This study examines the determinants of organizational commitment in a self-managing work team setting. The data used in the study are from a sample of 313 employees in an electronics manufacturing plant. Chapter one introduces the reader to the topic of self-managing work teams and explains the relevance of commitment to this organizational structure. Chapter two is a review of the literature which focuses on commitment, its determinants, and two theories used to explain the relationship between them. The remaining chapters describe the methodology used in the study, explain the findings and draw conclusions. Of all the factors analyzed, only perceived organizational support and autonomy were found to influence commitment in this sample. The relevance of these findings for business and academia is discussed.

The present study empirically examined working behaviors of men and women within a self-managed working environment. Three models of women and work were studied. Results indicated women exhibited higher levels of job meaning and continuance commitment. The more self-managed production team exhibited higher levels of growth need strength, support from co-workers, continuance commitment, task significance and lower levels of role conflicts. Support teams exhibited higher levels of autonomy and satisfaction with pay. Path analysis, testing a model based on Astin's sociopsychological model indicated direct effects from expectancy to general satisfaction, from gender to expectancy, and task significance to gender. An alternative model showed direct effects between general satisfaction and expectancy, satisfaction with pay, task significance and expectancies, and between satisfaction with pay and teams.

Derived from sociotechnical systems theory, autonomous or self-managed work groups are a form of work design in which employees are multi-skilled, take responsibility for the group's tasks, and have discretion over the decisions which impact group performance. Previously collected survey data from 602 employees of a southwestern manufacturing firm were examined via factor analyses and multivariate analysis of variance. Significant differences were found for self-managed work group members versus traditional job holders regarding enhanced organizational involvement and enhanced work responsibility. However, there was no evidence of an age effect nor interaction regarding age. This study provides evidence to other action researchers and organizational decision makers that an "older" work force should not be considered a barrier to implementing this type of work design