Facilitating Knowledge Building in Teams: Can a New Team Training Strategy Help?

Problem-solving teams composed of members possessing unique knowledge tend to be ineffective because of impediments that limit information sharing, including the sampling advantage of common information and differential schema structures among team members. Teams using a team training strategy aimed...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Small group research 2010-10, Vol.41 (5), p.505-523
Main Authors: Rentsch, Joan R., Delise, Lisa A., Salas, Eduardo, Letsky, Michael P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Armed forces
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition
Collaboration
Communication
Congruence
Cooperation
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Information Dissemination
Information sharing
Knowledge
Problem solving
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Sampling
Schemas
Social interactions. Communication. Group processes
Social psychology
Teams
Training
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Summary:Problem-solving teams composed of members possessing unique knowledge tend to be ineffective because of impediments that limit information sharing, including the sampling advantage of common information and differential schema structures among team members. Teams using a team training strategy aimed at ameliorating these impediments were expected to experience knowledge building and high performance. Data were collected from 40 teams of three co-located members, which were randomly assigned to a training or control condition. All teams completed a realistic military-based hidden profile problem-solving task. Teams in the training condition were trained to build knowledge using an information board (which served as a knowledge object) accompanied with schema-enriched communication. Teams in the control condition operated as typical co-located problem-solving teams and did not use an information board or receive the training. All hypotheses were supported. Teams experiencing the training strategy had higher knowledge transfer, interoperable knowledge, cognitive congruence, and performance than control teams. The training strategy appears to be effective in aiding teams to ameliorate communication impediments. Apparently, teams externalized their knowledge by communicating aspects of their schemas for task knowledge and visually representing and collaboratively structuring that knowledge.
ISSN:1046-4964
1552-8278
DOI:10.1177/1046496410369563