The Learning Process of Project Teams: An Experience-Based Approach

Existing evidence associates team learning and project-based work with competitive advantages within organizations. However, few studies describe how the learning process of project teams occur and its implications on organizational governance. This chapter describes the learning process of a project team in a company in the industrial infrastructure sector from the theoretical perspective of group processes, which aims to analyze teams within a real context. Evidence was drawn from primary sources, through interviews with the team and some of its stakeholders, as well as from secondary sources such as institutional documents. Conclusions indicate that the dynamic components of the team setting and the learning behaviors that take place under a temporal perspective are relevant to learning, according to Gersick’s Punctuated-Equilibrium Model. Results also point to the dynamic nature of the team’s learning goals.