The Partners of My Partners: Shared Collaborative Experience and Team Performance in Surgical Teams

Area of Science:

• Organizational Behavior
• Team Dynamics
• Surgical Performance Analysis

Background:

• Team members' prior interactions influence current team effectiveness.
• Shared collaborative experience (SCE) among team members is a key factor in team performance.
• Understanding the nuances of SCE is crucial for optimizing temporary team outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of shared collaborative experience (SCE) on team performance.
• To differentiate and analyze the effects of SCE extent and SCE diversity.
• To examine the moderating role of task complexity on the SCE-performance relationship.

Main Methods:

• Conceptualized SCE into two dimensions: extent and diversity.
• Investigated the relationship between SCE dimensions, task complexity, and team performance.
• Analyzed data from 1343 robot-assisted surgeries involving 114 surgeons over four years.

Main Results:

• High SCE extent positively impacts team performance by enhancing coordination and reflexivity.
• High SCE diversity negatively affects team performance by impeding shared understanding of task demands.
• The influence of SCE extent and diversity on performance is contingent upon task complexity.

Conclusions:

• Shared collaborative experience is a significant predictor of team performance in temporary teams.
• Team effectiveness can be improved by strategically managing SCE extent and diversity.
• Future research should consider prior collaborative networks when studying temporary team effectiveness.