ussnug and Hughey (1997) reported that in some cases companies have adopted the team concept without a need for it and in other cases companies are unclear about how to develop and implement teams. Employees and managers are complaining about the development of teams and a study is needed to examine the group factors and their relationship to outcomes.
The problem is that while studies point to the need to increase the use of more modern strategies such as the team approach, research regarding the effects of work teams is inconclusive with inconsistent findings. While some studies point out that the use of self-directed teams leads to increased organizational and employee outcomes, other studies point out that the use of teams is unnecessary and results in time wasted in meetings and other team activities. Further study is needed to determine what group factors are affecting the work team outcomes.
The literature has reported mixed results regarding the use of work teams to promote positive organizational and employee outcomes. A study is needed to further investigate group factors that may be affecting these outcomes.
The purpose of this research study is to investigate the effects of group factors on work team outcomes. Specifically the study will investigate effects of team membership on group factors and the ability of these group factors to predict organizational and employee outcomes.
A theoretical frame of reference may be used to explain the orientation of this study. Elloy and McCombs (1996) presented the open systems principle of organization. With this system, the traditional form of organization in which managers direct the flow of organization, is replaced with a system in which employees have a direct responsibility for the monitoring of flow of product and the investigation of factors that interfere with this production flow. This system includes an autonomous work group that has the freedom and ...