Does the autonomy of entrepreneurial teams' members contribute to develop a new decision-making process?

cahier de recherche n°2009-32 E4Despite popular legends about individual entrepreneurs, the creation and successful management of new ventures in term of decision making process, strategies and leadership are often a team effort, shared among the members. Indeed, entrepreneurial teams are becoming on of the more popular modes of new venture development. However, even if there the work on entrepreneurial teams is increased, there is a lack of integration concerning the autonomy within these kind teams. This paper presents a field study of autonomy of the entrepreneurial teams members and its role in the decision making process and identifies the importance of the leadership with these approaches. We then developed a longitudinal case study of an entrepreneurial team composed by four members. It focuses on the shared leadership method used to make strategic decisions. The result highlights the fact that autonomy can provide a solution facilitating the management of teams. This innovative practice empowers members by giving them greater flexibility and by involving them in decision-making process. The degree of the members' autonomy and the kind of responsibilities entrusted to the team members seem to evolve according to their professional maturity. Thus, the autonomy of the team members follows a process parallel to the evolutionary development of the members' professional maturity and growth of the organization