Coordination neglect: How lay theories of organizing complicate coordination in organizations

We argue that organizations often fail to organize effectively because indi viduals have lay theories about organizing that lead so coordination neglec t We unpack the notion of coordination neglect and describe specific cognit ive phenomena that underlie it. To solve the coordination problem, organiza tions must divide a task and then integrate the components. Individuals dis play shortcomings that map create problems at both stages. First, lay theor ies often focus more on division of labor than on integration. We discuss e vidence that individuals display partition focus (i.e. they focus on partit ioning the task more than an integration) and component focus (i.e. they te nd to focus on single components of a tightly interrelated set of capabilit ies, particularly by investing to create highly specialized components). Se cond, when individuals attempt to integrate components of a task, they ofte n fail to use a key mechanism for integration: ongoing communication. Indiv iduals exhibit inadequate communication because the 'curse of knowledge' ma kes it difficult to take the perspective of another and communicate effecti vely. More importantly, because specialists find it especially difficult to communicate,vith specialists in other areas, the general problem of commun ication will often be compounded by insufficient translation.