Sustaining and Developing Disciplinary Expertise in Project-Based Organizations

Table of contents

1. Cover Page
2. Title Page
3. Copyright Page
4. Table of Contents
5. Acknowledgments
6. Executive Summary
7. Chapter 1 - Introduction
   1. In Search of Solutions to a Well-Known Challenge
      1. Purpose and Research Questions
      2. A Reader's Guide
8. Chapter 2 - On Disciplinary Expertise in Project-Based Organizations
   1. Project-Based Organizations for Knowledge Integration
      1. The Need for T-Shaped Skills
   2. Co-Location of Project Teams: Dispersal of Disciplinary Expertise
      1. Interdisciplinary Teamwork: A Gain in Breadth, A Loss in Depth?
   3. How can Project-Based Organizations Deal with the Problem?
      1. Shifting between the Extremes
   4. Disciplinary Expertise
      1. Knowledge
      2. Knowing
      3. Contextualizing
      4. Disciplinary Expertise: The KKC Framework
9. Chapter 3 - Methodology
   1. Approaching the Field and Selecting the Companies
      1. Selecting Informants and Conducting Interviews
   2. Writing up, Analyzing, And Comparing the Cases
10. Chapter 4 - Software Inc.
    1. The Organizational Setup
       1. From Functionally based Line Units to Feature-Driven Cross-Functional Teams
    2. The Cross-Functional Teams and their Knowledge
       1. Disciplinary Expertise
       2. The Importance of Product Knowledge
       3. The Broadening of Product and Disciplinary Knowledge
       4. Sustaining Access to Deep Disciplinary and Product Knowledge
    3. The Organizational Setup from the Perspective of Disciplinary Experts
       1. Cross-Functional Teams going for Knowledge Breadth
       2. The New Setup: A Double-Edged Sword
    4. Ways of Sustaining and Developing Disciplinary Knowledge
       1. Communities of Practice
       2. CoPs with a Disciplinary Focus
       3. The GTE Community and Product CoPs
       4. Wikis and Intranet Fora
    5. Summary and Concluding Remarks
11. Chapter 5 - Sentio
    1. The Organizational Setup
       1. The Product-Based Line Organization and the Core Design Team
       2. The Cross-Functional Teams and their Knowledge
    2. The Organizational Setup from the Perspective of Disciplinary Experts
       1. The New Setup: A Double-Edged Sword
    3. Ways of Sustaining and Developing Deep Technical Knowledge
       1. The Management Perspective
       2. Management is Sympathetic to Competence Development but…
    4. An Overview of Different Competence Development Activities
       1. Competence Circles and Other Disciplinary Activities
       2. Cross-Team Testing in Pairs
       3. Conferences and Courses
       4. Professional and Web-Based Networks
       5. Personal Networks and Individual Passion
    5. Summary and Concluding Remarks
12. Chapter 6 - Medtech
    1. The Organizational Setup
       1. The Cross-Functional Teams and Cross-Team Support
    2. The Organizational Setup from the Point of View of Team Members
       1. Cross-Functional Teams for Increased Expertise
       2. The Cross-Functional Teams and their Knowledge
    3. Ways of Sustaining and Developing Expertise
       1. The Management Perspective
       2. A Broad Spectrum of Activities and Arenas
    4. An Overview of Different Competence Development Activities
       1. Disciplinary Activities
       2. Cross-Team Testing and System Testing
       3. Courses and Conferences
       4. Professional and Web-Based Communities
       5. Other Activities
    5. Summary and Concluding Remarks
13. Chapter 7 - Organizational Solutions for Sustaining Disciplinary Expertise
    1. Structural Solutions
       1. Organizing for Disciplinary Leadership
       2. Organizing for Disciplinary Communities
       3. Summing Up
    2. Activity-Based Solutions
       1. Collaborating among Disciplinary Peers at Work
       2. Competence Networks with Disciplinary Focus
       3. Informal Activities among Disciplinary Peers
       4. Integrated Work Practices
       5. Organized Learning Arenas
       6. External Networking
       7. Individual Activities
       8. Seeing the Products in Action
       9. Summing Up
    3. Integrative Solutions
    4. Summary and Concluding Remarks
       1. Avenues for Future Research
14. References