| This dissertation explores communication to retrieve information in organizational work teams from the prospective of Transactive Memory Theory (Hollingshead, 1998; Wegner, 1987) by utilizing social network analysis techniques (Wasserman & Faust, 1994; Wasserman & Pattison, 1996). Transactive Memory Theory explains how a team works as a system to gain, organize, and utilize information (Wegner, Giuliano, & Hertel, 1985) by sharing two or more individual's memories through various communicative processes (Wegner, 1987).; To employ a networks perspective, the Theory of Transactive Memory is defined more explicitly than previously presented in the literature. Based on this formulation of the theory, observed retrieval patterns from intact organizational work teams are compared to those that would be expected from the verbal descriptions of Transactive Memory Theory processes (Wegner, 1995).; In this study, retrieval patterns are explored as structural tendencies (i.e., statistically tested patterns based on the probability of their existence in a work team (Wasserman & Pattison, 1996)) based on what would be expected with regard to (a) communication to retrieve information (Hollingshead, 1998; Wegner, 1987), (b) perceived expertise of team members (Hollingshead, 2000), (c) self-reported expertise (Hollingshead, 2000; Wegner, Erber, & Raymond, 1991), (d) communication to allocate information (Wegner, 1995), (e) perceptions of task responsibility (Brandon & Hollingshead, 2001; Liang, Moreland, & Argote, 1995; Moreland, Argote, & Krishnan, 1996), and (f) levels of interdependence (Hollingshead, 2001).; The findings indicate that certain hypothesized structures are supported while others are not. Particularly, team members in work teams ranging in size from 10 to 17 utilized their perceptions of expertise and organizational required knowledge (the knowledge required of a coworker based on perceptions of task responsibility) when deciding from whom on their team they would retrieve information. Additionally, the findings indicate that team members' perceptions of expertise align more closely with retrieval patterns than do self-reported expertise. In other words, there is an apparent disconnect between people's self-perceptions of expertise and the perceptions that teammates have of their expertise. |
