Shared Mental Models and Boundary Management Activities in New Product Development: A Perspective on Multiteam Systems
Journal
IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management
Date Issued
2022
Author(s)
Abstract
Multiteam systems (MTSs) have been increasingly adopted as an organizational form to manage large-scale projects. However, new product development (NPD) in the MTSs structure entails challenges with respect to achieving efficiency due to interteam coordination challenges. Shared mental models (SMMs) within a single team have been found to facilitate intrateam coordination; however, further exploration is needed as to whether SMMs within MTSs can improve interteam coordination among component teams and, if so, what mechanisms underlie this. The present article examines the theoretical underpinning of the impacts of SMMs among component team leaders on MTSs’ NPD efficiency, and further considers the impact of external conditions of requirement uncertainty, the most common external situation during NPD. Using survey data from 110 information technology development MTSs and drawing on boundary management perspective, the results reveal that SMMs among component team leaders positively affect NPD efficiency by managing the MTSs boundary, i.e., through boundary entrainment and boundary buffering activities at the system level. In addition, we find that requirement uncertainty plays a vital role in determining the nature of this relationship. Taken together, our findings highlight the importance of the role of SMMs among component team leaders in facilitating NPD efficiency in MTSs settings. IEEE
Subjects
Boundary management perspective
Cognitive science
Interference
Leadership
multiteam systems (MTSs)
new product development (NPD) efficiency
Product development
Project management
requirement uncertainty
shared mental models (SMMs) theory
Task analysis
Uncertainty
Cognitive systems
Efficiency
Human resource management
Job analysis
Uncertainty analysis
Model theory
Multiteam system
New product development
New product development efficiency
Product development efficiencies
Requirements uncertainties
Shared mental model
Shared mental model theory
SDGs
Type
journal article