An Experimental Analysis of the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Teams with Partial Problem Domain Knowledge

Abstract

Knowledge Management Systems are increasingly becoming important to both practitioners and researchers. One area of application of such systems is the formation of organizational teams with appropriate knowledge content to solve complex and novel problems. A common predicament, however, is that teams are often formed with only partial problem domain knowledge. This study examines if teams that have partial problem domain knowledge are more effective and efficient than teams that do not have specific problem domain knowledge. It finds that partial problem domain knowledge may in fact be worse than no problem domain knowledge. Several implications for researchers and practitioners are derived from this result.