Antecedents and consequences of team sensemaking capability in product development projects

Abstract

With the increasing popularity of organizational sensemaking in the literature, sensemaking capability of firms attracts many researchers and practitioners from different fields. Nevertheless, sensemaking capability is rarely addressed in the new product development (NPD) project teams in the technology and innovation management literature. Specifically, we know little about what team sensemaking capability is, its ingredients and benefits, and how it works in NPD projects (e.g., its antecedents and consequences). By investigating 92 NPD project teams, we found that (1) team sensemaking capability, which is composed of internal and external communication, information gathering, information classification, building shared mental models, and taking experimental actions, has a positive impact on the information implementation and speed-to-market; (2) information implementation and speed-to-market mediate the relationship between team sensemaking capability and new product success; and (3) team sensemaking capability mediates the relationship between team processes and information implementation and partially mediates the relationship between team processes and speed-to-market. We also found that team autonomy, interpersonal trust among team members, and open-mindedness of team members positively influence the development of team sensemaking capability. Theoretical and managerial implications of the study findings are discussed.health care (Albolino et al., 2007;Davidson, 2010;Kitzmiller et al., 2010;Manojlovich, 2010), and battle fields (Jensen, 2009). In those studies, researchers indicate that sensemaking is an ongoing process of meaning construction, which reflects how team members make interpretations of actions and events, thus making ambiguous situations more orderly, and bs_bs_banner R&D Management 42, 5, 2012.Research examining the impact of sensemaking capability on information implementation (e.g., cor- Team sensemaking capability in product development

From Technological Inventions to New Products: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda of the Main Enabling Factors

“…Therefore, companies can gain advantages by encouraging the creation of these contacts and identifying those actors, thus sustaining the achievement of better innovative performance. In the same vein, favoring the establishment of strong ties between members, in terms of closeness and frequency, can be considered as an important managerial issue, since it promotes trust, knowledge recombination, and knowledge sharing, which consequently foster new product introduction (Menon et al ., ; Smith et al ., ; Akgün et al ., ; Guler and Nerkar, ). Nevertheless, in some phases of the new product development process less strong ties can be more beneficial.…”

“…This, in fact, helps companies to manage their human and technological resources in a more effective manner (Martín‐de Castro et al ., ). As well, firms that recognize the relevance of sharing of knowledge and ideas among members (Akgün et al ., ; Brown and Karagozoglu, ; Carayannopoulos, ; Goodale et al ., ; Jensen et al ., ; Maine, ; Yam et al ., ) allow them to better ‘understand, and construct meaning on the project‐ technology‐, and market‐related information’ (Goodale et al ., : 3), and ‘apply their creative thoughts’ (Martín‐de Castro et al ., : 354).…”

That Makes Sense to Me: Openness to Change and Sensemaking in Idea Screening

“…The way in which an individual perceives herself also affects how she makes sense of the world around her. For instance, open-mindedness has been shown to affect sensemaking on both organisational and team level as it directs people to be receptive to new and different ideas (Akgün et al, 2012;Neill et al, 2007). Thus, identity construction is an important precursor to the act of sensemaking.…”

A serial mediation model of effects of team innovation on new product development success: Revising the role of team strategic orientations

“…NPD success was measured by six items ( α = 0.880), reflecting the degree to which the new products exceed the expected performance, and these were developed by Akgün, Keskin, Lynn, and Dogan (). Environmental dynamism was measured by three items ( α = 0.920) reflecting the extent to which organizations take into consideration the effects of industrial context, competitor practices, technological improvements, and customer trends (Jansen, Van Den Bosch, & Volberda, ).…”