HOW IMPORTANT IS TEAM STRUCTURE TO TEAM PERFORMANCE

This paper discusses the effects of team structure on the performance of design teams. Three types of team structures are differentiated on the basis of the functional and social groups that result from task dependencies and interaction opportunities. The reported findings are based upon results from simulation-based studies using a computational model. Differences across the team structures are investigated through a series of simulations in which the team membership and the workload busyness of the team members are independent variables, and the team performance and formation of team mental models are the dependent variables. Team performance is measured in terms of the ability of the team members to coordinate the set of tasks the team needs to perform. Findings suggest that, in general, flat teams facilitate formation of team mental models, while functional teams are best for efficient task coordination.

[1]  D. Wegner.  Transactive Memory: A Contemporary Analysis of the Group Mind , 1987 .

[2]  Steven D. Eppinger,et al.  Patterns of Product Development Interactions , 2002 .

[3]  B. Weiner,et al.  Cue utilization and attributional judgments for success and failure , 1971 .

[4]  Janis A. Cannon-Bowers,et al.  Teamwork competencies: the interaction of team member knowledge, skills and attitude , 1997 .

[5]  Daniel T. Gilbert,et al.  Thinking backward: some curable and incurable consequences of cognitive busyness , 1989 .

[6]  M. Smyth.  Cognition In Action , 1987 .

[7]  Thomas W. Malone,et al.  Temporary assignments and a permanent home : A case study in the transition to project-based organizational practices , 2002 .

[8]  J. Katzenbach,et al.  The discipline of teams. , 1993, Harvard business review.

[9]  E. Edmonds,et al.  Collaborative Expertise for Creative Technology Design , 2003 .

[10]  Kathleen M. Carley,et al.  Workgroup Members , 2022 .

[11]  Vishal Singh,et al.  Exploring the Role of Social Learning on Team Mental Models , 2009 .

[12]  D. M. Clark.  Theory of Groups , 2012 .

[13]  A. Leslie.  Pretense and representation: The origins of "theory of mind." , 1987 .

[14]  Thomas W. Malone,et al.  Modeling Coordination in Organizations and Markets , 1987 .

[15]  Andy Dong,et al.  Visualising Collaboration in Very Large Design Teams , 2005 .

[16]  J. Hackman,et al.  The design of work teams , 1987 .

[17]  John S. Gero,et al.  Design Prototypes: A Knowledge Representation Schema for Design , 1990, AI Mag..

[18]  Bertram F. Malle,et al.  Folk Theory of Mind: Conceptual Foundations of Social Cognition , 2003 .

[19]  Linda Argote,et al.  Individual Experience and Experience Working Together: Predicting Learning Rates from Knowing Who Knows What and Knowing How to Work Together , 2005, Manag. Sci..

[20]  Andrea Sonnleitner,et al.  Folk theory of mind: Conceptual foundations of human social cognition. , 2006 .

[21]  S. Mohammed,et al.  Mental models in design teams: a valid approach to performance in design collaboration? , 2007 .

[22]  Verlin B. Hinsz,et al.  Group Members as Actors and Observers in Attributions of Responsibility for Group Performance , 2009 .

[23]  P. Clarkson,et al.  Information flow in engineering companies: problems and their causes , 2001 .

[24]  J. Stevenson.  The cultural origins of human cognition , 2001 .

[25]  S. Mohammed,et al.  Team Mental Model: Construct or Metaphor? , 1994 .

[26]  Johann Packendorff,et al.  INQUIRING INTO THE TEMPORARY ORGANIZATION: NEW DIRECTIONS FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT RESEARCH , 1995 .