Show simple item record

Optimal team composition for tool‐based problem solving

dc.contributor.authorBendor, Jonathan
dc.contributor.authorPage, Scott E.
dc.date.accessioned2019-11-12T16:24:05Z
dc.date.availableWITHHELD_13_MONTHS
dc.date.available2019-11-12T16:24:05Z
dc.date.issued2019-11
dc.identifier.citationBendor, Jonathan; Page, Scott E. (2019). "Optimal team composition for tool‐based problem solving." Journal of Economics & Management Strategy 28(4): 734-764.
dc.identifier.issn1058-6407
dc.identifier.issn1530-9134
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/152035
dc.description.abstractIn this paper, we construct a framework for modeling teams of agents who apply techniques or procedures (tools) to solve problems. In our framework, tools differ in their likelihood of solving the problem at hand; agents, who may be of different types, vary in their skill at using tools. We establish baseline hiring rules when a manager can dictate tool choice and then derive results for strategic tool choice by team members. We highlight three main findings: First, that cognitively diverse teams are more likely to solve problems in both settings. Second, that teams consisting of types that master diverse tools have an indirect strategic advantage because tool diversity facilitates coordination. Third, that strategic tool choice creates counterintuitive optimal hiring practices. For example, optimal teams may exclude the highest ability types and can include dominated types. In addition, optimal groups need not increase setwise. Our framework extends to cover teamwork on decomposable problems, to cases where individuals apply multiple tools, and to teams facing a flow or set of problems.
dc.publisherBasic Books
dc.publisherWiley Periodicals, Inc.
dc.titleOptimal team composition for tool‐based problem solving
dc.typeArticle
dc.rights.robotsIndexNoFollow
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevelEconomics
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevelManagement
dc.subject.hlbtoplevelBusiness and Economics
dc.description.peerreviewedPeer Reviewed
dc.description.bitstreamurlhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152035/1/jems12295.pdf
dc.description.bitstreamurlhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152035/2/jems12295_am.pdf
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/jems.12295
dc.identifier.sourceJournal of Economics & Management Strategy
dc.identifier.citedreferencePrat, A. ( 2002 ). Should a team be homogeneous? European Economic Review, 46, 1187 – 1207.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceMarch, J., & Simon, H. ( 1958 ). Organizations. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceMarcolino, L. S., Jiang, A. X., & Tambe, M. ( 2013 ). Multi‐agent team formation: Diversity beats strength? Proceedings of the 23rd International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Beijing, China.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceMarshack, J., & Radner, R. ( 1972 ). Economic theory of teams. New Haven: Yale University Press.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceMcAfee, P., & McMillan, J. ( 1991 ). Optimal contracts for teams. International Economic Review, 32 ( 3 ), 561 – 77.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceNash, J. ( 1951 ). Non‐cooperative games. Annuals Mathematics, 54, 286 – 295.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceNewell, A., & Simon, H. A. ( 1972 ). Human problem solving. Upper Saddle River NJ: Prentice Hall.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceNickerson, J., & Zenger, T. ( 2004 ). A knowledge‐based theory of the firm: The problem‐solving perspective. Organization Science, 15, 617 – 632.
dc.identifier.citedreferencePage, S. E ( 2008 ). The difference. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.
dc.identifier.citedreferencePowell, W., & Snellman, K. ( 2004 ). The knowledge economy. Annual Review of Sociology, 30, 199 – 220.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceSchilling, M. A., & Green, E. ( 2011 ). Recombinant search and breakthrough idea generation: An analysis of high impact papers in the social sciences. Research Policy, 40 ( 10 ), 1321 – 1331.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceShi, X., Adamic, L. A., Tseng, B. L., & Clarkson, G. S. ( 2009 ). The impact of boundary spanning scholarly publications and patents. PLoS One, 4 ( 8 ), 6547.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceSimon, H. ( 1962 ). The architecture of complexity. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 106, 467 – 82.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceSingh, J., & Fleming, L. ( 2010 ). Lone inventors as sources of breakthroughs: Myth or reality? Management Science, 56 ( 1 ), 41 – 56.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceTerwiesch, C., & Xu, Y. ( 2008 ). Innovation contests, open innovation, and multiagent problem solving. Management Science, 54 ( 9 ), 1529 – 1543.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceUzzi, B., Mukherjee, S., Stringer, M., & Jones, B. ( 2013 ). Atypical combinations and scientific impact. Science, 342, 468 – 471.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceWolff, E. N. ( 2006 ). The growth of information workers in the U.S. economy, 1950–2000: The role of technological change, computerization, and structural change. Economic System Research, 18 ( 3 ), 221 – 255.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceWuchty, S., Jones, B. F., & Uzzi, B. ( 2007 ). The increasing dominance of teams in the production of knowledge. Science, 316 ( 5827 ), 1036 – 1039.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceAusten‐Smith, D., & Banks, J. S. ( 1996 ). Information aggregation, rationality, and the condorcet jury theorem. The American Political Science Review, 90, 34 – 45.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceAutor, D. H., Katz, L. F., & Kearney, M. S. ( 2006 ). The polarization of the U.S. labor market (NBER Working Paper No. 11986).
dc.identifier.citedreferenceBachrach, Y., Graepel, T., Kasneci, G., Kosinski, M., & Van Gael, J. ( 2012 ). Crowd IQ—Aggregating opinions to boost performance. AAMAS proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AA‐ MAS 2012).
dc.identifier.citedreferenceBell, D. ( 1973 ). The coming of post‐industrial society. New York: Basic Books.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceBock, L. ( 2015 ). Work rules!: Insights from inside google that will transform how you live and lead. New York, NY: Twelve.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceBoudreau, K. J., Lacetera, N., & Lakhani, K. R. ( 2011 ). Incentives and problem uncertainty in innovation contests: an empirical analysis. Management Science, 57 ( 5 ), 843 – 863.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceConner, K. R. ( 1991 ). A historical comparison of resource‐based theory and five schools of thought within industrial organization economics: Do we have a new theory of the firm? Journal of Management, 171, 121 – 154.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceConner, K. R., & Prahalad, C. K. ( 1996 ). A resource‐based theory of the firm: Knowledge versus opportunism. Organization Science, 7 ( 5 ), 477 – 501.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceCooke, N. J., & Hilton, M. L. ( 2015 ). (Eds.), Enhancing the effectiveness of team science. Washington DC: National Research Council, National Academies Press.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceDemsetz, H. ( 1988 ). The theory of the firm revisited. Journal of Law Economics and Organization, 4 ( 1 ), 141 – 162.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceEricsson, K. A., Krampe, R., & Tesch‐Romer, C. ( 1993 ). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100 ( 3 ), 363 – 406.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceFeltovich, P., Prietula, M., & Ericsson, K. A. ( 2006 ). Studies of expertise from psychological perspectives. In Ericsson, K., Charness, N., Feltovich, P., & Hoffman, R. (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance. New York: Cambridge Press.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceFlorida, R. ( 2002 ). The rise of the creative class: And how it’s transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life. New York: Basic Books.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceFrança, L., Carrilho, E., & Kist, T. B. L. ( 2002 ). A review of DNA sequencing techniques. Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics, 35 ( 2 ), 169 – 200.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceFreeman, R., & Huang, W. ( 2014 ). Collaborating with people like me: Ethnic co‐authorship within the U.S (NBER Working Paper No.19905).
dc.identifier.citedreferenceGaricano, L. ( 2000 ). Hierarchies and the organization of knowledge in production. Journal of Political Economy, 108, 874 – 904.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceGaricano, L., & Rossi‐Hansberg, E. ( 2006 ). Organization and inequality in a knowledge economy. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121, 1383 – 1435.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceHolmstrom, B. ( 1982 ). Moral hazard in teams. Bell Journal of Economics, 13, 324 – 340.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceHong, L., & Page, S. E. ( 2004 ). Groups of diverse problem solvers can outperform groups of high‐ability problem solvers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 101 ( 46 ), 16385 – 16389.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceHsieh, C., Nickerson, J., & Zenger, T. ( 2007 ). Opportunity discovery, problem solving and a theory of the entrepreneurial firm. Journal of Management Studies, 44, 1255 – 1277.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceJones, B. F., Uzzi, B., & Wuchty, S. ( 2008 ). Multi‐university research teams: Shifting impact, geography and social stratification in science. Science, 322, 1259 – 1262.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceJon Kleinberg, Maithra Raghu. ( 2018 ) Team Performance with Test Scores. ACM Transactions on Economics and Computation.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceJeppesen, L. B., & Lakhani, K. R. ( 2010 ). Marginality and problem‐solving effectiveness in broadcast search. Organization Science, 21, 1016 – 1033.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceKleinberg, J., & Raghu, M. ( 2018 ). Team performance with test scores, ACM Transactions on Economics and Computation (working paper). Cornell University School of Information.
dc.identifier.citedreferenceLakhani, K. R., & Jeppesen, L. B. ( 2007 ). Getting unusual suspects to solve R&D puzzles. Harvard Business Review, 85 ( 5 ).
dc.identifier.citedreferenceLazear, E. P. ( 2009 ). Firm‐specific human capital: A skill‐weights approach. Journal of Political Economy, 117 ( 5 ), 914 – 940.
dc.owningcollnameInterdisciplinary and Peer-Reviewed


Files in this item

Show simple item record

Remediation of Harmful Language

The University of Michigan Library aims to describe library materials in a way that respects the people and communities who create, use, and are represented in our collections. Report harmful or offensive language in catalog records, finding aids, or elsewhere in our collections anonymously through our metadata feedback form. More information at Remediation of Harmful Language.

Accessibility

If you are unable to use this file in its current format, please select the Contact Us link and we can modify it to make it more accessible to you.