University of Twente Student Theses
Introduction of self-management in organizations and teams : a multiple case analysis
Ginten, Meret (2017) Introduction of self-management in organizations and teams : a multiple case analysis.
|
PDF
956kB |
| Abstract: | More and more organizations are decentralizing authority and experimenting with new management approaches. Although, self-management as a management approach for teams and organizations has been applied over decades, research on the experiences of employees working with this approach is scarce. As many organizations and teams use individual approaches to self-management, the question of what experiences they have in common arises. The research objectives of this study were to identify the key topics for employees when switching to self-management and to identify the main benefits and challenges of the change to self-management for teams and organizations. To meet the research objectives a qualitative multiple case study approach was chosen. The research was based on interviews with employees of two organizations in Germany that implemented self-management over one year ago. One implemented self-management in just one team and the other for the whole organization. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with five employees from each organization. The results showed that the main topics for teams and organizations when switching to self-management are the change of the structures and processes, the change to self-organization and the processes of payment. Furthermore, the redistributed responsibilities lead to employee satisfaction as they have more options to bring in their skills according to their interests. However, the responsibility is also perceived as a burden because employees need to take final decisions themselves. They appreciate the personal development and the development of their team, but the ongoing process of change is time-consuming. Conflicts are uncovered and need to be solved during the process. Coming from hierarchical structures a higher desire for guidance was communicated. The findings indicate that increasing the quantity of scientific results would be beneficial for gaining more understanding of the influences of self-management on employees. Moreover, the results can serve to raise practitioners’ awareness of what topics are especially relevant when introducing self-management in teams or organizations. Key words: self-management, sociocracy, Holacracy, organizational structures, teams, learning organizations, management models, decentralization authority, New Work |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 85 business administration, organizational science |
| Programme: | Business Administration MSc (60644) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/74333 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
Show download statistics for this publication
Show download statistics for this publicationRepository Staff Only: item control page