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LEARNING BY MIGRATING: A COMPUTATIONAL STUDY OF DIVERSITY AND TEAM-LEVEL DECISION-MAKING
Conference proceeding

LEARNING BY MIGRATING: A COMPUTATIONAL STUDY OF DIVERSITY AND TEAM-LEVEL DECISION-MAKING

Russell Thomas and John Gero
DS87-8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 21ST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENGINEERING DESIGN (ICED 17), VOL 8: HUMAN BEHAVIOUR IN DESIGN, pp 589-598
01 Jan 2017

Abstract

Engineering Engineering, Industrial Science & Technology Technology
How does previous experience and learning influence a team's ability to successfully agree on a system architecture, team roles and responsibilities, and design method? Migration of team members leads to diversity in past experiences and beliefs, which might have a positive or negative affect on team decision-making. Using computational modeling of self-managed teams across multiple project life cycles, we perform controlled experiments to evaluate performance and decision-making patterns of migrating vs. non-migrating teams. We find that there is no difference in mean performance, indicating that neither approach is intrinsically better. However, statistical tests of paired trials shows a meaningful an advantage for migrating (diverse) teams. Examining patterns of decision-making over time reveal that migrating (diverse) teams explore a wider range of team-level decisions, which makes them more adaptable in specific circumstances.

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