Leading workers to lead themselves. Manz, Sims and Jr. (1987)

The external leadership of self-managing workteams.

Abstract

This paper explores the paradoxical role of the external leaders of self-managing workteams. Observation, inter- views, group elicitations, and a literature search were used to identify salient leader behaviors in a medium-sized manufacturing plant that had been operating for several years under a system of self-managing work teams. A self- management leadership questionnaire was developed to measure the 21 leader behaviors identified. Correlations with overall leadership-effectiveness ratings generally indicated that the external leaders' most important behaviors are those that facilitate the team's self-management through self-observation, self-evaluation, and self- reinforcement.

The study suggests that there is a legitimate role for external leaders of self-managing work teams but that it differs from traditional and participative leadership roles. According to an ancient Chinese saying, "The best of all leaders is the one who helps people so that, eventually, they don't need him" (Lao Tzu, taken from Maccoby, 1981). This statement seems to capture the idealistic essence of what external leadership should be like in contemporary self-managing work teams. Yet, some evidence seems to suggest that reality often falls short of the ideal. Indeed, leaders of these teams are a fact of life in real organizations and are considered necessary and functional by many (Lawler, 1986; Hackman, 1986; Manz and Sims, 1986). If self-managing teams are truly self-managing, then why should an external leader be required?

Publicatie

Sage Publications

Source: Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Mar., 1987), pp. 106-129
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of the Johnson Graduate School ofManagement, Cornell University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2392745

Accessed: 24-06-2016 08:19 UTC
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