The team exchange contract in autonomous work groups: Behaviors and work strategies for sustainable performance

Granting groups autonomy, or removing a leader from work process decisions, is currently a popular group design. However, the empirical evidence to date for increased performance outcomes in these types of groups has been mixed. The underlying explanation proposed in this dissertation is that while removing a leader from process decisions increases an autonomous group's task control, it also delegates to group members the need to manage interpersonal dynamics (such as communication and conflict) that accompany these decisions. Collective decisions made about how to manage group procedures communicate either that the group respects and values an individual member's contributions, or that it considers a member's contributions as relatively unimportant (Lind & Tyler, 1988). Without a legitimate authority to resolve differences about group procedures, rules, and resources, groups may be more prone to repeated or escalating process conflicts. Chapter 2 presents evidence from survey research that autonomous groups experience process conflict in two distinct dimensions: task strategy conflict and process disruption conflict. Scale validation results are presented of revisions to Jehn's three-pronged conflict classification in the groups literature. Results of Chapter 3 indicate that conflicts which are difficult to resolve often lead groups develop “process routines” (Argyris, 1977) that allow them to avoid conflict but not to resolve underlying structural issues that cause performance failures over time (Gladstein, 1984; Pondy, 1967). This does not reduce performance in the short-run, but does lead to a negative spiral of reactive process, inability to adapt group structure, and decrease in satisfaction and performance in the longer-term. Using social exchange theory, the final chapter presents the “exchange contract” model to describe how teams can reverse this cycle—or achieve proactive and adaptive self-management. A functional exchange contract is a clear and shared understanding among team members about equitable control of internal governance, complemented by equitable reciprocation of three explicit contract behaviors that make shared control easier: team integrity, communication about work, and flexibility. In place of a legitimate authority, these are the behaviors that make members feel group procedures are being applied to themselves and others fairly—predicting long term team performance and member satisfaction.