Tyranny of Teams
Organization Studies http://oss.sagepub.com The Tyranny of a Team Ideology
Amanda Sinclair Organization Studies 1992; 13; 611 DOI: 10.1177/017084069201300405 The online version of this article can be found at: http://oss.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/13/4/611
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The
Tyranny
of
a
Team
Ideology
Amanda Sinclair Graduate School of Management, University of
Melbourne,
Australia
People at work have been tyrannized by a team ideology based on the use of work groups as a key to effective organizational performance. The hegemony of this ideology has created an obsession with teams in workplaces governed by oppressive stereotypes of what teams should be like and how they should behave. This paper examines four elements of the prevailing team ideology — the way work in groups is defined, links between individual motivation and organizational performance, views of leadership, and the effects of power, conflict and emotion in work groups. Some alternative perspectives on team behaviour elucidate the ways in which the prevailing paradigm ultimately hinders groups and tyrannizes the individual team member — by camouflaging coercion and conflict with the appearance of consultation and cohesion. Examination of the limits and effects of the ideology provide the basis for an alternative understanding of the strengths, constraints and complexities of group work.
Introduction
Teams in various
Amanda Sinclair Organization Studies 1992; 13; 611 DOI: 10.1177/017084069201300405 The online version of this article can be found at: http://oss.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/13/4/611
Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com On behalf of:
European Group for Organizational Studies
Additional services and information for Organization Studies can be found at: Email Alerts: http://oss.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://oss.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav Citations http://oss.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/13/4/611
Downloaded from http://oss.sagepub.com at Massey University Library on June 28, 2010
The
Tyranny
of
a
Team
Ideology
Amanda Sinclair Graduate School of Management, University of
Melbourne,
Australia
People at work have been tyrannized by a team ideology based on the use of work groups as a key to effective organizational performance. The hegemony of this ideology has created an obsession with teams in workplaces governed by oppressive stereotypes of what teams should be like and how they should behave. This paper examines four elements of the prevailing team ideology — the way work in groups is defined, links between individual motivation and organizational performance, views of leadership, and the effects of power, conflict and emotion in work groups. Some alternative perspectives on team behaviour elucidate the ways in which the prevailing paradigm ultimately hinders groups and tyrannizes the individual team member — by camouflaging coercion and conflict with the appearance of consultation and cohesion. Examination of the limits and effects of the ideology provide the basis for an alternative understanding of the strengths, constraints and complexities of group work.
Introduction
Teams in various
Citations: http://oss.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/13/4/611 Downloaded from http://oss.sagepub.com at Massey University Library on June 28, 2010 Definitions of Teams and Group Work theorists have defined a ’team’ as a distinctive class of which is more task-oriented than other groups, and which has a set group, of obvious rules and rewards for its members (Adair 1986) Management Downloaded from http://oss.sagepub.com at Massey University Library on June 28, 2010 (Bales 1970). By their emphasis on the measurable performance outcomes of teams such as decision-making, researchers have constructed standards for teams which tell only half the story, and perhaps tell the wrong half. Downloaded from http://oss.sagepub.com at Massey University Library on June 28, 2010 615