How Leaders Foster Self-Managing Team Effectiveness: Design Choices Versus Hands-on Coaching

Abstract

This multi-method field study examines the relative effects of two kinds of leader behaviors—design choices and hands-on coaching—on the effectiveness of self-managing teams. Findings show that how leaders design their teams and the quality of their hands-on coaching both influence team self-management, the quality of member relationships, and member satisfaction, but only leaders' design activities affect team task performance. Moreover, design and coaching interact, so that well-designed teams are helped more by effective coaching—and undermined less by ineffective coaching—than are poorly designed teams.