Democracy, Performance, and Outcomes in Interdisciplinary Health Care Teams

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Abstract
Central to hospice care is the interdisciplinary team. Such health care teams are by definition democratic, self-managing teams. Fifty-two team members on seven hospice teams in three hospice organizations participated in the study. Hospice team members perceived the teams to be not as democratic as might be expected. One dimension of team democracy, perceived involvement of all members in team decisions, was positively and significantly associated with perceived team cohesive ness, productiveness, satisfaction with the team, satisfaction with team communica tion, and desire to stay with the team. Perception of team productiveness was a mediating variable between team involvement and job satisfaction. This study adds to empirical research on teamwork and participation in organizations by identify ing the importance of a specific dimension of participation, involvement in deci sion making. The findings suggest the necessity of training team members in devel oping strategies to encourage involvement in decision making. However, practitioners are also cautioned against viewing involvement in team decision making as the answer to all teamwork ills.

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