Title: Can teams benefit from using a mindful infrastructure when defensive behaviour threatens complex innovation projects?

Authors: Peter R.A. Oeij; Steven Dhondt; Jeff B.R. Gaspersz; Ernest M.M. De Vroome

Addresses: TNO, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, Hoofddorp, The Netherlands; School of Management, Open University of the Netherlands, Heerlen, The Netherlands ' TNO, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, Hoofddorp, The Netherlands; Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium ' Nyenrode Business University, Breukelen, The Netherlands ' TNO, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, Hoofddorp, The Netherlands

Abstract: Projects are often doomed to fail. An explorative case study which carried out team-based complex innovation projects in a research and technology organisation suggests three main results: 1) project team leaders experienced that the complexity involved in the various aspects of team functioning, made it prone to mixed messaging; 2) one of the meetings observed indicated that defensive behaviours were prevalent; 3) the team members' self-assessment reports on team performance suggested that team outcomes improve in the presence of team psychological safety, team learning and team mindfulness. The study indicates that complex innovation projects may be negatively affected by defensive behaviours, but this behaviour can be overcome by creating a mindful infrastructure based on team psychological safety, team learning and team mindfulness.

Keywords: project complexity; defensive behaviour; mindful infrastructure; innovation projects; project teams; team performance; team psychological safety; team learning; team mindfulness; innovation resilience behaviour; mixed messages.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPOM.2016.078272

International Journal of Project Organisation and Management, 2016 Vol.8 No.3, pp.241 - 258

Received: 18 Sep 2013
Accepted: 25 Mar 2014
Published online: 14 Aug 2016 *

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