Teams can be classified in a number of ways, such as permanent or temporary, or functional or cross-functional. However, studies indicate that the amount of autonomy possessed by a team is the key difference among teams. Autonomy is the degree to which workers have the discretion, freedom, and independence to decide how and when to accomplish their jobs. Exhibit shows how five kinds of teams differ in teams of autonomy. Moving left to right across the autonomy continuum at the top of the exhibit, traditional work groups and employee involvement groups have the least autonomy, semiautonomous work groups have more autonomy, and, finally, self-managing teams and self-designing teams have the most autonomy. Moving from bottom to top along the left side of the exhibit, note that the number of responsibilities given to each kind of team increases directly with its autonomy. Let’s review each of these kinds of teams and their autonomy and responsibilities in more detail.