1. Annual
Conference
Denver
April
2013
Doug
Austrom,
Betsy
Merck,
Pam
Posey
(Presenters)
and
Be6y
Barre6,
Bert
Painter,
Ram
Tenkasi
Socio-­‐Technical
Systems
Roundtable
Thriving
in
an
Uncertain
World:
Designing
Virtual
Teams
Across
the
InnovaFon
ConFnuum
This
material
is
based
upon
work
supported
by
the
NaEonal
Science
FoundaEon
under
grant
number
NSF
OCI
09-­‐43237.
Any
opinions,
findings
and
conclusions
or
recommendaEons
expressed
in
this
material
are
those
of
the
author(s)
and
do
not
necessarily
reflect
the
views
of
the
NaEonal
Science
FoundaEon.

2. Desired
Outcomes
for
this
Session
Through
dialogue
and
exercises,
we
have
the
opportunity
to
…
• Increase
understanding
of
the
implicaEons
of
virtuality
on
key
conversaEons/
deliberaEons
across
the
innovaEon
conEnuum
• Explore
the
design
of
appropriate
mechanisms
of
coordinaEon
across
the
R&D/innovaEon
conEnuum
• PracEce
applying
STS
principles
to
address
variances
in
deliberaEons
and
knowledge
management
barriers
in
virtual
(and
non-­‐
virtual)
innovaEon
work
Virtual
Teams/InnovaEon
ConEnuum
ODF
2013

3. EvoluEon
of
Sociotechnical
Systems
Three
Waves
Wave
One:
1950’s-­‐1970’s
Wave
Three:
1990’s-­‐Present
Wave
Two:
1970’s-­‐1990’s
Virtual
Teams/InnovaEon
ConEnuum
ODF
2013

4. EvoluEon
of
Sociotechnical
Systems
Wave
One:
1950’s-­‐1970’s
Nature
of
the
Work
Design
Principles*
• RouEne
work
in
single
organizaEons
• Work
groups
with
shared
idenEty
• Single
linear
conversion
process
• Joint
opEmizaEon
• CompaEbility
• Sociotechnical
criterion
and
variance
control
• Boundary
locaEon
• InformaEon
flow
• Design
and
human
values
• MulEfuncEonal
principle:
mechanism
or
organism
• Support
congruence
• TransiEonal
organizaEon
• Minimum
criEcal
specificaEon
• IncompleEon
Virtual
Teams/InnovaEon
ConEnuum
ODF
2013
*
Albert
Cherns,
1976

5. EvoluEon
of
Sociotechnical
Systems
Wave
Two:
1970’s-­‐1990’s
Nature
of
the
Work
Design
Principles**
• Non-­‐rouEne
face-­‐to-­‐
face
knowledge
work
in
single
organizaEons
• Individual
performers
with
specialized
experEse
• MulEple,
concurrent
nonlinear
conversion
processes
• Joint
opEmizaEon
• Self-­‐design
by
the
members
of
the
unit
being
changed
• Specify
only
those
things
that
must
be
defined
allowing
for
ongoing
adaptaEon
• MulE-­‐funcEonality
and
redundancy
of
funcEons
• IteraEve
and
open-­‐
ended
design
process
Virtual
Teams/InnovaEon
ConEnuum
ODF
2013
**
Cal
Pava,
1983

6. EvoluEon
of
Sociotechnical
Systems
Wave
Three:
1990’s-­‐
Present
Nature
of
the
Work
Design
Principles
• Virtual,
non-­‐rouEne
work
• Work
and
workers
distributed
across
mulEple
locaEons
and/or
organizaEons
• InformaEon
and
communicaEon
technology
enabled
• MulEple,
concurrent,
nonlinear,
independent,
and
interdependent
conversion
processes
• In
an
iVUCA
world
• Whole
systems
opEmizaEon
• Align
on
shared
purpose
and
mutually
beneficial
outcomes
• Promote
dignity,
meaning,
challenge,
mastery,
autonomy,
and
self-­‐determinaEon
• Foster
learning
and
knowledge
sharing
• SupporEve
infrastructure
and
coordinaEon
system
• Minimum
criEcal
specificaEons
• IteraEve
design
and
mutual
adaptaEon
Virtual
Teams/InnovaEon
ConEnuum
ODF
2013

7. HIGH
Uncertainty
LOWER
Uncertainty
Six
Stages
of
the
InnovaFon
ConFnuum
Pure
Research
Work
DON’T
KNOW
WHAT
we
are
looking
for
DON’T
KNOW
HOW
to
carry
out
the
research
Applied
Research
Work
DON’T
KNOW
WHAT
(i.e.
end
state
or
objecEve)
KNOW
HOW
to
carry
out
the
research
Exploratory
Development
Work
KNOW
WHAT
DON’T
KNOW
HOW
to
achieve
it
Advanced
Development
Work
KNOW
WHAT
DON’T
KNOW
HOW
IN
DETAIL
to
achieve
it
Start-­‐Up
(pilot
plants,
beta
tesEng)
Development
Work
KNOW
WHAT
KNOW
HOW
CONCEPTUALLY
to
achieve
it
Scale-­‐Up
(volume
&
costs)
Development
Work
KNOW
WHAT
KNOW
HOW
OPERATIONALLY
to
achieve
it
R
1
R
2
D
1
D
4
D
2
D
3
Virtual
Teams/InnovaFon
ConFnuum
ODF
2013

8. Three
Research
Sites
• Caltech
Orchid
Project:
R1,
Fundamental
research
– OpEcal
RadiaEon
Cooling
and
HeaEng
in
Integrated
Devices
– Tightly-­‐Linked
CollaboraEon
for
Design
of
Experiments
&
Device
FabricaEon
among
Laboratories
using
3
Technology
plaeorms
– Pasadena,
Switzerland
and
Austria
– Major
challenge:
creaEve
research
and
design
and
knowledge
generaEon
in
a
complex
virtual
sefng
• NACC:
D2-­‐D4,
Virtual
R&D
eco-­‐system
– Comprised
of
29
NIA-­‐funded
Alzheimer's
Disease
Centers
(ADCs)
and
the
NaEonal
Alzheimer's
CoordinaEng
Center
Center
(NACC)
– Major
challenge:
Create
Uniform
Data
Set
agreeing
upon
and
compiling
data
from
the
29
different
centers
as
the
basis
of
research
• LVG:
D3-­‐D4,
Large
video
game
developer
– Core
team
with
distributed
vendors
in
Philippines,
China,
India,
Switzerland,
North
America
and
across
the
parking
lot
– Major
challenge:
Cost
effecEve
game
development
work
with
high
quality
and
Emeliness
completed
at
a
distance
for
art
producEon,
engineering
and
tesEng
Virtual
Teams/InnovaFon
ConFnuum
ODF
2013

9. HIGH
Uncertainty
LOWER
Uncertainty
‘Orchid’
Project
‘Uniform
Data
Set’
Project
‘Large
Video
Game’
Project
Pure
Research
Work
DON’T
KNOW
WHAT
we
are
looking
for
DON’T
KNOW
HOW
to
carry
out
the
research
Applied
Research
Work
DON’T
KNOW
WHAT
(i.e.
end
state
or
objecEve)
KNOW
HOW
to
carry
out
the
research
Exploratory
Development
Work
KNOW
WHAT
DON’T
KNOW
HOW
to
achieve
it
Advanced
Development
Work
KNOW
WHAT
DON’T
KNOW
HOW
IN
DETAIL
to
achieve
it
Start-­‐Up
(pilot
plants,
beta
tesEng)
Development
Work
KNOW
WHAT
KNOW
HOW
CONCEPTUALLY
to
achieve
it
Scale-­‐Up
(volume
&
costs)
Development
Work
KNOW
WHAT
KNOW
HOW
OPERATIONALLY
to
achieve
it
R
1
R
2
D
1
D
4
D
2
D
3
Six
Stage
of
the
InnovaFon
ConFnuum
Virtual
Teams/InnovaFon
ConFnuum
ODF
2013

10. Key
ConversaFons/DeliberaFons
DefiniDon
and
Elements
• Key
conversaFons
or
deliberaFons
are
pa6erns
of
exchange
and
communicaEon
in
which
people
engage
with
themselves
or
others
to
reduce
the
equivocality
of
a
problemaEc
issue
• The
salient
elements
of
a
deliberaDon
include
the
…
• What
-­‐
or
problemaEc
issues
facing
the
social
enEty
about
which
people
reflect
and
communicate
• How
-­‐
which
may
be
structured,
semi-­‐structured,
unstructured,
ad
hoc,
in
–person
or
virtual
• Who
-­‐
both
those
who
are
currently
involved
and
those
who
ideally
should
be
involved
in
the
deliberaEon
Virtual
Teams/InnovaFon
ConFnuum
ODF
2013

11. Examples
of
Key
ConversaFons/DeliberaFons
Orchid
– What
experiment
shall
we
run?
– How
shall
we
design
the
experiment?
– How
shall
we
execute
the
experiment?
– How
do
we
make
sense
of
the
results?
NACC
– What
data
will
go
in
the
UDS?
– What
diagnosEc
instruments
shall
we
use?
– Who
will
have
access
to
the
data?
LVG
– What
new
features
shall
we
develop?
– What
contractor
shall
we
use
for
this
work?
– What
is
the
scope
and
Eme/cost
esEmate
for
this
work?
Virtual
Teams/InnovaFon
ConFnuum
ODF
2013

12. Knowledge
Work
Barriers
Lack
of
knowledge
• In
the
Orchid
project,
the
technical
procedures
in
two
different
laboratories
were
discovered
to
be
incompaEble
and
iniEally
prevented
development
of
inter-­‐dependent
experiments
Failure
to
uFlize
knowledge
• In
LVG,
corporate
intelligence
about
parEcular
vendor
competencies
was
not
iniEally
uElized
by
an
individual
division
in
their
vendor
selecEon
procedures
Failure
to
share
knowledge
• In
development
of
the
NACC/UDS
project,
use
of
standardized
data
collecEon
was
seen
by
some
researchers
as
an
imposiEon
over
other
data
more
suited
to
their
own
unique
research
interests
Lack
of
common
frame
of
reference
• In
LVG,
the
developers
did
not
have
a
common
frame
of
how
to
conduct
tests
of
the
game
Virtual
Teams/InnovaFon
ConFnuum
ODF
2013

13. AcFvity
Part
1
• Spend
5
minutes
and
think
of
a
past
or
present
issue
that
you
are
aware
of,
with
a
team
in
your
organizaEon
that
has
virtual
components.
• Where
would
you
place
the
project
on
the
innovaEon
conEnuum,
R1-­‐
D4?
Why?
• What
is/was
the
issue?
What
type
of
knowledge
work
barriers
do
you
suspect
were
at
play?
• Let’s
share
our
examples
and
compare
the
findings
from
our
project
with
your
examples.
• Large
group
conversaEon
…
Virtual
Teams/InnovaFon
ConFnuum
ODF
2013

14. AcFvity
Part
2
• DirecEons:
At
your
table,
work
for
10
minutes
on
the
same
issue(s)
you
just
discussed.
– What
would
you
design
to
eliminate
or
minimize
the
knowledge
barriers?
– Table
group
reports–
brief
highlights
from
each
table
Virtual
Teams/InnovaFon
ConFnuum
ODF
2013

15. CoordinaFon
across
the
InnovaFon
ConFnuum
R1
D4
Drive
Problem
Solving
Shape
and
Reinforce
Converge
Convey
StandardizaEon
Rules
Based
Mutual
Adjustment
Peer-­‐to-­‐Peer
Hierarchical
ExploraEon
PrescripEve
Uncertainty
Mystery Heuristic Algorithm
Certainty
Virtual
Teams/InnovaFon
ConFnuum
ODF
2013

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Teams/InnovaFon
ConFnuum
ODF
2013

17. Design
ImplicaFons
–
Open
Discussion
Virtual
Teams/InnovaFon
ConFnuum
ODF
2013