Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science (2015) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 19-46
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The authors found that 80 percent of all science and engineering publications were written by teams of two or more authors in 2000. The Committee on the Science of Team Science updated the database and trend analysis to find that the share of all papers written by two or more authors increased to 90 percent by the year 2013 (see Figure 1-1)
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Purpose of this report Although team science is growing rapidly, it can be more challenging than solo science. For example, the increasing size of research teams and groups (Wuchty, Jones, and Uzzi, 2007)
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, and how, in turn, do both individual fac tors and team dynamics influence the effectiveness and productivity of science teams? What factors at the team, center, or institute level (e.g., team size, team 2.
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Such very large groups typically possess a differentiated division of labor and an integrated structure to coordinate the smaller science teams; entities of this type are referred to as organizations in the social sciences. • eam effectiveness (also referred to as team performance) – A team's T capacity to achieve its goals and objectives.
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Science teams and larger groups vary in the extent to which they include or integrate the knowledge of experts from different disciplines or professions to achieve their scientific and, when relevant, translational goals. These varying degrees of integration have been classified as unidisciplinary, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary research approaches (see Figure 1-2)
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KEY FEATURES THAT CREATE CHALLENGES FOR TEAM SCIENCE Based on its review of the research evidence, information from team science practitioners, and its own expert judgment, the committee identified seven features that create challenges for team science. A given team or group may need to incorporate one or more of these features to address
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Interdisciplinary research in American archaeology fully emerged after World War II. An example can be found in the research on the Early Classic Period at the ancient Maya site of Copan, Honduras, that focused on the rise of the ruling dynasty of Copan.
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Science teams and larger groups are increasingly likely to incorporate one or more of these seven features because they are needed to address complex scientific and societal problems. For example, greater diversity of membership may be needed to answer particularly complex scientific questions or a large group of scientists may be needed to maximize the benefits of an investment in large instrumentation.
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Trans- physical activity, and disciplinary cancer. Integrate knowledge Research in across social, behavioral, Energetics and biological disciplines and Cancer with different values, Centers terminology, methods, traditions, and work styles (Vogel et al., 2014)
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. Permeable Team International Improve nutrition in Engage indigenous farmers and Group Maize and rural Mexico and Central in the project while also Boundaries Wheat America by translating ensuring scientific rigor in Improvement findings from plant the plant science research.
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The members may be diverse in age, gender, culture, and other demographic characteristics. For example, the Social Environment, Stress, and Health project supported by the National Institutes of Health used a community-based participatory research approach to understand relationships among neighborhood and community factors, behavioral and biological responses, and breast cancer among women living on Chicago's South Side (Hall et al., 2012a)
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. In highly diverse team science projects, communication problems can occur because of members' use of technical or scientific language that is unique to their area of expertise and therefore unfamiliar to other members.
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. Strategies to address these challenges and foster successful knowledge integration in science teams and larger groups are discussed in Chapters 4 through 9 of this report.
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NUMBER OF PAPERS WRITTEN BY TEAM SIZE YEAR FIGURE 1-3 Frequency of author team sizes in science and engineering, 1960–2013.
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. More generally, increases in group size require diverting time and resources from more productive activities to troubleshooting task interdependence, overcoming the tendency of individuals to "hoard" their unique knowledge, maintaining cooperative relationships, addressing incentive problems, and avoiding turnover (Jackson et al., 1991; Chompalov, Genuth, and Shrum, 2002; Okhuysena and Bechky, 2009)
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. Goal Misalignment with Other Teams Large groups of scientists, such as research centers and institutes, typically include multiple science teams engaged in research projects that are relevant to the higher-level goals of the center or institute.
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However, unlike business employees who are typically assigned to work teams, scientists often voluntarily join science teams or groups. Therefore, scientists tend to have autonomy and operate like "free agents." A single scientist may belong to multiple teams at any one time, devoting more or less time to each one, depending on the level of funding available, the scientist's teaching and other research commitments, the potential for rewards, and other factors, including the scientist's personal interest in each particular project.
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. Geographic Dispersion Most science teams and groups today are geographically dispersed.
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High Task Interdependence One of the defining features of a team is that the members are dependent on each other to accomplish a shared task, and science teams are no exception (Kozlowski and Ilgen, 2006; Fiore, 2008)
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learning from research on teams in other contexts Research on teams in contexts outside of science provides a rich foundation of knowledge about team processes and effectiveness. Because teams in science share features and processes with teams in other contexts, and based on the history of generalization of team research across contexts, the committee assumes that this knowledge can inform strategies for improving the effectiveness of science teams and larger groups.
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. All of these features (highly diverse membership, deep knowledge integration, large size, goal misalignment, permeable boundaries, geographic dispersion, and high task interdependence)
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For instance, guided team self-correction, also known as team dimensional training, is a research-based approach that helps a team reflect on its teamwork during a past performance episode, identify errors, and develop solutions (Smith-Jentsch et al., 2008; see Chapter 5)
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compared the structure and disciplinary topical coverage of publications over time of transdisciplinary research centers with those of two comparison groups consisting of individuals and small teams. An overlay of the resulting publication data on a base map of
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This report integrates and translates the relevant research to support conclusions and recommendation for practice and identify areas requiring further research. STUDY APPROACH The NRC convened a Planning Meeting on Interdisciplinary Science Teams in January 2013 to raise awareness of this study, begin to explore the relevant literature, and solicit input from federal agencies, individual investigators, team science researchers, directors of research institutions, and other stakeholders (see http://tvworldwide.com/events/nas/130111/# [April 2015]
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Chapter 7 discusses the challenges of geographically distributed science teams and larger groups, and the role of organizations, leaders, and cyber infrastructure in addressing these challenges. Chapter 8 discusses organizational support for team science, focusing particularly on research universities.
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influence team dynamics (e.g., Effectiveness cohesion) , and how, in turn, do both individual Chapter 4: Team Composition factors and team dynamics influence the effectiveness and Assembly and productivity of science teams?
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Chapter 9: Funding and 5. What factors influence the productivity and Evaluation of Team Science effectiveness of research organizations that conduct and support team and collaborative science, such as research centers and institutes? How do organizational factors such as human resource policies and practices and cyber infrastructure affect team and collaborative science?
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