Power and the production of knowledge: Collective team learning in work organizations

Extended and complex work environments have made it difficult for individuals to single‐handedly conceptualize and solve organizational problems. Recognizing the limited information and knowledge available to a single person and the potential creative power of teams, organizations have increasingly used teams to take on learning tasks such as product development, improvement of work processes, and strategic planning. In spite of the extensive research on groups and teams, little research has been conducted on how teams learn. This article draws on a qualitative multiple case study to identify team‐learning tasks, and then to examine how organizational structures make it difficult for low‐power members to carry out those learning tasks. It proposes that unequal formal power among employees is a “critical level” influencing the success or failure of learning teams and links the difficulties teams encounter to the culture and history of the United States.