Contu, Alessia and Pecis, Lara 2017. Groups and teams at work. Knights, D. and Wilmott, H., eds. Introducing Organizational Behaviour and Management, Cengage Learning, pp. 113-157. |
Abstract
The first part of this chapter introduces mainstream views of teams at work. Referring to a case study of a new media company, it elaborates the assumptions held and the importance attached to the idea that teamwork is good for organizational performance, and that teamwork favours flexibility, motivation and learning. The text makes connections to contemporary ideas about teamwork, as well as referring to past studies that have been significant for our understanding of the ways teams, and their members, behave. In the second part of the chapter, problems of mainstream thinking are unravelled and addressed by drawing upon the work of radical and critical studies of teamwork to show that: ● The categories we create can become prescriptions and lose their relevance for understanding the challenges and difficulties of organized life. ● Organizational life is complex, ambiguous and embedded in relations of power. ● Teamwork is neither intrinsically good nor new. ● Radical and critical views can enhance democratic debate by questioning taken-for-granted assumptions about teamwork.
Item Type: | Book Section |
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Date Type: | Publication |
Status: | Published |
Schools: | Business (Including Economics) |
Publisher: | Cengage Learning |
ISBN: | 9781473726642 |
Last Modified: | 16 Jun 2023 11:03 |
URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/159450 |
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