The Double-Edged Swords of Autonomy and External Knowledge by M. R. Haas - Article Example

The paper "The Double-Edged Swords of Autonomy and External Knowledge by M. R. Haas" is a delightful example of an article on management. The purpose of Haas’ article is to explore the importance of both autonomy and external knowledge in self-managing teams within an organization. Since both autonomy and external knowledge have their benefits and risks, Haas aims to provide information in recognizing the auspicious conditions to minimize the risks related to autonomy and external knowledge. Haas gathered data from a multinational organization employing over 10,000 employees worldwide. Data gatherings methods used were semi-structured interviews, and quantitative data from the company’s project evaluation unit, team member surveys, and archival project records (p.994). He used two dependent variables, strategic effectiveness, and operational effectiveness, and quantified the data using ordinal scales (p.995). Additionally, he also utilized controlled variables, namely team location, team satisfaction, and team size. These variables were also quantified using the ordinal scales. The results show that both autonomy and external knowledge complement each other in increasing team effectiveness (p.1001). Research results demonstrate that there is increased strategic and operational effectiveness in teams with higher autonomy and external knowledge compared to the teams with low autonomy and high external knowledge, or teams with high autonomy and low external knowledge (p.1006). Combining autonomy and external knowledge increased strategic and operational effectiveness when the required knowledge is non-organizational, but not when they were organizational. They also increased the two types of effectiveness when the required knowledge was in short supply, but not when it was general. Therefore, the combination of autonomy and external knowledge promote effective performance for self-managing teams because it will allow them to make decisions that are independent yet informed, and avoid possible risks of too much influence or too rigid isolation.