No abstract

In knowledge-based environments, teams must develop a systematic approach to integrating knowledge resources throughout the course of projects in order to perform effectively. Yet many teams fail to do so. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, we examine how teams can develop a knowledge-integration capability to dynamically integrate memhers' resources into higher performance. We distinguish among three sets of resources-relational, experiential, and structural-and propose that they differentially influence a team's knowledge integration capahility. We test our theoretical framework using data on knowledge workers in professional services and discuss implications for research and practice.

SummaryThe nature of collaboration has been changing at an accelerating pace, particularly in the last decade. Much of the published work in teams research, however, is still focused on the archetypal team that has well-defined membership, purposes, leadership, and standards of effectiveness-all characteristics that are being altered by changes in the larger context of collaboration. Each of these features is worth attention as a dynamic construct in its own right. Much of the published work in teams research, however, is still focused on the archetypal team that has well-defined membership, purpose, leadership, and standards of effectiveness. There is still more to learn about that kind of team. But the profound gap between what teams scholars are studying and what people are doing in the world-both within and between organizations-inspired us to propose this special issue. Our goal is to provoke theory, research, approaches, and methodologies that will help scholars recognize and understand the rapidly expanding universe of contemporary collaboration and teamwork.Indeed, as we argue in this article and as suggested in some of the articles offered in this issue, the very notion of a traditionally defined "team" may become increasingly outmoded. Our domain in this special issue is collaboration, which we define as "team-like behavior over time and across projects"-a definition that includes but is not restricted to what has traditionally been studied as "teams." Trends such as digitalization and globalization are already well-established subjects in teams research and will be addressed by articles in this issue. Other trends, such as value pluralism and climate change, are having surprising and critical effects on the uses and methods of collaboration but have not yet been the subject of much teams research.