Democratic Team

Taken from ThePsychologyOfComputerProgramming, p.81

AKA: TechnocraticTeam? [p.90]

Related to the engine view of a team (p.108) whereby the idea is that a team is an entity for getting things done and where the valves aren't the boss of the crankshave or the cylinders of the fuel infectors.

Intention is to allow leadership to more around the team, which each member becoming a leader in time to handle a specific problem. Here the problem would be something that the new leader has experience in and he/she is the most experienced in the group for coping with the problem.

As soon as the problem is solved, the leader slips back into the folders of the group and a new leader emerges as the next crisises hits.

This is a kind of just in time leadership system, requires that the team has enough potential leaders and enough experience to cope with varying problems.

Junior members of the team need not take on lead roles, but should be given the oppurtiunity to learn from more senior members.

Benefits of such a team is its ability to adapt to changing requirements and unexpected problems. Managers can mistakenly assume that democratic teams can not function in a crisis, pointing to strong hierarchical teams that can be coordinated by a strong leader through the crisis.

Problems occur when the team does have enough experience, or resources to cope with the situation. This can also be caused by personality factors, i.e. these factors prevent the election of the right man for the situation. In this case an outside leader needs to be brought onto the scene.

-- GerritRiessen