The impact of systems thinking on team dynamics and performance

Elliot Bendoly, associate professor of information systems and operations management, examines the impact of systems thinking on internal project dynamics and performance.  Noting the inherently social nature of group project work, he asks whether high-quality information sharing as well as perceptions of psychological safety – both of which are critical to performance – help mediate the link between informed systems thinking and project success.  Drawing in part on a unique, large-scale interview data set along with survey data from multiple sources associated with supply chain system implementation projects, Bendoly argues that an individual’s understanding of systems dynamics, as well as the similarity of such understanding to that typical of their team members is, in fact, a strong predictor of both information sharing quality and perceptions of psychological safety in project work. Production and Operations Management (2013).