Self-Management in Teams: Good or Bad? The Role of Goal Orientation Diversity

Regardless of the vast amount of attention to self-managing teams and the argument for the contingent nature of its effects, little research has focused on potential moderators of the effectiveness of self-managing structures. In an experimental study we show that self-managing team structures are beneficial only for groups homogenous in goal orientation, but harmful for groups diverse in goal orientation. Furthermore, team learning and information elaboration were found to mediate this effect.