Very brief additional readings on Groups/Teams and Power/Politics, as promised...

Very brief additional readings on Groups/Teams and Power/Politics, as promised...mf

GROUPS AND TEAMWORK

Here is a more precise set of definitions associated with "autonomy," a key means of categorizing work groups and teams (see the "Autonomy: A Key Dimension" powepoint in the session 18 topics slides).

Traditional work groups are the least autonomous:  two or more people work together to achieve a shared goal.  They generally have no direct responsibility or control over the work and how it is carried out, but  they are responsible, sometimes jointly, for "executing the task."

Employee involvement teams meet on company time  weekly or  monthly  to provide advice or make suggestions to management regarding work and production issues, e.g.  plant safety, customer relations, or product quality. They have no authority, however,  to make decisions or take ownership of the process."

Semi-autonomous work groups do not not just give advice and suggestions to management, but they have authority to make some of what were traditionally considered management decisions and  to solve problems regarding product/service tasks. They are likely to receive budget,  work quality and performance, and competition information.

Self-managing teams -  Members manage and control all  majors tasks  related to a product or service (acquisition of materials, manufacturing and delivery, etc. ).without prior management approval. 

Self-designing teams have all the characteristics of self-managing teams, but they can also control and change the design of the teams themselves, the tasks they do and how they do them, and who belongs to the teams.

POWER AND POLITICS

Chester Barnard: compliance and the "zone of indifference"  http://www.vectorstudy.com/management_gurus/chester_barnard.htm

Niccolo Machiavelli: importance of "the leader" and "the end justifies the means"
 http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/macv.htm

Stanley Milgram: loyalty, discipline, self-sacrifice, and his "theory of obedience"
http://muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/milgram.htm