Threshold Conditions for Collective Mind in Project Teams: An NCA Study of Multidisciplinary Coordination

This study explores how temporary and multidisciplinary project teams enact collective mind to support coordinated action and reduce implementation errors. In intraorganizational settings, collective mind is traditionally understood through three dimensions: representing, contributing, and subordinating. However, to reflect the behavioural and multi-contextual realities of cross-boundary collaborations, this study reconceptualises subordinating as compliance and contributing as we-centric contribution. It also introduces two additional dimensions, namely, shared understanding and coordination. Data were collected from 31 professionals across three construction project teams in the UK, offering a rich empirical context for examining cognitive and behavioural dynamics in temporary settings. Using Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA), the study identifies non-compensatory thresholds that must be met for collective mind to emerge. The analysis is conducted at the individual level to reflect the distributed nature of cognitive enactments within teams, consistent with compilation models in team cognition research. Findings reveal a hierarchy of necessity: compliance is indispensable even at low levels of collective mind, while coordination and representing become necessary at moderate levels. Shared understanding and we-centric contribution are only required when high levels of collective mind are targeted. These results challenge additive models of team cognition and support a configurational view of cognitive infrastructure as emergent and dynamic. The study contributes to theory by refining the conceptualisation of collective mind and demonstrating the utility of NCA in identifying bottleneck conditions in dynamic and multidisciplinary settings. Practically, it offers a resource-sensitive roadmap for managing coordination and cognitive alignment in temporary teams.