1 Self- managing teams are ‘ semi- autonomous’ and have areas of freedom and areas of constraint. What are the advantages and disadvantages of limiting the degree of freedom that teams have? Autonomous work groups were conceived as an open form of structure that allowed work groups to be self-

determining in their activities, including, for example, stock control, production activities and quality enhancement. After an initial enthusiasm for the concept, it became less popular as there were fears that such approaches would not be beneficial for the productivity and profitability of organisations, particularly where employees were not self-

motivated to perform consistently at a high level.

The basic concept has subsequently re‑emerged as ‘self-

managing teams’. Such teams are not fully autonomous, but have considerable discretion in the way they work. Job roles are somewhat blurred and team members take on activities as required by the task at hand.

According to a recent study, the popularity of self-

managing teams has been increasing (de Jong et al., 2006), particularly in the service industries. One example is in US nursing homes

(Yeatts et al., 2004) where nurses and other staff operate as relatively independent teams.

The result has been improved satisfaction rates amongst patients, families and staff. However, this style of structuring work places certain requirements on the team. They need the emotional resilience to cope with disagreements, resolve conflict and make decisions (Offermann et al., 2004). Similarly, there are additional demands on managers