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As the result of the first phase of building a computational laboratory which is aimed to enable detail study of the emergent team properties and team behaviour in product development, this paper focuses on the design of a computational representation of a member of product development team. Since team members are often faced with the necessity to adjust to changes in their environment, the emphasis was put on modelling of human adaptive capacity. Specifically, the paper brings together the theoretical findings on mechanisms individuals use when faced with disruptions and introduces the architecture of an adaptable agent that can be used for studying adaptation of product development team. Building on the findings from psychology, sociology and cognitive science, the proposed agents are defined as cognitive, situated, affective and social. The proposed computational workbench is aimed to augment understanding of team processes prior, and in response to adaptation triggers in the context of product development projects, and should enable anticipation of possible pitfalls, enhance the development of design methodologies and tools, and provide guidelines for design education.

Teams play a significant role in the process of product development, regardless of whether the product developed is a machine, software or service. As such, a number of studies have been conducted to determine factors influencing team effectiveness and performance. Due to flexibility, effectiveness and applicability of computational models, modelling and simulation approach has been used to aid research on teams, and simulations have been successfully utilised for studies on different aspects of teamwork. However, the full potential of computational experiments has yet to be achieved, as studies focusing on emergent properties of product development teams are seldom. One of team properties essential for product development’s success is team adaptability, as teams have to constantly adjust to market changes, alterations in team structure, technology advancements, changes in product requirements, or upcoming deadlines. Thus, the development of a simulation framework which would enable studies of product development team’s adaptation is of particular interest. This work presents the research aimed at the development of such framework.

The authors draw on resource allocation theory (Kanfer & Ackerman, 1989) to develop hypotheses regarding the conditions under which collective learning and performance orientation have interactive effects and the nature of those effects on teams' ability to adapt to a sudden and dramatic change in workload. Consistent with the theory, results of a laboratory study in which teams worked on a computerized, decision-making task over 3 performance trials revealed that learning and performance orientation had independent effects on team adaptability when teams had slack resources available for managing their changed task. Time helped explain the independent effects of performance orientation. Results also revealed that learning and performance orientation had interactive effects when teams did not have slack resources. Finally, the results of this study indicate that teams lacking slack resources were better able to balance high levels of learning and performance orientation over time with practice on the changed task.