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Human Relations
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Target-based team working: Groups, work and interdependence in the UK civil service

Stephen Procter

University of Newcastle Business School, s.j.procter{at}ncl.ac.uk

Graeme Currie

Nottingham University Business School, graeme.currie{at}nottingham.ac.uk

In terms of its implications for work and production, studies of teamworking have generally relied on concepts of autonomy and flexibility. An in-depth, qualitative case study of the UK Inland Revenue reveals a form of teamworking in which both autonomy and flexibility play little part. It is argued that teamworking in this case is best conceptualized by giving greater weight to interdependence. In particular, teamworking in the Inland Revenue works through the outcome interdependence engendered by the emphasis on the team’s work targets. This form of teamworking is given the name ‘target-based teamworking’. Certain aspects of the nature of production appear to encourage this form of teamworking. More generally, the case promotes interdependence as a means of understanding teamworking, and suggests that the key to this understanding is an analysis of the relationship between interdependence and autonomy.

Key Words: autonomy • case study • interdependence • public sector • targets • teamworking

Human Relations, Vol. 57, No. 12, 1547-1572 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0018726704049989
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