Informal Structure and Team Innovation: A Multiple Case Study in University Research Teams

Although the hierarchical structure adopted by most Chinese organizations and teams is advocated to hinder innovation, the innovation of Chinese organizations has been growing in the past 40 years. This paradox is also reflected in research teams in organizations. This study aims to resolve this issue from the perspective of team structure. We posit that the prescribed formal structure is only a basic factor that determines team innovation, whereas the emerging informal structure of the team may differ from the formal structure and have a stronger effect on innovation. We adopted participative observations in team meetings of 12 scientific research teams in a Chinese university. Results show that neither teams with high or low levels of hierarchy, but teams with moderately hierarchical informal structure are the most innovative ones. Specifically, in high innovative teams, members at the highest level undertake the functions of negative evaluation, task management, and team meeting administration, and members at lower levels but with some research experience undertake functions of giving suggestions and sharing knowledge and information.