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Empowerment and Teams: Ethics and the Implementation of Socio-technical Systems

In: Ethics and Empowerment

Author

Listed:
  • Ian Mcloughlin
  • Richard Badham
  • Paul Couchman

Abstract

Self-managing, self-directed or empowered work teams have become a core feature of contemporary organisational and work redesign (Ors-burn et al. 1991; Lawler et al. 1995; Knapp et al. 1996; Wellins et al. 1996). However, their application has been controversial. For promoters of socio-technical system design they represent a radical break from ‘inhumane’ Tayloristic and Fordist work design and a means by which genuinely empowered and autonomous work can be brought about. For critics, team-based working represents a new and more manipulative form of management control whereby workers become complicit in their own exploitation. The apparent ‘ethical ambiguity’ surrounding current trends towards team-based working and empowerment raises serious questions for system designers and change agents seeking to intervene in organisations along lines promoted by socio-technical theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Ian Mcloughlin & Richard Badham & Paul Couchman, 1999. "Empowerment and Teams: Ethics and the Implementation of Socio-technical Systems," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: John J. Quinn & Peter W. F. Davies (ed.), Ethics and Empowerment, chapter 8, pages 235-270, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-37272-6_9
    DOI: 10.1057/9780230372726_9
    as

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