Team identity focus significantly impacts inter-team information sharing and performance.
When teams prioritize their own identity over the overarching system's identity, they tend to share less information with teams that are system-focused, negatively impacting overall performance.
Academy of Management Journal · 2019
Key Findings
- 01Team-focused teams shared less information with system-focused teams compared to other team-focused teams.
- 02System-focused teams shared information equally with all other teams.
- 03Interteam information sharing positively predicted interteam performance.
Application
Design takeaway
When designing collaborative systems, actively cultivate a sense of shared purpose and identity at the system level to encourage open information flow between all participating teams.
How to apply
In a design project involving multiple specialized teams, implement regular cross-team meetings and shared goal-setting sessions that emphasize the project's overall objectives rather than individual team deliverables.
Project actions
- 01When working in a group project, make sure everyone understands and feels connected to the overall goal, not just their part.
- 02Encourage open communication channels between all sub-teams or individuals working on different aspects of a design.
Method & Evidence
Variables
Strengths & Limitations
Strengths
- +Experimental control allows for clear causal inferences.
- +Multiple studies provide converging evidence for the findings.
Limitations
The artificial nature of a controlled experiment might not fully represent the nuances of real-world team interactions and motivations.
Reliability & validity
The use of a simulation and vignette study provides a controlled environment, enhancing internal validity. However, external validity might be limited due to the artificial setting. Reliability would depend on the consistency of the simulation and participant responses.
Think critically
How might the nature of the design task itself (e.g., highly interdependent vs. modular) influence the impact of identity asymmetries on information sharing?
Design Principles
"Foster a unified system identity to optimize inter-team communication and performance in collaborative endeavors."
In complex design projects involving multiple teams, understanding how team identity influences collaboration is crucial. This research highlights that fostering a shared system identity can lead to more effective information exchange and better project outcomes.
What This Means for Your Design
If teams in a big project only care about their own team's success and not the whole project, they won't share information as well with other teams, and the whole project will suffer.
How to use in your project
- 1.Reference this study when discussing how team dynamics and communication strategies impact the success of a collaborative design project.
Add to My Project
Quick Cite
(2019). Identity Asymmetries: An Experimental Investigation of Social Identity and Information Exchange in Multiteam Systems. Academy of Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2018.0325 Retrieved from https://designdex.org/study/6074c516-7f29-4d26-b581-669f20b9e8fd/team-identity-focus-significantly-impacts-inter-team-information-sharing-and-performance
Paragraph starter
Research indicates that in collaborative environments, the focus of a team's identity significantly influences information exchange and overall performance. When teams prioritize their own identity over the overarching system's identity, they tend to share less information with system-focused teams, which can hinder project success. Therefore, fostering a unified system identity is crucial for effective collaboration in design projects.
Source
Academy of Management Journal
Identity Asymmetries: An Experimental Investigation of Social Identity and Information Exchange in Multiteam Systems
journal · 2019
View sourceQuestions about this research
- What does the research say about team identity focus significantly impacts inter-team information sharing and performance?
- When designing collaborative systems, actively cultivate a sense of shared purpose and identity at the system level to encourage open information flow between all participating teams. Evidence: Academy of Management Journal (2019).
- Why does "Team identity focus significantly impacts inter-team information sharing and performance." matter for design?
- In complex design projects involving multiple teams, understanding how team identity influences collaboration is crucial. This research highlights that fostering a shared system identity can lead to more effective information exchange and better project outcomes.
- How can designers apply this research?
- When designing collaborative systems, actively cultivate a sense of shared purpose and identity at the system level to encourage open information flow between all participating teams.
- What were the main findings?
- Team-focused teams shared less information with system-focused teams compared to other team-focused teams.. System-focused teams shared information equally with all other teams.. Interteam information sharing positively predicted interteam performance.
- What research method was used?
- Experimental simulation and vignette study with 84 teams (Study 1).
- How strong is the evidence?
- Evidence strength is rated Strong effect, based on a 2019 journal from Academy of Management Journal.
- What should I do differently in my next project?
- In a design project involving multiple specialized teams, implement regular cross-team meetings and shared goal-setting sessions that emphasize the project's overall objectives rather than individual team deliverables.
- What are the limitations?
- The findings are based on simulated environments and may not fully capture the complexities of real-world organizational dynamics. The specific nature of the task in the simulation might influence the results.
- Is there evidence that identity affects design outcomes?
- Teams that identify more strongly with their own group than with the larger project or organization share less information with those who are more system-oriented, which in turn reduces overall project success. In complex design projects involving multiple teams, understanding how team identity influences collaboration Source: Academy of Management Journal (2019).
- Where does this information research apply?
- Multiteam systems, organizational collaboration, knowledge management It sits within innovation & design research on designdex.org.
Related research topics
identity design research · evidence on identity · does identity improve design outcomes · information studies for designers · identity and information findings · innovation & design research evidence