Symbiont Practices in Boundary Spanning: Bridging the Cognitive and Political Divides in Interdisciplinary Research

Kaplan, Sarah; Milde, J.; Cowan, Ruth Schwartz

doi:10.5465/amj.2015.0809

Cited by 86 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 87 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Obstfeld (2017) Supporting ongoing interdisciplinary scientific collaborations using methodological expertise that is sought by diverse partners Kaplan et al (2017) a tertius iungens strategy). However, when engaging in embedded brokering involving alters with whom they had long-term ties, these individuals were more likely to facilitate direct contact between alters (tertius iungens) rather than to act as intermediaries (tertius gaudens).…”

Section: Helpful Brokersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whereas some brokering activities that transform nonexisting or neutral relationships into positive relationships generalize across organizational contexts, other brokering activities are context-specific. A recent field study of boundary spanning activities in an interdisciplinary nanotechnology research center exemplifies such context-specific bridging activities (Kaplan et al, 2017). In this universitybased organizational environment, PhD students and postdoctoral fellows from multiple departments (including chemistry, physics, materials science, mechanical engineering, and medicine) served as boundary spanners who facilitated interdisciplinary research collaborations in the face of cognitive and political/economic barriers to such research projects.…”

Section: Helpful Brokersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, we aim to review and integrate the thriving literature on brokerage with emerging insights and findings on brokering processes. Multiple research teams have made important strides in recent years toward a deeper understanding of how brokering happens (Kaplan, Milde, & Cowan, 2017;Lingo & O'Mahony, 2010;Obstfeld, 2017;Quintane & Carnabuci, 2016). To integrate research on brokerage and brokering, we followed recent recommendations (Aguinis, Ramani, & Alabduljader, 2018), and engaged in an iterative process to define the scope of the current review and identify relevant content by searching relevant databases, seeking advice from scholars with pertinent expertise, and conducting back searches for referenced work.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Brokerage and Brokering: An Integrative Review and Organizing Framework for Third Party Influence

Halevy

Halali

Zlatev

2019

ANNALS

136

100

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Brokerage and brokering are pervasive and consequential organizational phenomena. Prevailing models underscore social structure and focus on the consequences that come from brokerage-occupying a bridging position between disconnected others in a network. By contrast, emerging models underscore social interactions and focus on brokering-the behavioral processes through which organizational actors shape others' relationships. Our review led us to develop a novel framework as a means to integrate and organize a wide range of theoretical insights and empirical findings on brokerage and brokering. The Changing Others' Relationships (COR) framework captures the following ideas that emerged from our review: (a) Different triadic configurations enable different forms of brokering, which in turn produce distinct effects on others' relationships, (b) brokering is a multifaceted social influence process that can take the form of intermediation (connecting disconnected others) or modification (changing others' preexisting relationships), (c) comparing social relations prebrokering versus postbrokering reveals a broker's impact, (d) brokering can influence others' relationships positively or negatively, and (e) information and incentives are two principal means through which individuals change others' relationships. Overall, the current review integrates multiple streams of research relevant to brokerage and brokering-including those on structural holes, organizational innovation, boundary spanning, social and political skill, workplace gossip, third-party conflict managers, and labor relations-and links each of the emergent themes identified in the current review to promising directions for future research on brokerage and brokering.

show abstract

Section: Helpful Brokersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Helpful Brokersmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Brokerage and Brokering: An Integrative Review and Organizing Framework for Third Party Influence

Halevy

Halali

Zlatev

2019

ANNALS

136

100

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although cognitive boundaries are frequently recognized as main barriers for research collaboration (Siedlok and Hibbert, 2014;Kaplan et al, 2017), there is no agreed-on process for bridging these boundaries to create a shared framework. Researchers have pointed to a lack of focus on developing such processes (O'Connor et al, 2003;Siedlok and Hibbert, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling and Simulation as Boundary Objects to Facilitate Interdisciplinary Research

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper describes Group Model Building (GMB) as an effective tool to bring together teams of researchers from different disciplines in theory‐building efforts. We propose that the simulation models, as well as other artefacts used during the modelling process, work as boundary objects useful to facilitate conversations among researchers of different disciplines, uncover insights, and build consensus on causal connections and actionable insights. In addition to providing a more robust theoretical basis for participatory system modelling as an approach to theory development in interdisciplinary work, we describe a study using GMB that illustrates its use. The assessment of the case suggests that system models provide interdisciplinary teams with opportunity to combine the strengths of qualitative and quantitative approaches to express theoretical issues, using an analytical meta‐language that permits iteratively building theory and testing its internal consistency. Moreover, the GMB process helps researchers navigate the tension between achieving interdisciplinary consensus (which often involves adding details) and building a parsimonious theory of the phenomenon under study. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

show abstract

“…Of course, some scholars believe that heterogeneity can expand the knowledge and vision of the various members of the group, inspiring team members to generate more innovative ideas. Thus, a moderate degree of cognitive heterogeneity is beneficial to team innovation, but the impact depends on cross-discipline sharing of expertise, the division of specialization across experts, and the degree of mutual understanding [24,25].…”

Section: Cognitive Heterogeneity and Innovationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Heterogeneity and Leadership on Innovation Performance: Evidence from University Research Teams in China

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Interdisciplinary cooperation is an important way to achieve scientific innovation breakthrough. Currently, great scientific innovation often occurs in interdisciplinary areas. However, they still face challenges in relation to theoretical support and strategic choices. This paper identifies the extent to which interdisciplinary cooperation-induced heterogeneity affects team innovation performance in Chinese universities. The questionnaire survey is employed in this study and the samples selection covers a wide range of multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary collaboration. This study used Poisson regression analysis to create a new method to evaluate innovation performance. Then, the relationship between team heterogeneity and innovation performance was examined and the moderating role of transformational leadership was also introduced. The empirical results show that three independent variables (disciplinary heterogeneity, cognitive heterogeneity, and organisational heterogeneity) all had a significant positive effect on the team innovation performance. Transformational leadership has a significant positive effect on cognitive heterogeneity and innovation performance, but moderating effects did not appear to be seen in the other two relationships. Our study contributes to a deeper understanding of the value of interdisciplinary research collaboration.

show abstract

Symbiont Practices in Boundary Spanning: Bridging the Cognitive and Political Divides in Interdisciplinary Research

Cited by 86 publications

References 87 publications

Brokerage and Brokering: An Integrative Review and Organizing Framework for Third Party Influence

Brokerage and Brokering: An Integrative Review and Organizing Framework for Third Party Influence

Modeling and Simulation as Boundary Objects to Facilitate Interdisciplinary Research

The Effect of Heterogeneity and Leadership on Innovation Performance: Evidence from University Research Teams in China

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About