Self-organizing coordination and control approaches: the impact of social norms on self-regulated innovation activities in self-managing teams

The development of social norms, as well as how and under which conditions social norms impact behavior, are determined by the social influence process. By leveraging the influence process we can create and handle change in self-managing teams in order to foster growth and steer team members in a positive direction, away from negative habits. At the same time, if poorly managed the developed social norms can inhibit change, and in the worst case result in conflict and resentment within the team. If team members feel part of a group and consider that group membership is relevant for them, they will adapt their behavior to align to the group's norms and standards, which in turn will dictate context-specific attitudes and behaviors that are appropriate for the team. This chapter focuses on teams’ social norms, distinguishing between descriptive- (what most others do) and injunctive (what most others approve or disapprove of) norms, investigating important moderators in the relationships between descriptive norms and behaviors, discussing the role of the social environment on the changes to and inculcation of injunctive social norms, and describing how individual team members' attributes refine the susceptibility of individuals to normative influences.