Matching team management strategy with the organizational culture

Summary form only given. Culture is defined as the values, beliefs, and norms of an organization. Teams have been successfully applied in a variety of organizational cultures. Based on the underlying values of organizational members, two dimensions are used in the literature, needs of environment (change/flexibility vs. stability/direction) and strategic emphasis (external vs. internal) to define four culture types. The types are: an adaptability culture characterized by focus on the environment through flexibility and change to meet customer needs; a mission culture reflecting the values and norms associated with a shared vision of organization purpose, but without need for rapid change; an involvement culture emphasizing the involvement and participation of the organization´s members; and a consistency culture based on norms and values associated with an internal focus and a consistency orientation for a stable direction and environment. Given the emphasis that different cultures put on change, flexibility, stability, direction, external and internal focus, it is felt that teams in such cultures also will use different management strategies. Data were collected from 29 team leaders. Their task was to assess the relationship between the team management strategy and organizational culture, and to provide data for hypothesis testing. The information that we gathered may provide a useful yardstick for managers responsible for the design and implementation of team management strategy