| This qualitative study investigated the phenomenon of knowledge brokering in multidisciplinary teams through the personal experience stories of thirty consultants. Knowledge brokering referred to the processes of transferring and translating meaning between members of different communities of practice (Wenger, 1998). These processes were deemed necessary for multidisciplinary teams to work effectively and to enhance organizational learning (Crossan et al., 1998). This study focused on behaviors, activities, and conditions that would enhance and inhibit knowledge brokering.; The 30 consultants who participated in this study were diverse in terms of gender, age, consulting experience, roles, and industries. The 1½-hour interviews included a card sort method followed by an in-depth interview in which participants told stories about their choices.; High and low care translating and working behaviors, activities, and conditions were identified and presented in a 2 x 2 matrix. The degree of care present was found to have a significant impact on a unit's capacity to creatively broker members' knowledge and produce useful outcomes (von Krogh, 1998). High care activities encourage interdependency, empathy, and validation for members, while low care behaviors emphasize individual power and competition among colleagues, resulting in reduced knowledge sharing and effort to collaborate.; Translating in multifunctional teams was fostered by honoring humanness, developing mutual trust, calibrating behavior, and negotiating practices and impeded by competing intellectually, displaying low emotional intelligence, and restricting openness. Working in multifunctional teams was enhanced by collaborating and communicating but restricted by ignoring integration processes and instituting rigid systems.; Twelve guidelines emerged from the enhancer and barrier themes that summarize each of the key findings and provide multidisciplinary teams with points to consider before and during project work. A suggested applications of the major findings included using the 2 x 2 findings matrix as a diagnostic tool for individuals, teams, and organizations. Other applications included the development of hiring models that consider knowledge brokering competencies and approaches to internal projects that make more explicit the activities and skills of cross-disciplinary collaboration. |
