--- title: "Self managed teams: self directed or self-organized?" description: The terms self-managed teams, self-directed teams, and self-organized teams are often used interchangeably. However, there are subtle differences that are important to understand as practitioners explore variations of decentralized organizational structures. image: https://managementkits.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Management-Kits_Self-managed-teams-self-directed-or-self-organized-3.png --- [Skip to content](https://managementkits.com/blog/2020/8/30/self-managed-teams-self-directed-or-self-organized#main-content) ![Management Kits](https://managementkits.com/hs-fs/hubfs/MK%20Logo-1.png?width=180&height=22&name=MK%20Logo-1.png) - [Our Kits](https://managementkits.com/kits/organizational-effectiveness-suite) Show submenu for Our Kits - [Organizational Effectiveness Suite](https://managementkits.com/kits/organizational-effectiveness-suite) - [Organizational Structure Kit](https://managementkits.com/kits/organizational-structure-kit) - [Team Kit](https://managementkits.com/kits/team-kit) - [Agile Organizing Kit](https://managementkits.com/kits/agile-organizing-kit) - [Leadership Development Kit](https://managementkits.com/kits/leadership-development-kit) - [Organize for Self-Management Kit (beta)](https://managementkits.com/kits/organize-for-self-management) - [for Enterprise](https://managementkits.com/enterprise-solutions) - [Blog](https://managementkits.com/blog) - [About](https://managementkits.com/about) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [Our Kits](https://managementkits.com/kits/organizational-effectiveness-suite) Show submenu for Our Kits - [Organizational Effectiveness Suite](https://managementkits.com/kits/organizational-effectiveness-suite) - [Organizational Structure Kit](https://managementkits.com/kits/organizational-structure-kit) - [Team Kit](https://managementkits.com/kits/team-kit) - [Agile Organizing Kit](https://managementkits.com/kits/agile-organizing-kit) - [Leadership Development Kit](https://managementkits.com/kits/leadership-development-kit) - [Organize for Self-Management Kit (beta)](https://managementkits.com/kits/organize-for-self-management) - [for Enterprise](https://managementkits.com/enterprise-solutions) - [Blog](https://managementkits.com/blog) - [About](https://managementkits.com/about) - [Contact us](https://managementkits.com/blog/2020/8/30/self-managed-teams-self-directed-or-self-organized#contact) [Contact us](https://managementkits.com/blog/2020/8/30/self-managed-teams-self-directed-or-self-organized#contact) 30 Aug 2020 # Self managed teams: Are they self directed or self organized? Share this blog: [LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://managementkits.com/blog/2020/8/30/self-managed-teams-self-directed-or-self-organized) [Twitter](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://managementkits.com/blog/2020/8/30/self-managed-teams-self-directed-or-self-organized) [Email](mailto:?body=https://managementkits.com/blog/2020/8/30/self-managed-teams-self-directed-or-self-organized)   ### ![Management-Kits_Self-managed-teams-self-directed-or-self-organized.png](https://managementkits.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Management-Kits_Self-managed-teams-self-directed-or-self-organized-2.png) **The terms self-managed teams, self-directed teams, and self-organized teams are often used interchangeably. However, there are subtle differences that are important to understand as practitioners explore variations of decentralized organizational structures.** ---   First, let’s try and define the terms self managed teams, self directed teams, and self organized (or self organizing) teams. - **Self-managed teams** are work teams that are not (fully) integrated into a top-down chain of command and that do not have a single team leader with complete authority over the team’s work. The term can capture [varying degrees of decentralized authority and could thus encompass both radical and moderate approaches](https://www.managementkits.com/blog/2020/3/21/decentralized-organizations-traditional-and-radical-approaches) towards decentralized decision-making. - **Self-organized teams** can be defined as a kind of self-managed team in which decision-making authority does not lie completely with the team. For example, the team’s purpose and goals are dictated from the outside, e.g. from a boss role within the managerial hierarchy. But beyond those decisions that are made from “above”, the team can organize itself and could have decision-making authority about how to reach a given goal. - **Self-directed teams** can be defined as self-managed teams that have more decision-making power than “just” self organizing. The authority of self-directed teams would extend, for example, to strategic questions including the team’s purpose and goals. Such self-directed teams could also be called self-governing teams, as governance implies a wider scope than merely self organization. In short, self-directed teams are autonomous, whereas self-organizing teams are autonomous only in how they do things (not in why they do things or in what they do).   ## Examples of self-managed and self-directed teams: some are self organizing, others are fully autonomous [Agile or scrum teams](https://www.managementkits.com/blog/2019/5/13/reinventing-teams-and-renaming-them-at-the-same-time) in this sense would be understood as self-organizing teams, with some features of the methodology that give them a reduced form of self-directedness. (See also [Mary de Jonge’s](https://medium.com/serious-scrum/self-organization-versus-self-management-f7fddfe62851) discussion of the concepts with regard to scrum coming to this conclusion). Teams (or [circles](https://www.managementkits.com/blog/2019/5/13/reinventing-teams-and-renaming-them-at-the-same-time)) in [Holacracy](https://www.managementkits.com/blog/2019/12/5/what-org-designers-can-learn-from-holacracy) on the other hand, have more means to direct themselves, while being embedded in the overall organizational governance structure. Famously, [cabals, as project teams are called at the game development company Valve](https://www.managementkits.com/blog/2019/5/13/reinventing-teams-and-renaming-them-at-the-same-time), are truly self-directed, as are employees when they choose to affiliate with a cabal. These examples of self-directed work teams are embedded in a wider organizational system. Varying levels of team autonomy are a function not only of the chosen organization model but also of the [particular context in which the self-managed organization operates](https://www.managementkits.com/blog/new-forms-of-organizing-the-role-of-context).   ## Use the Management Functions Matrix to define the degree of self-directedness for self-managed work teams If you consider granting teams in your organization higher degrees of autonomy, without committing to a radical organizational model in an “all in” fashion, we recommend working along general management functions to specify decision-making authority. By doing this you can determine and codify what the team is free to do (and how it can do it) , which decisions it can make, e.g. regarding its purpose, its budget, or its membership, and how those decisions are aligned across the wider organization. At Management Kits, the [Management Functions Matrix](https://www.managementkits.com/blog/2020/8/31/using-management-functions-to-empower-self-directed-teams) is our research-based approach to enabling this analysis and design work. It is included in the [Organize for Self Management Kit](https://kits.managementkits.com/p/organize-for-self-management).     #### **Boost organizational effectiveness with Management Kits** #### [Preview the Kits for free](https://kits.managementkits.com/p/all-management-kits-bundle)     Note: I am grateful for my conversation with [Beat Fraefel](https://fraefelpartner.ch/), which inspired this discussion differentiating between self-organized and self-managed teams. [2020 b](https://managementkits.com/blog/tag/2020-b), [Self-managed teams](https://managementkits.com/blog/tag/self-managed-teams), [Self-organizing teams](https://managementkits.com/blog/tag/self-organizing-teams) ## Related posts [![](https://managementkits.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Management-Kits_Self-managed-teams-and-leadership.png?height=200&name=Management-Kits_Self-managed-teams-and-leadership.png)](https://managementkits.com/blog/2020/7/10/why-self-directed-teams-require-more-leadership) ## [How does leadership work in self-directed teams?](https://managementkits.com/blog/2020/7/10/why-self-directed-teams-require-more-leadership) When self-managing organizations get rid of boss roles, shared leadership within self-directed... [![](https://managementkits.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Management-Kits_Management-functions-for-self-managed-teams-3.png?height=200&name=Management-Kits_Management-functions-for-self-managed-teams-3.png)](https://managementkits.com/blog/2020/8/31/using-management-functions-to-empower-self-directed-teams) ## [Using management functions to empower self-directed teams](https://managementkits.com/blog/2020/8/31/using-management-functions-to-empower-self-directed-teams) Basic management functions provide a starting point for organization design aiming to empower... [![](https://managementkits.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Management-Kits_Self-managing-teams_learnings.png?height=200&name=Management-Kits_Self-managing-teams_learnings.png)](https://managementkits.com/blog/2019/11/23/five-key-learnings-from-an-hr-units-self-management-experiment) ## [Implementing self-management - key learnings of an HR team](https://managementkits.com/blog/2019/11/23/five-key-learnings-from-an-hr-units-self-management-experiment) I recently caught up with a group of HR experts whose organizational unit (counting over 60 people)... 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