Jo M. L. van Engelen

Virtuality, communication, and new product team creativity: a social network perspective

Abstract Creativity is essential to the performance of new product development (NPD) teams. Since the creative NPD task requires teams to combine and integrate input from multiple NPD team members, the team’s communication pattern is an important determinant of NPD team creativity. In the empirical part of this study, we find that team creativity requires a moderate frequency of communication and a low level of communication centralization. Building on these results, in the second part of this paper, we present a three-factor model (member proximity, communication modality, team task structure) that addresses how creativity can be managed through the effective design and management of virtuality in NPD teams. We end with recommendations for further research.

Is trust really social capital? Knowledge sharing in product development projects

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to focus on the role of trust in knowledge sharing. Social capital researchers have put forward trust as an important force behind the sharing of knowledge. This study aims to investigate whether trust indeed explains knowledge sharing relationships, or whether there are in fact much more important drivers of the sharing of knowledge in new product development projects.Design/methodology/approach – A survey study was carried out in large new product development projects, including 23 teams and 91 individuals.Findings – The main finding is that trust is a poor explanatory of knowledge sharing. Team membership, on the other hand, has the largest effect on the density of knowledge sharing relationships. Social capital thus does not reside in trust but in team membership, especially for longer‐lived teams.Research limitations/implications – There should be more attention for other aspects affecting knowledge sharing, including team characteristics.Originality/value – ...

Rethinking social capital theory: a knowledge management perspective

Purpose – This paper seeks to argue the relevance of knowledge management (KM) to the development of social capital, and to enhancing the capacity to take effective action in human social systems.Design/methodology/approach – The study applies a pluralistic definition of knowledge (including subjective beliefs in minds and objective claims expressed in language) to show that most forms of social capital reduce to knowledge.Findings – First, social capital mostly comprises knowledge (trust, beliefs, rules, and norms). Second, the capacity to individually and collectively learn (in networks) is therefore arguably the most important form of social capital, even if rarely acknowledged as such in the literature. Third, because of the importance of learning and innovation to the production of social capital in society and organizations, KM has an important role to play in related development efforts.Practical implications – The paper introduces social capital constructivism. Practicing it to strengthen social c...

Disseminating educational innovations in health care practice: Training versus social networks

Improvements and innovation in health service organization and delivery have become more and more important due to the gap between knowledge and practice, rising costs, medical errors, and the organization of health care systems. Since training and education is widely used to convey and distribute innovative initiatives, we examined the effect that following an intensive Teach-the-Teacher training had on the dissemination of a new structured competency-based feedback technique of assessing clinical competencies among medical specialists in the Netherlands. We compared this with the effect of the structure of the social network of medical specialists, specifically the network tie strength (strong ties versus weak ties). We measured dissemination of the feedback technique by using a questionnaire filled in by Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics residents (n=63). Data on network tie strength was gathered with a structured questionnaire given to medical specialists (n=81). Social network analysis was used to compose the required network coefficients. We found a strong effect for network tie strength and no effect for the Teach-the-Teacher training course on the dissemination of the new structured feedback technique. This paper shows the potential that social networks have for disseminating innovations in health service delivery and organization. Further research is needed into the role and structure of social networks on the diffusion of innovations between departments and the various types of innovations involved.

Informal contacts and performance in innovation teams

Purpose – The paper addresses the effect friendly and friendship relationships among members of innovation teams on the performance of the teams.Design/methodology/approach – The members of innovation teams may develop friendly and friendship relationships over time. In our study, we focus on the effect of the frequency of such non‐work relationships on team performance. For this research, we collected full network data on non‐work relationships in a sample of 44 innovation teams and investigate how these “friendly and friendship networks” affect the performance of innovation teams.Findings – As result turns out that the frequency of friendly ties has positive as well as negative consequences on team performance, whereas the frequency of friendship ties positively relates to the performance.Research limitations/implications – The results indicate the importance of informal relations for the performance of innovation teams. Further, it is shown that friendly and friendship relations have different theoreti...

Improving Performance of Product Development Teams Through Managing Polarity

Abstract The new economy urges product development cycles to become shorter. At the same time, the accompanying new communication technology offers the opportunity to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of product development because it is no longer necessary for the members of product development teams to be in the same geographic location. As a result, product development teams become virtual. The concept of polarity is introduced as a measure of conflict and as an instrument to manage these virtual teams more effectively and to enhance the performance of teams. The relationship between polarity and performance is modeled on data provided by 35 product development teams. Polarity is broken down into several factors; and the polarity-performance relationship is presented for every factor. Three sets of different factor polarity curves were found. One set shows a clearly positive effect of polarity on performance, although another set shows a clearly negative effect. A third set shows a more complicated relationship, which indicates that these factors can be further distilled. These relationships are explainable and provide input for further research leading to a useful polarity-performance strategy for virtual product development teams.

How Do Social Networks and Faculty Development Courses Affect Clinical Supervisors' Adoption of a Medical Education Innovation? An Exploratory Study

Purpose To examine the impact of social networks and a two-day faculty development course on clinical supervisors’ adoption of an educational innovation. Method During 2007–2010, 571 residents and 613 clinical supervisors in four specialties in the Netherlands were invited to complete a Web-based questionnaire. Residents rated their clinical supervisors’ adoption of an educational innovation, the use of structured and constructive (S&C) feedback. Clinical supervisors self-assessed their adoption of this innovation and rated their communication intensity with other clinical supervisors in their department. For each supervisor, a centrality score was calculated, representing the extent to which the supervisor was connected to departmental colleagues. The authors analyzed the effects of supervisor centrality and participation in a two-day Teach-the-Teacher course on the degree of innovation adoption using hierarchical linear modeling, adjusting for age, gender, and attitude toward the S&C feedback innovation. Results Respondents included 370 (60%) supervisors and 357 (63%) residents. Although Teach-the-Teacher course participation (n = 172; 46.5%) was significantly related to supervisors’ self-assessments of adoption (P = .001), it had no effect on residents’ assessments of supervisors’ adoption (P = .371). Supervisor centrality was significantly related to innovation adoption in both residents’ assessments (P = .023) and supervisors’ self-assessments (P = .024). Conclusions A clinical supervisor’s social network may be as important as faculty development course participation in determining whether the supervisor adopts an educational innovation. Faculty development initiatives should use faculty members’ social networks to improve the adoption of educational innovations and help build and maintain communities of practice.

Innovation team networks: the centrality of innovativeness and efficiency

In this article we employ Social Network Analysis (SNA) to study the performance of new product teams that are part of an international innovation network. We are interested in explaining why some teams are exceedingly innovative but not efficient, whereas others excel in efficiency but stumble on innovativeness. We compare two teams that are very similar in task, background and skill. Using SNA we find that both teams are equally present on the shortest communication paths, but the innovative team has a much stronger presence on alternative communication paths as well. This provides it with many different sources and types of knowledge. The highly efficient team is strongly connected to well-connected knowledgeable others. It can thus efficiently tap relevant information. The article shows that SNA techniques are useful in uncovering network positions and in understanding the differential levels of performance of otherwise comparable teams.

Competency-based (CanMEDS) residency training programme in radiology: systematic design procedure, curriculum and success factors

ObjectiveBased on the CanMEDS framework and the European Training Charter for Clinical Radiology a new radiology curriculum was designed in the Netherlands. Both the development process and the resulting new curriculum are presented in this paper.MethodsThe new curriculum was developed according to four systematic design principles: discursiveness, hierarchical decomposition, systematic variation and satisficing (satisficing is different from satisfying; in this context, satisficing means searching for an acceptable solution instead of searching for an optimal solution).ResultsThe new curriculum is organ based with integration of radiological diagnostic techniques, comprises a uniform national common trunk followed by a 2-year subspecialisation, is competency outcome based with appropriate assessment tools and techniques, and is based on regional collaboration among radiology departments.DiscussionThe application of the systematic design principles proved successful in producing a new curriculum approved by all authorities. The principles led to a structured, yet flexible, development process in which creative solutions could be generated and adopters (programme directors, supervisors and residents) were highly involved. Further research is needed to empirically test the components of the new curriculum.

Corporate strategy - Preparing for the 21st century

OVERVIEW:Companies confront increasing demands for efficiency, quality, flexibility, and innovativeness. In order to identify the basic qualities necessary to effectively meet these demands, the organizational and managerial features of the main European R&D laboratories of 14 large and innovative pharmaceutical companies were benchmarked. It is concluded that high-performance laboratories are distinguished from their low-performance competitors by the way they integrate motivation, communication and flexibility in their organizations. Based on the features of the “best of the best,” a star-rating system is introduced, indicating the qualities that will enable R&D laboratories to excel in the 21st Century.