The Organizational Dynamics Obersvation Lab.

The vision of the ODYN observation lab is to improve the effectiveness of community based organizations by promoting, developing, implementing and evaluating cutting edge organizational theories and concepts in the areas of knowledge integration and shared leadership.

The mission of the ODYN Observation Lab is to study knowledge integration processes in teams and to develop and test strategies and trainings to improve knowledge integration. Since team members share and integrate their knowledge during meetings, the lab consists of a fully equipped meeting room with all the necessary facilities and an adjacent observation room. Studying meetings in a natural environment also increases the ecological validity of studies. Meetings can be observed through a (covered) one-way window as well as videotaped for later analysis. Another research focus is the study and implementation of Shared Leadership concepts in law enforcement agencies.

The lab currently has the following projects:

Studying and implementing Shared Leadership concepts: We evaluated the effects of the implementation of Shared Leadership at the Broken Arrow Police Department by means of a questionnaire study. The implementation was very successful and results were presented at three national and international conferences (Oklahoma City, OK; Sarasota, FL; and Istanbul, Turkey). American as well as European law enforcement agencies demonstrated interest in the concept and requested our materials. The resulting publication (forthcoming) received much praise from Joel Leson, the Director of the International Association of Chiefs of Police; three more publications in scholarly journals are in preparation. We were also asked by the Edmond Police Department to help implement the concept within their agency.

Facilitating knowledge integration: Training modules for teams were developed together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering, Stuttgart, Germany. This training was presented at the 16th International Information Resources Management Association Conference (IRMA), in San Diego in May 2005. The training has been implemented in a Human Resources company in Tulsa (Staff One) as part of a capstone project for an ODYN student. Results were very promising, and further implementations with Tulsa-based companies as well as an evaluation of the training's effectiveness are planned.

Assessing knowledge integration in teams: We developed a German scale which assesses three different aspects of knowledge integration in organizations and validated it in studies with organizational samples; the manuscript was submitted to a scholarly journal. The scale was translated into English and given to members of Tulsa-based organizations. Based on the data analysis, the questionnaire will be further refined and given to another sample of members of R&D teams.

Studying knowledge integration processes: An ongoing project studies collaborations between engineering and media arts students and the underlying knowledge integration processes. This study received funding by the Dean of Arts and Sciences of the University of Oklahoma, and is carried out in collaboration with Profs. Legrady and Gibson from the Media Arts and Technology program of the University of California in Santa Barbara.

Research results: In 2005, research associated with the lab has resulted in one refereed publication (forthcoming), one submitted publication, two refereed conference proceedings, presentations at five national and international conferences, and received funding by the Dean of Arts and Sciences of the University of Oklahoma. Ongoing collaborations include the Broken Arrow Police Department, Edmond Police Department, the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering, and the Media Arts and Technology Program at the University of California in Santa Barbara; research affiliations include COPPAC, the Center of Police Practices and Community at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The Organizational Dynamics Observation Lab is led by Dr. Brigitte Steinheider, Director of Organizational Dynamics and Assistant Professor of Psychology. The lab employs two Graduate Research Assistants.