Self-Managing Work Teams

Abstract

There is evidence in literature that supports a link between group cohesion and performance. After the well-known turnaround in the 1980s, Harley-Davidson has become a very successful company; a command-and-control culture was replaced by a new culture of assembly employees making important decisions in work teams. This study examined the determinants of group cohesion in self-managing work teams (SMWT) called “natural work groups ” (NWG) at the Harley-Davidson Motor Company’s Kansas City, MO (HDKC), assembly plant. At this plant, NWGs are empowered to successfully run the business of assembling motorcycles. A 156-item survey was completed by 233 employees (67% response rate) at the plant. A regression model, which includes the two statistically significant independent variables, (a) employee control over team staffing and (b) perceived fairness, explains nearly 42% of the variance in group cohesion.