Don’t miss Dr. Joy Olabisi from the Rochester Institute of Technology as she shares how “teams of teams” are driving innovation.
As always refreshments are available in 428 Daniels Hall 30 minutes before the seminar begins.
Multiteam systems are frequently used to address large-scale, complex problems, including innovation efforts. These “teams of teams” represent deep and diverse sources of knowledge; however, synchronizing activities across teams, managing knowledge flows, and minimizing the detrimental effects of goal and role conflict present major challenges for organizations. We argue that the transactive memory system (TMS) concept is useful for promoting innovation not only within teams, but also across teams engaged in collective innovation. A TMS is a form of collective cognition that has been shown to help team members develop and integrate diverse sources of knowledge, build upon team members’ knowledge, and minimize detrimental conflict. Consequently, TMS has been linked to better team performance and innovation. We propose that developing a multiteam TMS is also critical for innovation efforts in multiteam systems because TMS helps to promote key behaviors known to lead to innovative outcomes while overcoming some of the challenges of managing interdependent teams of teams. Our propositions also articulate how certain patterns of knowledge exchange within and between teams are most likely to promote multiteam TMS development. We draw
on the boundary spanning literature and recent research linking TMS with transitive triad network structures to predict effective and innovation-driven knowledge exchange patterns in a multiteam system. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of our theory for managing multiteam innovation.
Dr. Joy Olabisi is an Assistant Professor of Management at the Saunders College of Business at Rochester Institute of Technology. Dr. Olabisi holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She received her Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial and Operations Engineering with a concentration in Engineering Management from the University of Michigan.
Her current research interests include understanding how organizations learn and manage knowledge, especially through the effective utilization of teams. She is particularly interested in team performance, especially within virtual and project based contexts. She is also interested in social entrepreneurial initiatives within emerging markets, with a social embeddedness and networks emphasis. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. She has also presented her research at numerous domestic and international conferences.
Dr. Olabisi teaches courses in the areas of management and international business. In 2015, she received the Saunders College of Business’ Exemplary Performance in Teaching and Student Impact Award and was previously nominated for the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
