This book investigates communication and collaboration in an interdisciplinary
academic research team. The author uses grounded practical
theory and a systems perspective to identify structures, processes and
dilemmas influencing collective communication competence and capacity for
collaboration in a team. The communication structures include: trust, presence,
humor, encounter talk, language, boredom, challenging statements
and reflexive talk. The structures influence four communication processes:
debating expertise, shared learning and language use, shared vision and
interdisciplinary products. The team also encountered four communicative
dilemmas or tensions: selecting measurement sites, negotiating the tension
between simplicity and complexity, negotiating the tension between social
and natural science paradigms, and learning how to write collaboratively. The
author used participant observation and qualitative methodology to identify
the structures, processes and dilemmas. The ethnographic analysis was the
basis for a systems model of interdisciplinary team dynamics. The systems
model is a reflective communication tool for interdisciplinary team members
and facilitators and provides a dynamic understanding of communication and
collaboration behaviors embedded in interdisciplinary research teams.