This research draws from new institutionalism and organizational behavior to address questions regarding how self-managed work teams (SMWTs) are diffused among jurisdictions and how effective they are when adopted. This work first reviews a diverse set of public management literature that comprises the state of knowledge about the diffusion and effectiveness of self-managed work teams. On this foundation, a conceptual model of the combination of self-managed work team diffusion and effectiveness is developed that includes the diffusion model of self-managed work teams and the effectiveness model of self-managed work teams. National survey data from a sample of 204 municipal governments are analyzed from the institutionalism perspective. The question, "why do organizations use self-managed work teams?" is explored using the logit regression method. Another set of national survey data from a sample of 176 participants in self-managed work teams is analyzed from the organizational behavior perspective. This analysis explores how workers perceive the effectiveness of self-managed work teams by using the structural equation modeling method. The key findings of this dissertation include the following: professional networks and city employees' shared belief in service quality increases the likelihood of using self-managed work teams. Also, the empirical findings reveal that the level of teamwork has a positive direct effect on all three dimensions of effectiveness (i.e., job satisfaction, resource attainment, and team performance). The level of self-management, however, is positively directly related only to resource attainment. This work contributes to public sector scholarship and practice. In the realm of new institutionalism, the key gap this effort helps to fill is the empirical specification of the diffusion of organizational practice. From the perspective of organizational behavior, the contribution of this work is the development of a key aspect of a more realistic model of the effectiveness of self-managed work teams. Further, the findings of this project imply that sophisticated, professional management can improve the effectiveness of organizational practice. The teamwork factor, better described as 'esprit d'corps', is a more powerful tool to increase organizational effectiveness than the self-management factor. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Reubin O’D. Askew School of Public Administration
and Policy in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2006. / March 1, 2006. / Organizational Effectiveness, Organizational Behavior, SMWT, Self-Managed Work Teams, Team Effectiveness, Diffusion / Includes bibliographical references. / Mary E. Guy, Professor Directing Dissertation; John K. Mayo, Outside Committee Member; Ralph S. Brower, Committee Member; Kaifeng Yang, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_175671 |
| Contributors | Yang, Seung-Bum (authoraut), Guy, Mary E. (professor directing dissertation), Mayo, John K. (outside committee member), Brower, Ralph S. (committee member), Yang, Kaifeng (committee member), School of Public Administration and Policy (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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