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Lili Bao Dissertation Final Version.pdf (1.11 MB)

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Deep and Diverse: Knowledge Combination of Team Members in Problem Solving Teams

Bao, Lili
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1586812485500884

Abstract Details

2020, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Organizational Behavior.
Organizations, whether by design or by default, heavily rely on work teams for high-performing solutions to solve problems to sustain their performance advantage. Most of these work teams are composed of knowledge workers who differ in the domain (breadth) or in the amount (depth) of their knowledge. In spite of the substantial insights provided by decades of research on team knowledge diversity, much less is known about how the depth of knowledge of team members might affect team processes and outcomes, and further the interrelated roles of diverse and deep knowledge in team performance. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the way by which team knowledge depth plays a role in work team processes and knowledge production performance and the impacts of the interplay between knowledge diversity and knowledge depth on team problem solving processes. I investigate these questions in two studies: a formal computer simulation model (Study 1) and an empirical analysis on archival publication records data from the MEDLINE/PubMed Database (Study 2). In Study 1, using a computer simulation model leveraging NK landscape logic, I find that team knowledge diversity seeds and constrains the deep knowledge application and team performance by suggesting a good initial point, a problem solving guideline and high-performing zones. The team members’ knowledge depth constrains the benefits of knowledge diversity and team performance by determining the accuracy of problem solving guidelines and the team members’ learning mechanism. In Study 2, using empirical analysis on the archival publication data, I focus on how collaborative publication performance differs with the different knowledge combinations in the composition of authorship on academic papers. Findings from study 2 provide evidence of the joint effect of team knowledge diversity and depth on publication success. This dissertation enriches our understanding of team knowledge management in team cognitive processes by revealing the dynamics between knowledge diversity and depth, which could both inhibit and enhance each other to generate impacts on team performance. It also has practical implications on the intelligent design of high-performing work teams and sheds light on strategy for teams to manage their knowledge and cognitive capacity.
Corinne Coen (Committee Chair)
127 p.
Organizational Behavior
Team knowledge diversity; Team knowledge depth; Team performance; Team problem solving

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Bao, L. (2020). Deep and Diverse: Knowledge Combination of Team Members in Problem Solving Teams [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1586812485500884

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Bao, Lili. Deep and Diverse: Knowledge Combination of Team Members in Problem Solving Teams. 2020. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1586812485500884.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Bao, Lili. "Deep and Diverse: Knowledge Combination of Team Members in Problem Solving Teams." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1586812485500884

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1586812485500884
57
© 2020, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.