Studying Task Transfer in Workplace: Distribution of Interaction among Human, Artifact, and Context

Abstract

Task transfer in organization requires an experienced colleague to transfer job- related knowledge and experiences to another employee. This process can be tedious and resource consuming. My doctoral research aims to explore and gain deeper understanding about the nature of task transfer at the interaction level. I propose a triangular relationship among human, artifacts, and context during task based on the theory of distributed cognition. A preliminary coding scheme is built for exploring the distribution of knowledge during task transfer. Present result shows that knowledge is distributed among human, artifacts, and the working environment, rather than being centralized in one location. In my doctoral research, I aim to develop a framework to delineate the space of research, and provide theoretical and design implications for knowledge transfer in workplace.