Teams, Compulsory Competitive Tendering and Employee Burnout

Abstract

This paper examines the attempt to develop a self-managing team in the Building Control Unit of an outer Melbourne council. This occurred in the context of the implementation of Compulsory Competitive Tendering at the council in the late 1990s. A unique feature of the situation was an agreement with the Australian Services Union, which represented the staff involved, for there to be a form of gainsharing, not based on productivity improvement, but as it turned out on excessive working hours. This combined with the inward focus of the team, conflicts within it and peer pressure exacerbated the situation and led eventually to employee burnout.