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Team Work and Group Dynamics
Using research related to group psychology along with the practical lessons being learned by the numerous business organizations adopting teams, this book addresses the complex issues associated with teams, and how students can develop the necessary tools to increase their effectiveness as team designers, leaders and members. The book combines research summaries with extended case descriptions of actual teams in business organizations. The authors focus on the key issues that are critical to team success, without overemphasizing unnecessary psychological theory. The case studies are adapted from Business without Bosses , a book written by Charles Manz and Henry Sims and published by Wiley. These cases have been well received by students and business leaders. This is an integrated textbook that combines knowledge from both research and practice into a model that provides students with an opportunity to learn about teams in an efficient yet comprehensive manner.
207 pages, Paperback
First published October 19, 1998
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 22, 2023
ISBN = 0471197696 C. Manz, G. Stewart, H. Sims
This book was required reading for my first class CSA 6020 in the Doctorate program at NOVA Southeastern University. The book is rather short and it deals with a lot of case studies that compliments the material that the book introduces. Basically the text deals with the advantage and the task of substituting teams in the place of traditional hierarchical management.
The text went into great detail extolling the advantages of the team concept over the traditional management structure. It is hard to generalize the entire text in one sentence but I will try. "Teams can be superior to traditional management structures because they motivate and empower the employee to control his/her own destiny and participate in the management of physical and human resources." The book emphasizes that the process is slow and a great deal of patience and training are needed.
What I liked about the book was that it was not just an advocate to implement teams. It went into great detail reviewing the problems with teams and the difficulty in implementing them. It also stated that they did not always work out well and that they may not work out. Basically the book stated that a situation where employees were already somewhat autonomous (such as an insurance office) may not benefit from the team approach. A traditionally autocratic factory could benefit from teams because the employees have knowledge (presumably from working on the production line) that management did not have. A team approach exploited this knowledge. It covered many examples of each.
The concepts of motivation and problem resolution were also covered very well. Sociotechnical design is very interesting and is basically defined as the balance between manufacturing and data flow. The text specifically illustrates how to measure the output from the team effort. I thought this was valuable because it is tough to do.
I liked the book but found it technical and the 186 pages were not an easy read. However, if you are in a management situation this book could be a help because it really contains a lot of vicarious information.
Mark D
This book was required reading for my first class CSA 6020 in the Doctorate program at NOVA Southeastern University. The book is rather short and it deals with a lot of case studies that compliments the material that the book introduces. Basically the text deals with the advantage and the task of substituting teams in the place of traditional hierarchical management.
The text went into great detail extolling the advantages of the team concept over the traditional management structure. It is hard to generalize the entire text in one sentence but I will try. "Teams can be superior to traditional management structures because they motivate and empower the employee to control his/her own destiny and participate in the management of physical and human resources." The book emphasizes that the process is slow and a great deal of patience and training are needed.
What I liked about the book was that it was not just an advocate to implement teams. It went into great detail reviewing the problems with teams and the difficulty in implementing them. It also stated that they did not always work out well and that they may not work out. Basically the book stated that a situation where employees were already somewhat autonomous (such as an insurance office) may not benefit from the team approach. A traditionally autocratic factory could benefit from teams because the employees have knowledge (presumably from working on the production line) that management did not have. A team approach exploited this knowledge. It covered many examples of each.
The concepts of motivation and problem resolution were also covered very well. Sociotechnical design is very interesting and is basically defined as the balance between manufacturing and data flow. The text specifically illustrates how to measure the output from the team effort. I thought this was valuable because it is tough to do.
I liked the book but found it technical and the 186 pages were not an easy read. However, if you are in a management situation this book could be a help because it really contains a lot of vicarious information.
Mark D
Displaying 1 of 1 review