Mind the Gap! Empowering Large Cross-Disciplinary Teams to Bridge Divides

Abstract

Large intercultural interdisciplinary research teams collaborating over extended periods of time (convergence research teams) are increasingly promoted as a means of addressing complex societal challenges. However, the complexity inherent in such teams’ configuration, project contexts, and institutional settings creates persistent challenges, including integrating knowledge across disciplines, coordinating work across locations and time zones, and aligning expectations regarding process and methods. These challenges, both abstract and concrete, are commonly understood to arise from underlying divides, referred to as boundaries. The literature discusses efforts to address such divides as boundary spanning. While existing research frequently emphasizes boundary-spanning as an individual responsibility, this focus can overlook team-level opportunities and may overextend individuals by assigning additional responsibility often without recognition, training, or support. This dissertation, therefore, adopts a group-level perspective and investigates the boundary-spanning needs of convergence research teams and how these needs can be addressed collectively. The work comprises three research chapters. Chapter 2 introduces the novel Boundary-Spanning Needs Framework, which outlines the conditions under which boundaries emerge and whether, when, and how they can and should be addressed – indicating when a boundary-spanning need persists. Chapter 3 presents the related Boundary- Spanning Capacity Framework, which identifies team-level concepts and practices for collectively addressing boundaries. Finally, Chapter 4 reports findings from a pilot study of the Bridge-Making Workshop, which is an educational intervention designed to cultivate boundary- spanning capacity within teams. Grounded in social constructivism and symbolic interactionism, this work examines how team members negotiate meaning and co-construct shared practices in the context of boundary spanning. Methodologically, this dissertation employs a mixed-method approach with a strong qualitative emphasis. Chapter 2 draws on a case study of six convergence research teams, incorporating semi-structured interviews, a focus group, and surveys, which were analyzed using a hybrid deductive-inductive approach. Chapter 4 equally combines qualitative and quantitative data, including pre- and post-surveys, observational notes, and free-text responses. The data was analyzed using a hybrid deductive-inductive approach informed by the value-creation framework. Overall, this dissertation offers two conceptual frameworks that illuminate the conditions and processes shaping boundary-spanning needs in convergence research teams. I introduce the concept of attunement as an integral, relational precursor to boundary-related work. In practice, this dissertation offers design recommendations for cultivating boundary- spanning capacity, with particular attention to attunement, and presents the Bridge-Making workshop as an initial, promising intervention for creating value within a collaborative context. In this way, this study bridges theory and practice and advances understanding of the need for and practice of improving boundary-spanning on convergence research teams through collective efforts.