Unpacking product modularity. Innovation in R&D Teams

Does modularity stimulate innovation or, on the other side, are these modules and standards limiting engineers to innovative? The R&D team collaboration context is somewhat paradoxical, as it requires autonomy, on the one hand, working and keeping modules separate in design, and yet interaction on the other hand, as teams need to be participative in the integrative process of bringing different modules together. This story is centered on the influences of product modularity on innovation under the specific R&D team context. Essentially, this study unpacks the understanding of the concept of product modularity in R&D organizations by establishing the two essential dimensions of product modularity (i.e., module standardization and reconfiguration), and studying the effects on innovation in R&D teams. In addition, this work enhances the understanding of the concept of alignment between task and organizational structure and provides evidence of the impact of this alignment on innovation.