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Emergent Learning in Digital Product Teams

Nagaraj, Varun
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6362-4705
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1553980113426569

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Management.
As digital technologies transform the economy, more teams than ever before are developing digital products in environments that are dynamic and unfamiliar to them. A digital product team typically does not a priori possess all the knowledge required to appropriately interpret and respond to its environment. Therefore, the team’s ability to learn fast and continuously—to acquire as-required new knowledge and change cognition and action as a result—becomes critical to its success. Relative to traditional new product development (NPD), digital NPD is idiosyncratic, and consequently, team learning in digital NPD is different from team learning in traditional NPD. This research inquiry aims to develop a preliminary understanding of the emerging and poorly understood socio-technical phenomenon of team learning in digital NPD. The inquiry frames learning as a technology-constituted process and uses an unorthodox mixed methods research design—consisting of concurrent qualitative and quantitative studies that partially inform a third design science study—in order to explore three key facets of the multi-level phenomenon. Each study examines a different facet, is situated at a different level, and characterizes a different learning process mechanism. Meta-inferences are then inductively and abductively derived to provide a more generalized understanding of the phenomenon. Study 1 uses constructivist grounded theory development to discover an individual-level process mechanism called senseshaping used by the NPD team’s product manager to craft a team response to a trigger event. Study 2 uses structural equation modeling to characterize the effects of the popular team-level design thinking mechanism used by the NPD team to learn and develop new products. Study 3 uses design science research methodology to develop and evaluate a technology-constituted team-level process mechanism called the Product-Assisted-Learning (PAL) Loop that enables learning from product feedback. Integration yields the following meta-inferences: (1) concurrently deployed process mechanisms are generally complementary but may cause tensions that should be constructively channeled; and (2) learning in digital product teams is emergent (arising in unexpected ways during performance and calling for prompt action), and is enabled by ambidextrous and improvised learning capabilities and the thoughtful use of software tools in the learning process. The theorizing around senseshaping and emergent learning contributes to sensemaking and team learning scholarship. The research addresses the gap in empirical studies on the effects of design thinking and contributes to the lean-agile literature by unpacking the technology-constituted PAL Loop. In aggregate, the research offers pragmatic prescriptions regarding practices and tools that product teams and leaders can implement to increase their proficiency in digital product development.
Kalle Lyytinen, PhD (Committee Chair)
Youngjin Yoo, PhD (Committee Member)
Nicholas Berente, PhD (Committee Member)
Nitin Joglekar, PhD (Committee Member)
327 p.
Business Administration; Design; Information Systems; Management; Marketing; Organizational Behavior; Social Structure; Systems Design; Technology
digital transformation; digital new product development; team learning; fast learning; sensemaking; fuzzy front end; design thinking; lean startup; agile development; senseshaping; emergent learning; learning process mechanism; logic of action

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Nagaraj, V. (2019). Emergent Learning in Digital Product Teams [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1553980113426569

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Nagaraj, Varun. Emergent Learning in Digital Product Teams. 2019. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1553980113426569.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Nagaraj, Varun. "Emergent Learning in Digital Product Teams." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1553980113426569

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1553980113426569
3,148
© 2019, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.