HOW TEAM COMMUNICATION AFFECT INNOVATION

A March 2004 paper published in Creativity and Innovation Management makes the case that the amount of communication among the members of small research-and-development teams makes a big difference in their creativity. The paper, “Stimulating the Potential: Creative Performance and Communication in Innovation Teams,” was authored by Jan Kratzer, assistant professor for business development; Roger Leenders, associate professor of business development; and Jo van Engelen, professor of business development, all from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

The authors studied innovation teams in 11 Dutch companies involved in developing hardware products ranging from computers to copiers. They collected questionnaires from 243 employees on 44 teams. The idea was to measure how creative performance, as self-reported by the employees, was affected by the levels and patterns of communication among team members. The frequency of communication was found to be a significant factor in creative output.

Earlier research indicated that effective teamwork requires that team members communicate a minimum of one to three times per week. But innovation teams tend to communicate much more than that, Kratzer says. “A certain amount of communication is necessary, but when it exceeds that threshold, it becomes a negative,” and teams perform less well.