Principal Investigator Nick van der Meulen
Co-investigators Stephanie Woerner , Peter Weill
Project Website https://cisr.mit.edu/content/what-vs-how-governance-aligned-autonomy
Project Start Date January 2020
Companies are increasingly depending on empowered teams to deal with the accelerated pace of the digital era, yet leaders are finding that this new way of organizing is challenging in terms of coordination and end-to-end integration of company offerings. This year, we will investigate the effectiveness of governance mechanisms that redefine authority and accountability to ensure coherent decision making in complex organizational contexts. The research will consist of a survey of senior executives and case studies of companies that pursue empowerment as an enterprise-wide reality.
Research questions include:
(*) How can companies foster an environment in which teams successfully distribute ownership of key decisions?
(*) What governance mechanisms work to enhance organizational alignment while minimally limiting team autonomy?
(*) What are effective resource allocation mechanisms (particularly in terms of funding and expertise) to support empowered teams?
Seeking: Survey respondents and interviewees from companies that are working to successfully align the efforts of their empowered teams.