Self-governing often fails as managers are afraid of losing power

Managers themselves turn out to be the greatest stumbling block when implementing self-governing teams. The less power a leader has, the less they are willing to share it. This has been revealed by research by PhD student Sanne Feenstra and Professor Janka Stoker on 700 readers of Management Team magazine.

Companies that want their managers to share more power with their employees should take the managers’ needs into account. Striving for empowerment, self-governing and delegating responsibilities is in that sense a paradoxical challenge for managers; it is exactly what will cause their own position to become less stable and less powerful. Hence they are inclined to share less of that power.

More information

• Read more in Dutch on the Management Team website: De zelfsturingsparadox: manager die het in moet voeren, is zelf het grootste struikelblok [The self-governing paradox: The managers responsible for introducing it are themselves the greatest stumbling blocks; in Dutch only]
• Centre of Expertise In the Lead
• Contact: Sanne Feenstra en Janka Stoker

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