ABSTRACT
In 1984, a group of people working for Ashridge Teamworking Services (ATS) produced a model for outstanding team performance. The model was the result of action research. Many organizations aim to be better at teamworking, not least because the management literature suggests that flexible, low-hierarchy organizations can respond rapidly to external pressures. This seems to be particularly true for high-tech companies and new organizations which have set themselves up with these values and traditions and then work hard to achieve them. A brief survey of organizations that are performing reasonably well or even very well indicates that there is a wide range of leadership styles that are conducive to high performance. ATS’ leadership and membership performance model assumes that the changes in performance are primarily within the organizational environment. The idea of an environment refers to the basic nature of the organization in terms of how power is used, how it is structured and how the culture is described.
