Work Teams: Past, Present and Future

Book excerpt: This book places current and future work team practices in historical context. Researchers from 10 countries have contributed chapters that represent developments specific to their regions and that illustrate the way ideas spread around the world. Some principles of effective teaming were independently discovered in different countries, and some principles emerged from the work of researchers like Trist, Emery, and Lewin and spread around the world. But all of the practices were driven by the dynamic tension between the psychology of the employee and business necessities. Theories and cases describe autonomous work groups, self-managed work teams, cell teams, and other collaborative work structures. Contributions to the design of such structures came from psychology, management, sociology, industrial engineering, and manufacturing. Because of the challenges inherent in reorganising work around teams instead of individuals, organizations are at different stages in evolving into 21st century work systems.