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This paper examines team learning behavior; a set of complementary actions that teams engage in to improve their outcomes. We theorize about the impetus that is subsistent within a number of designfactors, both internal and external to the team. Regarding a team’s composition, we investigate the potentially concurrent effects of demographic heterogeneity and subgroup salience. Models using data on 156 teams in five pharmaceutical firms showed that demographic heterogeneity was significant if resulting subgroup salience was controlled for; both very homogeneous and very heterogeneous teams were more inclined to engage in learning behavior. The existence of demographic subgroups in teams may also trigger learning behavior – provided that these subgroups are not too distinct. With regard to organizational context, the results indicate that active external leader encouragement, team empowerment, and the availability of a knowledge management system stimulate learning behavior, but mostly so if all are present concurrently. 2 Over the last few decades, we have witnessed an increasing emphasis in organizations on issues such as flexibility, innovation, and learning. In response, organizations have adopted flat, decentralized structures in which teams are expected to play an important role coping with the uncertainty in the

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kurt T. Dirks at Washington

www.ilr.cornell.edu/cahrs Paper prepared for the 10th World Congress of the International Industrial Relations Association, Washington, D.C., May 31-June 4, 1995. This paper has not undergone formal review or approval of the faculty of the ILR School. It is intended to make results of Center research, conferences, and projects available to others interested in human resource management in preliminary form to encourage discussion and suggestions.

The moderating role of human capital management practices on employee capabilities