An article by Jean-François Harvey published in Human Resource Management Review still popular
September 8, 2022
An article co-authored by HEC Montréal Associate Professor Jean-François Harvey and Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson has been recognized once again for its scope and influence.
The article, Cross-boundary teaming for innovation: Integrating research on teams and knowledge in organizations, already notable in 2019 for its quality and popularity, was a finalist for the 2022 Scholarly Impact Award from the Human Resource Management Review (HRMR).
This award, presented annually by HRMR, recognizes the 2 best articles based on a series of criteria:
- The significance and importance of the topic
- The extent to which the article advances theory and research
- The extent to which the article advances the mission of the journal
- Awareness of and intelligent use of existing theory and/or research
- Originality/creativity of the contribution
- Quality of presentation
The Editorial Review Board that nominates the award winner considers all the articles published in the journal over the previous 5 years (in this case, from 2017 to 2021) to come up with a short list of the best articles meeting these criteria. The article by Amy Edmondson and Jean-François Harvey was the 2nd on this list.
Published in December 2018, the article has already been widely cited (almost 300 times, according to Google Scholar) and has been downloaded over 60,000 times, making it the most frequently consulted article from the journal since it appeared.
HRMR is a leading scientific journal for research in human resource management. The articles it publishes undergo a rigorous selection process – only some 30 of the roughly 500 submissions it receives every year make it into the journal.
The subject of the article, in brief
The authors suggest a new theoretical model to better understand the challenges facing teams with members from different disciplines or organizations (cross-boundary teaming).
Their model looks at 3 levels of challenges for such work teams. These challenges may be related to language (e.g. some members may use terms not understood by everyone), interpretation (e.g. members may evaluate the project in different ways) or interests (e.g. members may want to see the project move in different directions). They affect the team members’ behaviours and the atmosphere on the team.
The article combines a perspective on teamwork rooted in psychology with a perspective on collaboration rooted in sociology, while offering a more in-depth view than is traditionally gained from these 2 perspectives considered separately.