Table 2
Main Characteristics of the 14 Studies Selected for Data Extraction and Synthesis
Nr. Methodology
Method
Phenomena of
interest
Setting
Geographical Participants
Data analysis
1*
Socio-cultural
perspective/analysis
Observations
and interviews
Procedures and
competence
development
methodology
An oil refinery and
petrochemicals
manufacturing
complex
UK
Process operators,
maintenance
technicians, office
employees,
training staff,
refinery analysts,
refinery
technologists and
various categories
of manager.
Thematic
analysis
2
Interpretive
interactionist
approach
Qualitative
multiple case
study
The link between
the distribution of
formal power to
individual team
members and the
collective teamlearning outcome
of producing useful
new knowledge.
The research and
development unit of
a large hightechnology
manufacturing
company.
/
Four teams whose
task was to
improve the
production process.
10 to 15 people in
a team
(voluntarily).
Selected to achieve
a broad variation
of hierarchical
rank, gender, age,
and ethnic and
racial background.
Thematic
analysis,
negative-case
analysis
3
Case study
Personal in
depth and semistructured
interviews
The effect of
leadership style of
a team leader on
team-member
learning in
organisations,
ambidextrous
leadership in a
team context.
Large and prominent
university
/
Three teams, from
three different
disciplinary units,
responsible for
teaching activities
and some research
tasks. With a clear
top management
team leader (3), a
team leader (3),
and team members
(6).
Content
analysis
4
Interpretive
epistemology
Observations
and interviews
To explore how
collective learning
and change happen
Primary care teams
UK
10 teams
Thematic
analysis, use
of mindmap
software
leading to a
metaframework of
results.
5
Ethnographical
approach
Developing
sequence of
social
interaction
The process of
inter-professional
work and learning
Surgical operating
theatre =
interprofessional
groups
Finland
Doctors (surgeons
and physicians)
and nurses.
Basic results
compared
with ideal
vignettes.
6
Exploratory study
Observations
and interviews
The role of team
learning in
organisational
learning
Five types of teams:
top management,
middle management,
product
development,
internal services, and
/
Senior executives,
middle managers,
engineers,
production
workers, and
providers of
An iterative
approach
production. In a
medium-sized
manufacturing
company
various staff
services.
7
Qualitative field
study
Interviews
The operatingroom-team work
routine
Hospitals
USA
Members of the
OR teams using
MICS
Cross-case
analysis
8
Multiple case-study
design
Direct
observations +
semi-structured
interviews
Conditions for
informal learning
in care work
Home help service
Sweden
Care workers, and
the head and
deputy of each unit
Cross-case
analysis
9
Case-based
approach
Interviews
Team-based
knowledge work
A large insurance
company and a small
engineering
company, a large
consumer health
product company
Sweden, USA
Members of
project teams
Thematic
analysis
10
Clinical approach
Participant
observation,
structured and
unstructured
interviewing
Learning in the
workplace from a
practice based
perspective
A regional theatre
company = Center
Theatre Company
Mid-west of
the USA
35 company
members
Grounded
theory
11
Soft knowledge
systems theory
Qualitative
cross-case
study:
interviews,
archival
document
Knowledge
production and
successful change
in teams. The
existing knowledge
networks
Part of the
Antimicrobial
Resistance
Educational Alliance
(AREA)
USA
Health care teams
which matched the
criteria.
NVivo
software:
primary level
using a
coding
dictionary,
review, and
direct
aboservation
secondary
level using
emergent
themes.
12
Grounded theory
Team
members’
written
reflections
How to learn to
become an
entrepreneurial
teacher?
An entrepreneurial
team-teaching
intervention
Finland
The author and two Open coding,
teacher colleagues axial coding,
and selective
coding
13
Interpretative
Interviews
Virtual teams and
the learning of
work practices
A large company
USA
Workers and
managers of three
cross-functional
teams.
Categorical
coding
14
An exploratory
study
Interviews,
observations,
access to
electronic
project records
Virtual team
learning
New product
development
situations in a
multinational
company
/
7 new product
development
teams: team
members and
managers
Within-team
analysis and
cross-team
analysis
*Final set of studies included in the synthesis:
1. Boreham, N., & Morgan, C. (2004). A socialcultural analysis of organizational learning. Oxford Review of Education, 30(3), 307–325.
2. Brooks, A. K. (1994). Power and the production of knowledge: Collective team learning in work organizations. Human Resource Development
Quarterly, 5(3), 213–235.
3. Bucic, T., Robinson, L., & Ramburuth, P. (2010). Effects of leadership styles on team learning. Journal of Workplace Learning, 22(4), 228–
248.
4. Bunniss, S., & Kelly, D. R. (2008). 'The unknown becomes the known': Collective learning and change in primary care teams. Medical
Education, 42(12), 1185–1194.
5. Collin, K., Paloniemi, S., & Mecklin, J. P. (2010). Promoting interprofessional teamwork and learning - The case of surgical operating theatre.
Journal of Education and Work, 23(1), 43–63.
6. Edmondson, A. C. (2002). The local an variegated nature of learning in organizations: A group-level perspective. Organization Science, 13(2),
128–146.
7. Edmondson, A. C., Bohmer, R. M., & Pisano, G. P. (2001). Disrupted routines: Team learning and new technology implementation in
hospitals. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46(4), 685–716.
8. Ellström, E., Ekholm, B., & Ellström, P. E. (2008). Two types of learning environment: Enabling and constraining a study of care work.
Journal of Workplace Learning, 20(2), 84–97.
9. Erhardt, N. (2011). Is it all about teamwork? Understanding processes in team-based knowledge work. Management Learning, 42(1), 87–112.
10. Ford, R. (2008). From situated practice to informed theory: Learning cycles and enabling structures. The Learning Organization, 15(2), 126–
148.
11. Olson, C. A., Tooman, T. R., & Alvarado, C. J. (2010). Knowledge systems, health care teams, and clinical practice: A study of successful
change. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 15(4), 491–516.
12. Peltonen, K. (2008). Can learning in teams help teachers to become more enterpreneurial? The interplay between efficacy perceptions and
team support. LTA, 3, 297–324.
13. Robey, D., Khoo, H. M., & Powers, C. ( 2000). Situated learning in cross-functional virtual teams. IEEE Transactions on Professional
Communication, 43(1), 51-66.
14. Soule, D. L., & Applegat, L. M. (2009). Virtual team learning: Reflecting and acting, alone or with others. Cambridge, USA: Harvard
business school. Retrieved from http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-084.pdf.