Autonomous work groups in a greenfield site: A comparative study

Abstract

This paper describes an investigation of the attitudinal and motivational effects of autonomous group working in a greenfield site. Through the use of multiple comparison groups, the study demonstrates that the planned manipulation of work design was successful, leading to greater perceived work role complexity as well as to commensurate differences in perceived leadership style. These manifest and experienced differences in work design are shown to result in significantly higher levels of job satisfaction. However, no effect was found for employee motivation, organizational commitment, trust or mental health.