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Team governance: Empowerment or hierarchical control

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  • Friebel, Guido
  • Schnedler, Wendelin

Abstract

We investigate the costs and benefits of managerial interventions with a team in which workers care to different 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 effects: they can distort how workers perceive their co-workers and may lead to a reduction of effort 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.

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  • Friebel, Guido & Schnedler, Wendelin, 2011. "Team governance: Empowerment or hierarchical control," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 78(1-2), pages 1-13, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:78:y:2011:i:1-2:p:1-13
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    1. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6unm655ita9ojbuuc83c9h0is8 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Wendelin Schnedler & Nina Lucia Stephan, 2020. "Revisiting a Remedy Against Chains of Unkindness," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 72(3), pages 347-364, July.
    3. Wendelin Schnedler & Radovan Vadovic, 2011. "Legitimacy of Control," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(4), pages 985-1009, December.
    4. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/6unm655ita9ojbuuc83c9h0is8 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Beckmann, Michael & Cornelissen, Thomas & Kräkel, Matthias, 2017. "Self-managed working time and employee effort: Theory and evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 285-302.
    6. Guido Friebel & Matthias Heinz & Miriam Krueger & Nikolay Zubanov, 2017. "Team Incentives and Performance: Evidence from a Retail Chain," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(8), pages 2168-2203, August.
    7. Galbiati, Roberto & Schlag, Karl H. & van der Weele, Joël J., 2013. "Sanctions that signal: An experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 34-51.
    8. Danilov, Anastasia & Sliwka, Dirk, 2013. "Can Contracts Signal Social Norms? Experimental Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 7477, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. von Siemens, Ferdinand A., 2013. "Intention-based reciprocity and the hidden costs of control," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 55-65.
    10. Schnedler Wendelin, 2011. "You Don’t Always Get What You Pay For: Bonuses, Perceived Income and Effort," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, February.
    11. Roberto Galbiati & Emeric Henry & Nicolas Jacquemet, 2019. "Learning to cooperate in the shadow of the law," SciencePo Working papers hal-03393094, HAL.
    12. Marvin Deversi & Lisa Spantig, 2023. "Incentive and Signaling Effects of Bonus Payments: An Experiment in a Company," CESifo Working Paper Series 10302, CESifo.
    13. Paul A. Grout & Wendelin Schnedler, 2008. "Non-Profit Organizations in a Bureaucratic Environment," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 08/202, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    14. Herold, Florian, 2010. "Contractual incompleteness as a signal of trust," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 180-191, January.
    15. Galbiati, Roberto & Schlag, Karl H. & van der Weele, Joël J., 2013. "Sanctions that signal: An experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 34-51.
    16. Schnedler, Wendelin & Vanberg, Christoph, 2014. "Playing ‘hard to get’: An economic rationale for crowding out of intrinsically motivated behavior," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 106-115.
    17. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/7o52iohb7k6srk09o0ks2e12i is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Ester Manna, 2015. "Intrinsically Motivated Agents in Teams," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2015/326, University of Barcelona School of Economics.
    19. Anastasia Danilov & Dirk Sliwka, 2017. "Can Contracts Signal Social Norms? Experimental Evidence," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(2), pages 459-476, February.
    20. Kräkel, Matthias, 2018. "Empowerment and the Dark Side of Delegation," IZA Discussion Papers 11289, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Anastasia Danilov & Kiryl Khalmetski & Dirk Sliwka, 2018. "Norms and Guilt," CESifo Working Paper Series 6999, CESifo.
    22. Roberto Galbiati & Emeric Henry & Nicolas Jacquemet, 2019. "Learning to cooperate in the shadow of the law," SciencePo Working papers halshs-02145486, HAL.
    23. Danilov, Anastasia & Khalmetski, Kiryl & Sliwka, Dirk, 2021. "Descriptive Norms and Guilt Aversion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 293-311.
    24. Cerrone Claudia & Manna Ester, 2018. "Pay for Performance with Motivated Employees," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 18(1), pages 1-8, January.
    25. Kamphorst, Jurjen J.A. & Swank, Otto H., 2013. "When Galatea cares about her reputation: How having faith in your workers reduces their motivation to shine," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 91-104.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Team work Incentives Informed principal Intrinsic motivation;

    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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