INTERDEPENDENCE AND CONTROVERSY IN GROUP DECISION-MAKING - ANTECEDENTS TO EFFECTIVE SELF-MANAGING TEAMS

Self-managing teams have the challenge to make decisions regarding the ir tasks and to manage their internal affairs. Findings on 60 self-man aging teams with 540 employees indicate that the theory of cooperation and competition is useful for identifying the social processes that h elp these teams grapple with problems and work effectively. Specifical ly, teams with highly cooperative goals were found to discuss their op posing views open-mindedly and constructively which in turn developed confidence in team dynamics that contributed to effective team perform ance. Competitive goals appeared to interfere with constructive contro versy, confidence, and effectiveness. Findings were interpreted as sug gesting that structuring cooperative goals and constructive controvers y can help self-managing teams gain confidence and work productively. (C) 1998 Academic Press.