Chapter 1: Capacity, Collaboration, and Commonality: A Framework for Understanding Team Learning

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a theoretical framework that can be used as a basis for future research on team learning. Utilizing information processing theory, we extend the conceptualization of learning from the individual to the team level and propose that 3 critical conditions need to be present for team learning to occur: capacity, collaboration, and commonality. We then discuss the role of each of these conditions in supporting information processing within teams and utilize the framework to highlight several individual, team, and organizational factors that have the potential to affect learning at the team level.