Let's Talk It Over: Communication and Coordination in Teams

Jens Dietrichson, Jens Gudmundsson and Torsten Jochem ()
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Torsten Jochem: Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Amsterdam, Postal: Roetersstraat 11, 1018 WB Amsterdam, Netherlands

No 2014:2, Working Papers from Lund University, Department of Economics

Abstract: Collaboration in teams in which each member's output is critical to the overall success present organizations with difficult coordination problems. We develop a model and run simulations to analyze how costly communication affects team coordination and output efficiency. We show that absent any organizational routines to structure team communication the least efficient outcome is the most frequent organizational output. We then derive formal conditions and simulate efficiency gains for several communication routines that improve team coordination and organizational efficiency. Our model and simulation results match a broad range of findings from the experimental and organizational literature, help explain why collaborations involving several organizational units often fail, and suggest new tests for promising communication routines.

Keywords: Coordination; Communication; Teams; Routines; Authority (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C73 D02 D23 L22 L23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2014-02-03, Revised 2018-04-18
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-cdm, nep-exp, nep-gth, nep-mic and nep-ore
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2014_002

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