The link between self‐managed work teams and learning organisations using performance indicators

Both the learning organization literature and the self‐managed work team literature have alluded to the potential links between teamwork and learning. However, as yet the link between these two concepts remains undeveloped. This study uses a survey of a random sample of 200 Australian organizations to empirically examine the relationships between self‐managed work teams and the learning organization using performance indicators as a medium. It was found that the learning organization concept displays a moderate to strong link with three measures of performance used in this study: knowledge performance, financial performance and customer satisfaction. Although the self‐managed work team concept did not display any significant relationship with performance, the qualitative component of the survey did emphasize that there is a common belief that self‐managed teams can increase performance in the right setting. While an insignificant relationship between self‐managed teams and the learning organization was also found, this study suggests some methodological concerns for future research into the relationship between self‐managed teams and the learning organization.