A conducted study...
Current Research:
York, Anne., McCarthy, Kim., Darnold, Todd. Teaming in Biotechnology Commercialization: The Diversity-Performance Connection and How University Programs Can Make a Difference. Journal of Commercial Biotechnology. January, 2009.
Abstract: Collaboration across disciplines in the sciences is on the rise. Yet practitioner articles abound that describe a range of dysfunctional team experiences, especially in contexts where science and business intersect. A critical issue currently preventing successful bioscience commercialization is management’s lack of “soft skills,” such as the ability to direct complex and functionally diverse teams to achieve productive outcomes. Our paper first reviews the diversity and teaming literature from several disciplinary perspectives in order to better understand how different types of diversity affect team outcomes and processes, as well as how to create higher functioning teams to engage in bioscience technology commercialization. Research suggests that surface diversity issues associated with demographic and disciplinary differences may diminish over time, as team members move beyond initial stereotypes and gain more knowledge about their fellow group members. However, problems stemming from deep level diversity such as personality and values differences are more difficult to overcome and require a high degree of interaction frequency and strong communication skills. Going beyond the literature review, we demonstrate how these “lessons learned” can be applied to bioscience entrepreneurship education, using a case study of a Midwest university program funded by an NSF Partnerships for Innovation grant.
York, Anne., McCarthy, Kim., Darnold, Todd. Personality and Teaming in Bioscience Commercialization: Results from a Naturally Occurring Experiment. Submitted to the 2009 Academy of Management Conference and the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology.
Abstract: Our study describes a naturally-occurring experiment exploring linkages between interdisciplinary team outcomes and personality dimensions, general mental ability, and communication type and frequency. This research took place within the context of an NSF-sponsored bioscience entrepreneurship program which engaged science, health science, law and business students working in cross-disciplinary project teams in the technology commercialization process. Our results are consistent with research findings from the management literature. Deep-level diversity seems to increase conflict in teams and is quite difficult to overcome even over time; thus, finding ways to structure teams to minimize this type of diversity from the outset is desirable.
Expected BEP Program Outcomes:
- Internships and placements
- Business plans and presentations
- Class demographic and disciplinary diversity and average GPA
- Teaming improvement
- Faculty education
- High school program
- BioVenture competition
- Professional Science Masters
- Strengthened partnerships
- Research on bioscience commercialization education
- Applicant pool and program completion rate
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