The impact of team members' cultural values on productivity, cooperation, and empowerment in self-managing work teams

Using a field survey of 81 self-managing work teams (SMWTs) in Belgium, Fin land, the Philippines, and the United States, we examined the extent to whi ch team members' resistance to SMWTs mediated the relationships between tea m members' cultural values and team effectiveness. Specifically, we found t hat teams higher, rather than lower, in collectivism were also more product ive, cooperative, and empowered; and that these relationships were fully me diated by the level of team resistance to the team-related aspect of SMWTs. Also, we found that teams that were more, rather than less, doing-oriented were also more empowered, and that this relationship was fully mediated by the level of team resistance to the self-managing aspect of SMWTs. The fin dings suggest that it may behoove managers who are charged with implementin g SMWTs to pay close attention to the predominant cultural values inherent in the teams they lead. Additional practical and theoretical implications a re discussed.