An alternative typology for teamwork

A new typology of teamwork, differentiating hierarchical from democratic teams, is proposed. It is an effective way to study the impact of work teams on working conditions and the factors associated with their prevalence. Democratic teams have better working conditions (greater autonomy and less work intensification and peer pressure), than hierarchical teams and employees working under Taylorism. Hierarchical team adoption is based on a logic of standardisation, labour cost reduction, and incentive pay without job security guarantees, representation, or partnership. Conversely, democratic team adoption is based on job security guarantees, representation, and partnership, without managerial strategy to reduce labour costs and to use incentive pay. These findings are based on a survey conducted in the Quebec manufacturing sector.