New Forms of Work Groups: Exocentric Teams

This chapter is about the changing nature of work groups and the implications of these changes for workplace practices, management of change at the workplace, and for future research about groups. Specifically, we examine the following questions:

• What are the basic changes in the structure and process of forms of work groups?

• What are the implications of these changes for practice and research on groups in organizations?

The theme of this chapter is that fundamental changes in the nature of work groups require new theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of groups and new ways of managing groups, both by group leaders and by those who design and oversee them. Since these new forms of groups span new boundaries (geographic, organizational, functional, and temporal), they present new challenges for negotiation and conflict resolution. We will therefore highlight a number of these challenges the changing nature of groups pose to both their leaders and members.