Assistant Professor The University of Texas at Tyler
Abstract: From the learning and development approach of work design, this study examines how individual autonomy influences team members’ growth experience and satisfaction in healthcare project teams in which team members have routine duties. Building on an extended model of the autonomy-performance relationship, this study tests the inverted U-shaped effects of individual autonomy on growth experience and team satisfaction, and the moderating role of task interdependence in the effects. The final sample consists of 274 team members from 50 healthcare project teams. This study finds the inverted U-shaped relationships of individual autonomy with growth experience and team satisfaction, which echoes the too-much-of-a-good-thing arguments in management. This study also demonstrates that task interdependence, as a structural mechanism, moderates the above relationships, advancing an understanding of the trade-off relationship between individual autonomy and task interdependence. This study provides theoretical and practical insights into successful project task design for team members’ learning and satisfaction.
