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Publications
  • 2009
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Varied Experience, Team Familiarity, and Learning: The Mediating Role of Psychological Safety

By: Bradley R. Staats, Francesca Gino and Gary P. Pisano
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:34
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Abstract

Prior work examining the relationship of varied experience (i.e., the concurrent completion of multiple tasks) and learning by groups finds inconsistent results. We hypothesize that team familiarity, i.e, individuals' prior shared work experience, may help explain this difference, as familiar teams may be more effective than unfamiliar teams at using the knowledge gained from the concurrent completion of multiple tasks. A sense of psychological safety may be one reason that team familiarity could aid in the process of team learning. In an experimental study, we find that familiar teams learn at a faster rate than unfamiliar teams. Additionally, we find that team familiarity leads to the development of psychological safety and that the relationship between team familiarity and team learning is mediated by psychological safety. By separately examining task variety, team familiarity, and psychological safety, our work offers new insights and direction for the study of learning in teams.

Keywords

Experience and Expertise; Learning; Performance Effectiveness; Groups and Teams; Social Psychology; Familiarity

Citation

Staats, Bradley R., Francesca Gino, and Gary P. Pisano. "Varied Experience, Team Familiarity, and Learning: The Mediating Role of Psychological Safety." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 10-016, August 2009. (Revised May 2010, previously titled "Repetition of Interaction and Learning: An Experimental Analysis.")

About The Author

Gary P. Pisano

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  • Pal's Sudden Service (B) By: Gary P. Pisano, Francesca Gino and Ruth Page
  • How Fast Should Your Company Really Grow? By: Gary P. Pisano
  • Diversification as an Adaptive Learning Process: An Empirical Study of General-Purpose and Market-Specific Technological Know-How in New Market Entry By: Dominika Kinga Randle and Gary P. Pisano
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