The Structural Context of Team Learning: Effects of Organizational and Team Structure on Internal and External Learning

Abstract

This paper reports on a study of structural antecedents to team learning. In a study of self-managed pharmaceutical research and development teams, we first find that more team-level structure is associated with more internal learning as well as more external learning. We then establish that more organizational-level structure is negatively associated with both internal and external learning. We find that psychological safety mediates the positive relationship between team structure and team learning, and that task autonomy constraints mediate the negative relationship between organizational structure and team learning. Investigating the interaction effect between team and organizational structure, we find, unexpectedly, that organizational structure supports external team learning under conditions of less team structure. Specifically, when teams have less team structure, the relationship between organizational structure and external team learning is positive. This structure substitutability finding suggests that although more organizational structure, on average, hurts external team learning, there are situations in which it helps. An important implication of the study is that multiple levels of structure, and their interactions, should be taken into consideration when assessing structural effects on team learning.

The Joint Influence of Intra- and Inter-Team Learning Processes on Team Performance: A Constructive or Destructive Combination?

“…Third, our hypothesis for a complementing interaction of intra-and inter-team learning was based on a conceptual analysis of the task environment in our specific study context (Bresman and Zellmer-Bruhn 2013). The complex and innovative aspects of the teacher teams' task in the current study context are not generalizable to all other team learning contexts.…”

“…Apart from collaborating in their specific team, the university teachers in our study are part of different research departments, and are a vital part of the broader study program for which they design and teach their course. As teams need to create alignment with this external environment (Bresman and Zellmer-Bruhn 2013), their interactions with external parties (other institutions, teams, or persons within the organizational context) can be seen as an essential part of the team learning process itself (Zellmer-Bruhn 2003). Specifically, in our study context teachers need to build a shared conception within their (interdisciplinary) teaching team of the joint course they are designing, but their opinion about this design will be shaped by discussions with other teams about their experiences with, for example, certain assessment methods.…”

“…We will work from an input-process-output (IPO) framework to provide insight in both antecedents (input) and consequences (output) of team learning (Kozlowski 2015). With regards to the antecedents, we will focus on task interdependence and team efficacy, as both have been proven to be crucial input factors to team learning processes (Bresman and Zellmer-Bruhn 2013;Van den Bossche et al 2006). With regards to consequences of team learning, we focus on multiple measures of team performance as output factors.…”

Linking workforce diversity in education, technological innovation strategies and firms´ organization

“…Firms with more flexible organizational structures are those which have implemented practices that facilitate the interaction of employees with different profiles, have reduced vertical differentiation among hierarchies and have promoted work in inter-functional groups. These structures favour the development of new ideas or complex problem solving associated with the decision to pursue innovations and in particular the internal development of them (Kimberly and Evanisko, 1981;Teece, 1992;Bresman and Zellmer-Bruhn, 2013). …”

Team-Based Knowledge Sharing: Learning Through Complex Work Challenges

“…In more recent literature, cross-boundary teams have been explored in the context of interdependent task structures requiring complex learning and coordination for accomplishing multilevel tasks (Schippers, Edmondson, and West, 2014). As team structure and composition become less permanent, teams also function in more resilient ways as they seek alternative means of learning through knowledge utilization (Bresman and Zellmer-Bruhn, 2013).…”