The myth of self-managing teams: A reflection on the allocation of responsibilities between individuals, teams and the organisation

Concepts that include the participation and empowerment of workers are beco ming increasingly important nowadays. In many of these concepts, the formal responsibility is delegated to teams. Does this imply that the normative r esponsibility for the actions of teams is also delegated? In this article w e will reflect on the difference between holding a person accountable and b earing responsibility. A framework is elaborated in order to analyse the ac countability and responsibility of teams. In this framework, the emergence of a collective mind, and the organisational factors that influence the ext ent to which teams have the possibility of acting in a responsible way play an important role. It shows that teams can bear responsibilities that coul d never be carried by a group of individuals. The framework is used to anal yse two sample cases with self-managing teams in production facilities. The authors discuss the implications for the theory and practice of self-manag ing teams and the allocation of responsibility between individuals, teams a nd the organisation.