Mutual knowledge evolution in team design

This paper presents an investigation into the phenomenon of mutual knowledge evolution in team working using protocol data. The focus is on whether mutual knowledge evolution in agents exists, and if so, what triggers this phenomenon. Section 2 presents the nature of team design. Team design is a collective problem solving and knowledge co-constructed process (Bonner, 1959; Nguifo et al, 1999). When members in a design team work together, they can therefore produce a result that individuals may not readily produce, which is called team synergy (Prasad, 1995). Section 3 presents the hypothesis that designers can mutually evolve their design idea and learn from each other. An example of mutual knowledge evolution process is posited. In section 4, the analysis of mutual knowledge evolution using protocol data is carried out. Through the analysis, the phenomenon of mutual knowledge evolution has been observed and the reasons that trigger the phenomenon have been discussed. The conclusion is made in section 5 and future research has been identified. Collective learning in team design has been presented by Wu and Duffy (Wu and Duffy, 2002). In this paper the focus is specifically on investigating mutual knowledge evolution, i.e., a design phenomenon in which the agents mutually evolve their design knowledge and co-construct the design solution.