (1994)
DOI: 10.1177/001872679404700102


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