The Integrative Team Knowledge Building Training Strategy in Distributed Problem-Solving Teams

Abstract

Team knowledge building requires teams to discuss all available pertinent task information. However, teams tend to extract information ineffectively due to impediments including the sampling advantage of common information and differential schema structures among team members. In addition, distributed teams have difficulty building knowledge due to constraints associated with low-bandwidth computer-mediated communication. Therefore, we tested a team training strategy aimed at facilitating team knowledge building in distributed teams. Data were collected from 40 teams of three distributed members. Teams were assigned to a training or control condition, and they completed a realistic problem-solving task. Training condition teams were trained to build knowledge by creating a knowledge object integrated with schema-enriched communication behaviors in text chat. Control condition teams communicated using chat only and received no training. Results indicated trained teams, relative to untrained teams, shared more unique information, transferred more knowledge, developed higher cognitive congruence, and produced higher quality solutions.Problem-solving teams achieve high performance when team members use their unique perspectives and information to build team knowledge. Building team knowledge requires team members to share uniquely held information, transfer knowledge to teammates, operate relevant knowledge available in the team, and collaboratively integrate and structure knowledge possessed by the team. Ultimately, team members must go beyond simply mentioning information and must collaboratively integrate content, discuss relevance, and convey meaning to build team knowledge.Teams, however, face two major impediments to building team knowledge. One impediment is team members' bias toward discussing information team members hold in common to the detriment of discussing team members' uniquely held information (Campbell & Stasser, 2006;Stasser & Titus, 1985). This impediment restricts access to the team's available information pool and limits the team's capacity for building team knowledge. The second impediment is team members' differential task schemas. Team members with different perspectives and expertise related to the problem possess different deep-level cognitive structures for task knowledge that guide thought and communication about the team's task. Differential schemas complicate communications about the meaning of unique information (e.g., Hinds, Patterson, & Pfeffer, 2001). Due to these two impediments, member of problem-solving teams share little of their unique knowledge and have difficulty communicating it in a way that builds team knowledge.Rentsch, Delise, Salas, and Letsky (2010) developed a team training strategy to address both impediments and found that teams in their team training strategy condition evidenced higher team knowledge building and performance than teams in a control condition. Although the team training strategy was effective, examined its effects in face-toface teams only and sugg...

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