Team knowledge representation: a network perspective

We propose a network perspective of team knowledge that offers both conceptual and methodological advantages, expanding explanatory value through representation and measurement of component structure and content.

Team knowledge has typically been conceptualized and measured with relatively simple aggregates, without fully accounting for differing knowledge configurations among team members. Teams with similar aggregate values of team knowledge may have very different team dynamics depending on how knowledge isolates, cliques, and densities are distributed across the team; which members are the most knowledgeable; who shares knowledge with whom; and how knowledge clusters are distributed.

We illustrate our proposed network approach through a sample of 57 teams, including how to compute, analyze, and visually represent team knowledge.

Team knowledge network structures (isolation, centrality) are associated with outcomes of, respectively, task coordination, strategy coordination, and the proportion of team knowledge cliques, all after controlling for shared team knowledge.

Network analysis helps to represent, measure, and understand the relationship of team knowledge to outcomes of interest to team researchers, members, and managers. Our approach complements existing team knowledge measures.

Researchers and managers can apply network concepts and measures to help understand where team knowledge is held within a team and how this relational structure may influence team coordination, cohesion, and performance.