Title: Role and discipline relationships in a transdisciplinary biomedical team: structuration, values override, and context scaffolding

Authors: Gaetano R. Lotrecchiano

Addresses: Departments of Clinical Research and Leadership and of Pediatrics, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, George Washington University, 2100 W Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20037, USA

Abstract: Though accepted that "team science is needed to tackle and conquer the health problems that are plaguing our society" (Disis and Slattery, 2010) significant empirical evidence of team mechanisms and functional dynamics is still lacking. Through grounded methods (Borner et al., 2010) the relationship between scientific disciplines and team roles was observed in a National Institutes of Health-funded (NIH) research consortium. Interviews and the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) (Cameron and Quinn, 2006) were employed. Findings show strong role and discipline idiosyncrasies that when viewed separately provide different insights into team functioning and change receptivity. When considered simultaneously, value-latent characteristics emerged showing self-perceived contributions to the team. This micro/meso analysis suggests that individual participation in team level interactions can inform the structuration of roles and disciplines in an attempt to tackle macro level problems.

Keywords: transdisciplinary teams; role relationships; biomedical teams; structuration; values; culture; organisational assessment; organisational design; discipline relationships; value override; context scaffolding; scientific disciplines; team roles.

DOI: 10.1504/IJODE.2014.065097

International Journal of Organisational Design and Engineering, 2014 Vol.3 No.3/4, pp.223 - 259

Published online: 25 Oct 2014 *

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