The Interplay between Prototyping and Identity Processes: a Field Study of a Healthcare Team

While prototypes are recognized as fundamental boundary objects in that they can favor coordination in multidisciplinary teams, we know little about how team members interpret and interact with different types of prototypes and the implications for knowledge integration. In order to address this gap, we adopted an identity-based perspective and conducted a field study of a multidisciplinary team in an emergency department, composed of doctors, nurses, technicians, and designers, in charge of redesigning the layout of the unit developing four prototypes. Our grounded model shows how team and subgroups identities impact on how prototypes are discussed, defined, and tested. In particular, subgroup identities played a major role in the definition of prototypes characterized by high levels of tangibility, validity, and fidelity, by engendering more conflict and dissent. However, a team identity based on values of innovation and experimentation lead the multidisciplinary team first to discuss openly about possible alternatives and then to converge on a solution that integrated their diverse knowledge. Our analysis contributes to the literature on boundary objects by unraveling how the interpretation of the characteristics of a prototype interacts with team and subgroups identities and offers theoretical and practical implications for designers working in knowledge intensive teams.