Team cognition and reframing behavior: The impact of team cognition on problem reframing, team dynamics and design performance

Abstract

As designers collect information about a problem, they form a mental frame of the problem space that is the scaffolding around which to build a solution. When presented with new information, successful designers can "reframe" the problem and the solution as part of a successful iterative cycle. These iterative cycles are central to the Stanford Design Thinking process. However, individuals and teams reframe to differing extents; is this variation rooted in intrinsic differences in cognitive style, and can it be associated with long-term innovative performance? We propose and evaluate a closed-form assessment tool called the Stanford Design Thinking Exercise (SDTE) to answer these questions. The results shed light on the particularly strong need for improved team dynamics measurements and the challenges of transcending context-specificity. Pathways for enhanced team dynamics measurements are explored.