Abstract
By examining theoretical developments, this chapter shows that new concepts such as agility are necessary to revitalize the discussion concerning the participation of employees and the self-organization of teams. It seems that scholars have discussed aspects such as employee participation and self-organization in a similar way for decades. Providing both conceptual and empirical insights, we argue that agile approaches are at risk of missing their goal despite this continuous discussion. This is not least because of their focus on a team-based level without challenging bureaucratic organization and hierarchical leadership as a whole. The text illustrates that agile work needs organizations and employees that are capable of self-organization but cannot tolerate it, since control and inhuman demands are part of its inherent logic.
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Notes
- 1.
Of course, the studies mentioned do not only focus on the above-mentioned objectives. But at this point we first and foremost concentrate on aspects of self-organization and degrees of autonomy for employees within organizations.
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Nicklich, M., Sauer, S., Pfeiffer, S. (2021). Antecedents and Consequences of Agility—On the Ongoing Invocation of Self-Organization. In: Pfeiffer, S., Nicklich, M., Sauer, S. (eds) The Agile Imperative . Dynamics of Virtual Work. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73994-2_2
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