Knowledge integration at the edge of technology: on teamwork and complexity in new turbine development

Abstract

This paper takes an empirical point of departure in the development of a new steam turbine. Project work here relied on a process of iteration between a small core group of team members with extensive experience and team members with less of that currency. In this project, the core group had a major integrative role, whereas other team members were mainly responsible for the specific tasks assigned to them. Quite a few of the latter category felt uneasy about their role and felt ‘decoupled’ from the project. In our analysis we use the Teamwork Quality (TWQ) construct proposed by Hoegl and Gemuenden (2001). In conclusion, our findings suggest that in highly complex projects of this type, team-based knowledge integration need not presuppose equality of participation and we introduce the notion of a Segregated Team to account for these findings.