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Team Governance: Empowerment or Hierarchical Control

Author

Listed:
  • Guido Friebel

    (Frankfurt University - Frankfurt University)

  • Wendelin Schnedler

    (Heidelberg University and IZA - Heidelberg University and IZA)

Abstract

We investigate the costs and bene_ts of managerial interventions with a team in which workers care to di_erent degrees about output. We show that if there are complementarities in production and if the team manager has some information about team members, interventions by the manager may have destructive e_ects: they can distort how workers perceive their co-workers and may lead to a reduction of e_ort by those workers who care most about output. Moreover, interventions may hinder the development of a cooperative organizational culture in which workers trust each other.

Suggested Citation

  • Guido Friebel & Wendelin Schnedler, 2011. "Team Governance: Empowerment or Hierarchical Control," Post-Print hal-00978261, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00978261
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2010.12.003
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-00978261
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    team work; incentives; informed principal; intrinsic motivation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M52 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects
    • M54 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Labor Management
    • D86 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Economics of Contract Law

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