کمبود منابع در یادگیری تیمی و عملکرد پروژه

This study examines the effect of slack resources on the relationship between team learning and project performance. Regression analysis tests the hypotheses in a sample of 183 firms in Taiwan. The findings suggest that two assessments of team learning, exploitative learning and exploratory learning, associate positively with project performance. Exploratory learning relates positively to project performance as absorbed and unabsorbed slack resources increase. Thus, slack resources play a moderating role in the relationship between exploratory learning and project performance. Empirical results provide general support for the predictions. The article discusses managerial implications and future research directions.

In an increasingly turbulent environment, new product development is a critical mechanism by which to enhance potential value and to facilitate continuous innovation (Atuahene-Gima and Murray, 2007 and Sarin and McDermott, 2003). Organizational learning theory and the resource-based view depict firms as repositories of knowledge and expertise that form a basis for sustainable competitive advantage (Barney, 1991, Conner and Prahalad, 1996 and Wernerfelt, 1984). According to organizational learning theory, firms need to actively manage knowledge and expertise to develop innovative products through organizational learning (Srinivasan, Haunschild, and Grewal, 2007). New product development often comes from bringing together knowledge embedded in individual minds. However, knowledge is not easily transferable between individuals because of stickiness and tacitness (Grant, 1996). Team members in a new product development team can engage in exploitative learning and exploratory learning in order to exchange knowledge (Atuahene-Gima and Murray, 2007 and Katila and Ahuja, 2002). Exploitative learning involves improvements and effort with regard to existing knowledge, technology, and paradigm; exploratory learning involves the search for new knowledge and technology and experimentation with new alternatives (Levinthal and March, 1993, March, 1991 and Miller, 1996). Both exploitative learning and exploratory learning can broaden and improve the knowledge base of project teams (Blazevic and Lievens, 2004). Through team learning that involves both exploitation and exploration, project teams can increase their ability to respond to markets, to solve problems, and to enhance performance outcomes (Auh and Menguc, 2005, Bunderson and Sutcliffe, 2003 and Zellmer-Bruhn and Gibson, 2006). Thus, team learning plays an important contributory role with regard to new product success and project performance (Atuahene-Gima and Murray, 2007, Sarin and McDermott, 2003 and Tucker et al., 2007). While the relationship between team learning and project performance is pervasive, the intensity of this relationship may be contingent on some related intervening variables. This study identifies slack resources as important intervening factors and examines the relevant theoretical rationales and empirical work. Slack is a potentially utilizable resource that can influence the ability of firms to implement desired actions (Bourgeois, 1981 and Cyert and March, 1963). In order to manage uncertainty and exploit opportunities, prior scholars recommend slack resources as the strategic tools for facilitation of risk taking, innovation, and performance (George, 2005, Keegan and Turner, 2002, Nohria and Gulati, 1996 and Tan and Peng, 2003). Slack resources act as buffers which insulate the technical core from environmental pressures and challenges (Bourgeois, 1981). The availability of slack resources enables firms to experiment with new strategies such as introducing new products and entering new markets (Geiger and Makri, 2006, Tan and Peng, 2003 and Yang et al., 2009). A firm can afford the risk taking and capital restriction associated with knowledge exploration and new product development (George, 2005, Nohria and Gulati, 1996 and Voss et al., 2008). Conversely, lack of available slack inhibits a firm's ability to mobilize necessary resources and constrain strategic change and aggressiveness (Ferrier, 2001). Thus, slack resources may play a contingent role with regard to triggering innovation and supporting the exploitation and exploration of knowledge leading to favorable project outcomes. This study aims to examine the effect of team learning on project performance and to determine whether slack resources play a moderating role in affecting the association of team learning and project performance.

This study investigates the project performance implications of team learning and organizational slack. The empirical results provide considerable support to the proposed contingency framework. As predicted, exploitative learning and exploratory learning are drivers of project performance. The findings provide empirical evidence to connect the relationship between team learning and project performance. The study further examines the key contingent moderators of slack resources. Consistent with the hypothesis, the positive effect of exploratory learning on project performance is stronger under the conditions of a higher level of both absorbed and unabsorbed slack resources. Therefore, organizations could take slack resources into consideration in the transition process from exploratory learning to project performance. The findings of this study contribute to the theoretical development with regard to offering an explanation for the relationships between team learning, slack resources, and project performance. Exploitative and exploratory modes of learning are imperatives for organizations seeking to gain competitive advantages (Atuahene-Gima and Murray, 2007, Auh and Menguc, 2005, Holmqvist, 2004 and Sarin and McDermott, 2003). The present study contributes to the organizational learning literature (March, 1991 and Miller, 1996) by framing exploitation and exploration as learning mechanisms for knowledge sourcing. The findings also provide insights into the role played by slack resources regarding knowledge learning outcomes. Based on the resource-based view, this study builds up the conceptual model and hypothesizes that slack resources will influence the strength of team learning affecting project performance. The findings indicate that exploratory learning is more effective on project performance when adding absorbed slack resources and unabsorbed slack resources as intervening variables. This study empirically demonstrates the moderating effect of slack resources on the relationship between team learning and project performance. The practical implication of the results is that project success requires a commitment to both exploitive and exploratory learning. Exploitative learning facilitates better product development efficiency by reducing errors in problem solving and avoiding mistakes in new product development. Exploratory learning enables team members to unlock the learning potential required to generate greater experimentation and innovation in new product development and to achieve a high level of project performance. Project managers need to actively create a stimulating atmosphere to augment exploitative and exploratory learning activities in their project teams. Furthermore, the interaction between exploratory learning and slack resources has significant impact on project performance. One surprising finding is how little the interactions are contributing to the overall variance explained. Absorbed slack shows no direct effect and an interaction with a partial R2 of about 2%. Unabsorbed slack adds 2% with both the direct and interaction effects. An explanation for this result might be that slack is not really a practically important moderator. While the interaction effect may have statistical significance, the practical significance is minimal. Greater slack easily induces inefficient use of resources. Slack resources consist of a system of principal and agent relationship in which agents may accumulate slack resources to pursue their own interests rather than to act in the interest of their organization (Cyert and March, 1963 and Nohria and Gulati, 1996). In new product development projects, team members have the pressure of new product introduction within predetermined criteria for time, cost, and quality. Similarly, exploitative learning in team members focuses on current and known expertise to ensure efficiency of projects and implementation of solutions. Innovation outputs are often not visible to the owners of a firm. When they have a high level of slack resources, managers usually invest and direct toward furthering their own personal interest in uncertain and risky projects (Nohria and Gulati, 1996 and Yang et al., 2009). Such behavior may reduce efficiency and managerial discipline and may cause improper oversights regarding new product projects. In this regard, although exploitative learning has a positive effect on project performance, project managers must be cognizant of the managerial agent problem and the potential inefficiency generated from slack resources.