ABSTRACT
The role of the team leader has been described in many ways in the extant literature. However, there is no consensus in terms of whether all team leaders should possess all of the listed qualities. Manz and Sims divided the leadership of self-managed work teams into “external versus internal” responsibilities. Yeatts and Hyten argued that in self-managed work teams, the leader should be selected by the team with the approval of management, with the proviso that the position can rotate. Hackman postulated that team leadership varies along a continuum, with manager-led teams at the left end, self-managing teams in the center, and self-governing teams at the far-right end. Zaccaro and Marks argued that teams need leaders to carry out specific roles first. Eventually these roles may be delegated to team members. Process-effective-focused organizations work best with team leadership that is primarily managerial.
