Team talk: Learning, jargon, and structure versus the pulse of the network

Abstract

We began this work intending to illustrate the network origins of jargon, a signal feature of team learning and the division of labor. In the process, we came to recognize the substantive importance of message timing, which we discuss as the pulse of a network. This paper describes our route to that recognition. We analyze data from a renovated classic network experiment providing empirical support for three hypotheses. The first, and most familiar from past work, is that teams moving down their learning curve to greater efficiency are prone to shared jargon. As a team moves down its learning curve, language drifts away from day-to-day speech, into jargon. The second and third hypotheses concern network correlates of the drift. With respect to network structure, teams are less likely to converge on jargon when communication is concentrated in one teammate. With respect to pulse, teams are more likely to converge on jargon when communication efforts are numerous and crowded in time. The two network predictors overlap conceptually. They both involve learning and access to information, but are distinct in their mechanism: Structure provides access. Pulse creates motivation to access. Teammates keeping up with numerous messages concentrated in time have a shared incentive to find shorthand terms (i.e., jargon) that enable faster exchange of accurate information. Network structure predicts team convergence on jargon, but pulse is a stronger predictor. Directions for new research are discussed.