A model of multidiscipline teams in knowledge‐creating organizations

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to provide a conceptual framework for measuring the performance of multidiscipline teams in knowledge‐creating organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

The author conducts a meta‐analysis of case studies on individual and team performance and technical communication in the context of creating organizational knowledge. This analysis provides a basis for a new conceptual framework for team functions and performance.

Findings

This framework updates the definition of team functions to include knowledge creation and communication. The framework describes several factors that contribute to successful performance and provides a scale for measuring successful performance based on the additional team functions.

Practical implications

An organization's ability to create and manage knowledge may be their only lasting competitive advantage. Managers, whose responsibilities include fostering purposeful knowledge creation and transfer, need a framework for understanding how these goals can be factored into team performance and what factors contribute to the successful achievement of these goals. This paper provides such a framework.

Originality/value

This is the first conceptual framework for team performance that includes knowledge creation and stakeholder communication as principle team functions.

Citation

Alberts, D.J. (2007), "A model of multidiscipline teams in knowledge‐creating organizations", Team Performance Management, Vol. 13 No. 5/6, pp. 172-183. https://doi.org/10.1108/13527590710831873