What You Know is What You Get from Experience

Abstract

Team members with different levels of experience may understand the process of teamwork very differently and if these differences were identified, team training, team management, and team performance may be enhanced. In the present study, representations of teamwork knowledge as a function of team experience were investigated. Teamwork knowledge structures, or teamwork schemas, were assessed using multidimensional scaling and "freehand" concept maps. Consistent with contemporary expert-novice literature, the results revealed that higher experience team members conceptualized teamwork more concisely and in more abstract terms than did lower experience team members. In addition, results from the two methodologies converged to a greater degree for higher experience individuals than for lower experience individuals suggesting that higher experience individuals can express consistently what they understand about teamwork. The results suggested that team training should be designed based on trainees' prior team experiences and teamwork knowledge. Team managers might also keep in mind potential team members' experience levels when making team assignments.