Both the internal and external demands in today's corporate world provide that complex and diverse environment, which have fostered the growth of self-managed teams. Self-managed teams have become increasing popular and in fact, many companies consider such teams to be the productivity breakthrough of the 1990's. (Attaran, Nguyen 2).
The concept of self-managed teams is derived from a theory designed over forty years ago by Eric Trist. The theory states that organizations combine people and technology in complex forms to produce output. (Attaran 2). In today's society, more so than forty years ago, corporations are faced with globalization, competition, customer satisfaction and an accelerated growth in technology. This global marketplace and accelerated speed of change have focused attention on quality as a necessity. Such an environment calls for a more dynamic, adaptable and creative system. According to Elmuti (1996), employee empowerment through self-managed work teams is the solution.(Applebaum, Bethune, Tannenbaum 2) Teams that are created which consist of diverse individuals, who have diverse knowledge and skills, and who share a common goal and commitment, are much more prepared to deal with these complex issues than any one individual can. .
In the last few years we have experienced a changing business environment that has brought about a need for diverse, complex decision-making. The declining world economy has affected and transformed the corporate world. Organizations and its members, who had for so long enjoyed economic growth, were now forced to restructure, in order to remain competitive in the global community. Organizations have had to downsize by eliminating positions or jobs. This downsizing is intended to increase a company's earnings by reducing overhead. At the same time, however, the organization expects faster decision-making, better communications, and increased productivity.
